Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Cubrir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to cover, disguise”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cubrir in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to cover, disguise |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cubrir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cubriendo) and past continuous (estaba cubriendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. covering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cubrido and hubiera cubrido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have covered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cubriendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cubrido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I cover” or “they cover”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cubro |
| Tú | cubres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubre |
| Nosotros / as | cubrimos |
| Vosotros / as | cubrís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubren |
| Vos | cubrís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I covered” or “she covered” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cubrí | I covered |
| Tú | cubriste | You covered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubrió | He / she / you covered |
| Nosotros / as | cubrimos | We covered |
| Vosotros / as | cubristeis | You covered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubrieron | They / you covered |
| Vos | cubriste | You covered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was covering” or “she was covering” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cubría | I was covering |
| Tú | cubrías | You were covering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubría | He was / she was / you were covering |
| Nosotros / as | cubríamos | We were covering |
| Vosotros / as | cubríais | You were covering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubrían | They / you were covering |
| Vos | cubrías | You were covering |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have covered” and “she has covered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cubrido | I have covered |
| Tú | has cubrido | You have covered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cubrido | He has / she has / you have covered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cubrido | We have covered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cubrido | You have covered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cubrido | They / you have covered |
| Vos | has cubrido | You have covered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would cover” or “she would cover”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cubriría | I would cover |
| Tú | cubrirías | You would cover |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubriría | He / she / you would cover |
| Nosotros / as | cubriríamos | We would cover |
| Vosotros / as | cubriríais | You would cover |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubrirían | They / you would cover |
| Vos | cubrirías | You would cover |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will cover” or “they will cover”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a cubrir” means “They are going to cover”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cubriré | I will cover |
| Tú | cubrirás | You will cover |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubrirá | He / she / you will cover |
| Nosotros / as | cubriremos | We will cover |
| Vosotros / as | cubriréis | You will cover |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubrirán | They / you will cover |
| Vos | cubrirás | You will cover |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cubra |
| Tú | cubras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubra |
| Nosotros / as | cubramos |
| Vosotros / as | cubráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubran |
| Vos | cubras |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cubriera | cubriese |
| Tú | cubrieras | cubriese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubriera | cubriese |
| Nosotros / as | cubriéramos | cubriésemos |
| Vosotros / as | cubrierais | cubrieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubrieran | cubriesen |
| Vos | cubrieras | cubriese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cubriere |
| Tú | cubrieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubriera |
| Nosotros / as | cubriéremos |
| Vosotros / as | cubriereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubrieren |
| Vos | cubrieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “cover!” and “don’t cover!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cubre | no cubras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cubra | no cubra |
| Nosotros / as | cubramos | no cubramos |
| Vosotros / as | cubrid | no cubráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cubran | no cubran |
| Vos | cubrí | no cubras |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cubrido |
| Tú | hayas cubrido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cubrido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cubrido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cubrido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cubrido |
| Vos | hayas cubrido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cubrido / hubiese cubrido |
| Tú | hubieras cubrido / hubieses cubrido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cubrido / hubiese cubrido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cubrido / hubiésemos cubrido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cubrido / hubieseis cubrido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cubrido / hubiesen cubrido |
| Vos | hubieras cubrido / hubieses cubrido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cubrido |
| Tú | hubieres cubrido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cubrido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cubrido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cubrido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cubrido |
| Vos | hubieres cubrido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cubriendo |
| Tú | estés cubriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cubriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cubriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cubriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cubriendo |
| Vos | estés cubriendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cubriendo / estuviese cubriendo |
| Tú | estuvieras cubriendo / estuvieses cubriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cubriendo / estuviese cubriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cubriendo / estuviésamos cubriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cubriendo / estuvieseis cubriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cubriendo / estuviese cubriendo |
| Vos | estuvieras cubriendo / estuvieses cubriendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cubriendo |
| Tú | estuvieres cubriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cubriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cubriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cubriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cubriendo |
| Vos | estuvieres cubriendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos cubrís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cubriste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cubrías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cubrirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cubrirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cubras |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cubrieras / Vos cubriese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cubrí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cubras |