Encontrar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Encontrar In Spanish

Encontrar is an -AR verb with O to UE stem changes. Since this verb can help you practice this pattern, in this guide, we’ll go over encontrar conjugation charts. Here is what we’ll cover:

• Encontrar Overview
• Indicative Tenses of Encontrar Conjugations
  • Present tense
  • Preterite tense
  • Imperfect tense
  • Near Future tense
  • Future tense
  • Conditional tense
  • Present Perfect tense
  • Past Perfect tense
  • Future Perfect tense
  • Conditional Perfect tense
  • Progressive tenses
• Subjunctive Tenses of Encontrar Conjugations 
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Encontrar Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Encontrar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Encontrar Conjugation Practice Quiz

Overview of Encontrar

Indicative Conjugations of Encontrar

Present tense

Encontrar conjugations for the present tense have an O to UE stem change. This change is not applied to ‘nosotros’ or ‘vosotros’. Use encontrar in the present tense to talk about what people currently find. For instance: No encuentro mis llaves.

Preterite tense

Encontrar preterite conjugations are regular. Conjugate encontrar to this tense to express that someone found something or point out the exact moment something was found. For example: Ya encontramos la cartera de Tom.

Imperfect tense

Use encontrar’s past imperfect tense conjugations to refer to things or people you used to find in the past. You can also use these forms if it’s unclear when something or someone was found. Susana nunca encontraba sus calcetines. 

Near future

The Spanish immediate future is formed with ir a + infinitive (in this case, ‘encontrar’). We use this tense to talk about what people are going to find soon in the future. For example: Ya no vamos a encontrar más galletas.

Future simple tense

When conjugated to the future tense, encontrar communicates that someone will find something or another person at some point in the future. Siempre te encontraré. 

Conditional tense

Conjugate encontrar to the conditional tense to talk about what people would find if some conditions were met. You can also use these conjugations to hypothesize what you or someone else would find. For example: Creí que nunca te encontraría. 

Present perfect tense

The Spanish present perfect of ‘encontrar’ is conjugated with the formula haber in the present tense + encontrado (past participle). In the present perfect tense, this verb refers to the things someone has or hasn’t found. No hemos encontrado a Diana. 

Past perfect

The Spanish past perfect of encontrar is used to talk about what someone had found before some other reference point in the past. Me dijiste que ya las habías encontrado. To form the past perfect, use the imperfect conjugations of ‘haber’ and the past participle form of ‘encontrar’.

Future perfect

We use the future perfect tense of ‘encontrar’ to express that someone will have found something or someone by or before a certain moment in the future. You can also use this tense to talk about what someone might have found. 

For example: ¿Crees que Josh habrá encontrado su cartera?

Conditional perfect

Conjugate encontrar to the Spanish conditional perfect tense to communicate that someone would have found something or someone as long as a past condition had been met. These conjugations are also used to make hypotheses about what someone found in the past. 

For instance: No habría encontrado mi celular sin tu ayuda. 

Progressive tenses

Use the progressive tenses of encontrar to talk about what someone is finding at the moment of speaking. Creo que están encontrado más información. The progressive tenses are formed with estar (conjugated) + present participle (encontrando, in this case). 

Encontrar Subjunctive Conjugations

The Spanish subjunctive mood refers to wishes, requests, suggestions, expectations, doubts, or hypothetical situations. Below are the encontrar conjugation charts for the most common subjunctive tenses. 

Present subjunctive

Encontrar subjunctive conjugations have an O to UE stem change for all subjects except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. We use these conjugations to request or wish that someone finds or doesn’t find something. For instance: Ojalá no encuentren nada. 

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber in the present subjunctive + encontrado is the formula we use to conjugate encontrar to the present perfect subjunctive. Use this tense to wonder or wish that someone has already found something. Espero que hayan encontrado mis llaves.

Imperfect subjunctive

When conjugated to the imperfect subjunctive, encontrar refers to past requests, suggestions, and wishes you had about someone finding something. For example: Me hubiera gustado que encontraran a mi perro

These are two types of conjugations for the imperfect subjuntive. Using one or the other depends on the type of Spanish you use:

Latin American Spanish version

Note:  In Latin American Spanish, the pronoun vosotros is not used. As a result, this pronoun has been excluded from this encontrar conjugation chart.

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

In the past perfect subjunctive, encontrar expresses that someone would have found something if a past circumstance was met. Additionally, these conjugations also refer to regrets or hypothetical outcomes if you had found something or someone. 

For instance: Si hubiera encontrado mis llaves, no habría llamado al cerrajero.

Encontrar Imperative Conjugations

In Spanish, we use the imperative conjugations to give orders to people.

Affirmative commands

If you want to order someone to find something, you must use the affirmative imperative. Encontrar affirmative commands use the stem changing root encuentr for all subjects except ‘vosotros’. Here is an example: Vayan y encuentren mi dinero. 

Negative commands

Check the encontrar conjugation chart below. To form negative commands, you must use the stem encuentr for all subjects except ‘vosotros’. Sentences that use encontrar’s negative imperative are uncommon because you cannot command people not to find something.

Meanings of Encontrar & Examples

Since you already learned how to conjugate encontrar, here are some examples of how to use this verb correctly. 

1. Talking about finding or discovering things

(Direct object pronoun) + [encontrar conjugated] + (noun)

¿La encontraste?
Did you find her? 

Ojalá pronto encuentres tus cosas. 
I hope you find your things soon. 

Take Note: When the context is clear, you can replace the thing or person you find with a Spanish direct object pronoun. 

2. As a synonym of ‘coming across’ or ‘bumping into’

[Reflexive pronoun] + [encontrar conjugated] + a + [noun]

Ayer me encontré a Carmen. 
Yesterday, I bumped into Carmen. 

Tú siempre te encuentras dinero en la calle. 
You always come across money in the street. 

Download Encontrar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

Click the button below to download the cheat sheets PDF I’ve assembled with all of the encontrar conjugation charts, meanings, and uses so you can study them at your own pace.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Encontrar Conjugation

Practice your conjugation skills for ‘encontrar’ by taking our verb conjugation practice quiz, where you can choose any combination of tenses you’d like to focus on.