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Escoger is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to choose, select”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escoger 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 choose, select |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escoger |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escogiendo) and past continuous (estaba escogiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. choosing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escogido and hubiera escogido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have chosen).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escogiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escogido |
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 choose” or “they choose”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escojo |
| Tú | escoges |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escoge |
| Nosotros / as | escogemos |
| Vosotros / as | escogéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogen |
| Vos | escogés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I chose” or “she chose” 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 | escogí | I chose |
| Tú | escogiste | You chose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escogió | He / she / you chose |
| Nosotros / as | escogimos | We chose |
| Vosotros / as | escogisteis | You chose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogieron | They / you chose |
| Vos | escogiste | You chose |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was choosing” or “she was choosing” 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 | escogía | I was choosing |
| Tú | escogías | You were choosing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escogía | He was / she was / you were choosing |
| Nosotros / as | escogíamos | We were choosing |
| Vosotros / as | escogíais | You were choosing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogían | They / you were choosing |
| Vos | escogías | You were choosing |
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 chosen” and “she has chosen”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escogido | I have chosen |
| Tú | has escogido | You have chosen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escogido | He has / she has / you have chosen |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escogido | We have chosen |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escogido | You have chosen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escogido | They / you have chosen |
| Vos | has escogido | You have chosen |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would choose” or “she would choose”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escogería | I would choose |
| Tú | escogerías | You would choose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escogería | He / she / you would choose |
| Nosotros / as | escogeríamos | We would choose |
| Vosotros / as | escogeríais | You would choose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogerían | They / you would choose |
| Vos | escogerías | You would choose |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will choose” or “they will choose”.
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 escoger” means “They are going to choose”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escogeré | I will choose |
| Tú | escogerás | You will choose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escogerá | He / she / you will choose |
| Nosotros / as | escogeremos | We will choose |
| Vosotros / as | escogeréis | You will choose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogerán | They / you will choose |
| Vos | escogerás | You will choose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escoja |
| Tú | escojas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escoja |
| Nosotros / as | escojamos |
| Vosotros / as | escojáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escojan |
| Vos | escojas |
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 | escogiera | escogiese |
| Tú | escogieras | escogiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escogiera | escogiese |
| Nosotros / as | escogiéramos | escogiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | escogierais | escogieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogieran | escogiesen |
| Vos | escogieras | escogiese |
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 | escogiere |
| Tú | escogieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escogiere |
| Nosotros / as | escogiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | escogiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escogieren |
| Vos | escogieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “choose!” and “don’t choose!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escoge | no escojas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escoja | no escoja |
| Nosotros / as | escojamos | no escojamos |
| Vosotros / as | escoged | no escojáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escojan | no escojan |
| Vos | escogé | no escojas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escogido |
| Tú | hayas escogido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escogido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escogido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escogido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escogido |
| Vos | hayas escogido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escogido / hubiese escogido |
| Tú | hubieras escogido / hubieses escogido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escogido / hubiese escogido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escogido / hubiésemos escogido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escogido / hubieseis escogido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escogido / hubiesen escogido |
| Vos | hubieras escogido / hubieses escogido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escogido |
| Tú | hubieres escogido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escogido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escogido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escogido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escogido |
| Vos | hubieres escogido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escogiendo |
| Tú | estés escogiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escogiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escogiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escogiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escogiendo |
| Vos | estés escogiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escogiendo / estuviese escogiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras escogiendo / estuvieses escogiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escogiendo / estuviese escogiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escogiendo / estuviésamos escogiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escogiendo / estuvieseis escogiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escogiendo / estuviese escogiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras escogiendo / estuvieses escogiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escogiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres escogiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escogiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escogiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escogiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escogiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres escogiendo |
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 escogés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escogiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escogías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escogerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escogerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escojas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escogieras / Vos escogiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escogé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escojas |