Escuchar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Escuchar In Spanish

If you’re learning to conjugate verbs in Spanish, escuchar is great for practicing the -AR verbs model. Since it’s also frequently used in conversations, in this guide, we’ll learn the escuchar conjugation patterns. 

• Escuchar Overview
• Indicative Tenses of Escuchar 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 Escuchar Conjugations
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Escuchar Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Escuchar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Escuchar Conjugation Practice Quiz

Overview of Escuchar

Indicative Conjugations of Escuchar

Present tense

The following escuchar conjugation chart shows you the endings you must use to conjugate this verb to the present tense in Spanish. In this tense, this verb is used to say that people listen to something or someone. Yo casi no escucho música. 

Preterite tense

In Spanish, we conjugate this verb to the preterite tense to express that someone heard or listened to something at some time in the past. For example: ¿Escuchaste eso? You can see how to conjugate escuchar in the preterite conjugation chart below. 

Imperfect tense

These escuchar conjugations are also regular. When conjugated to the imperfect tense, this verb allows you to talk about the things people heard or listened to repeatedly in the past. For example: Susana nunca escuchaba a sus papás. 

Near future

As displayed in the escuchar conjugation chart below, the near future in Spanish is built with ir present forms + verb in the infinitive form. This tense conveys that someone is about or will listen to something soon. For example: Voy a escuchar el mensaje que me mandaste. 

Future simple tense

In the future simple, escuchar conveys that someone will hear or listen to something in the future. For instance: En unas horas, escucharemos al director. 

Conditional tense

Conjugate this verb to the conditional tense in Spanish if you want to say that someone would hear or listen. Si fueras más amable, escucharía lo que tienes que decirme. 

Present perfect tense

The Spanish present perfect tense is used to say that someone has or hasn’t listened to something. To create sentences with this tense, you must use haber present conjugations + escuchado. Here is an example: ¿Has escuchado esta canción?

Past perfect

Use escuchar conjugated to the past perfect indicative to explain that a person had heard or listened to something before a past reference point. For example: Pensé que ya habían escuchado el mensaje que les dejé. 

Use escuchar’s past participle form and the haber imperfect conjugations to conjugate to this past tense. 

Future perfect

The future perfect tense of this verb allows you to communicate that a person will have heard or listened to something by or before a future action. For example: ¿Por qué no habrán escuchado mi mensaje?

Conditional perfect

In Spanish, the conditional tense of ‘escuchar’ expresses that a person would have heard or listened to something if a condition had been fulfilled. Si no fuera por ti, nunca habría escuchado esta canción. 

Progressive tenses

With the progressive tenses, you can convey that a person is listening to something at the moment of speaking. The past forms (preterite or imperfect) communicate that an action occurred when someone was listening to something. For example: Luke está escuchando música. 

To form these tenses, use estar conjugated + escuchando (verb in gerund). 

Escuchar Subjunctive Conjugations

The Spanish subjunctive mood allows you to refer to your or someone’s hopes, expectations, wishes, doubts, recommendations, hypothetical situations, or demands. Below are the most important escuchar conjugation charts for these tenses. 

Present subjunctive

When conjugated to the present subjunctive in Spanish, you can use this verb to request, hope, or suggest someone listen to something. Necesito que me escuches. 

Present perfect subjunctive

The escuchar conjugation chart below contains this verb’s present perfect subjunctive forms. When conjugated to this tense, escuchar conveys hopes or uncertainty about whether a person has listened or heard something. No creo que Julián te haya escuchado. 

Imperfect subjunctive

If conjugated to the imperfect subjunctive, escuchar refers to past demands, advice, hopes, or suggestions you had about someone listening to something. Mayra me pidió que escuchara esta canción. 

The imperfect subjunctive has two conjugation models depending on whether you’re learning Latin American or Castilian Spanish. 

Latin American Spanish version

Note: Vosotros is only used in Castilian Spanish. As a result, this pronoun has not been included in the previous escuchar conjugation chart. 

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

In Spanish, the past perfect subjunctive conjugations of escuchar express that someone would have heard or listened to something if a past action had happened. This tense also conveys regret for having (or not) listened to something. 

For example: Esto no hubiera pasado, si me hubieras escuchado. 

Escuchar Imperative Conjugations

Conjugating a verb to the Spanish imperative allows you to order people to perform or not perform an action.  

Affirmative commands

Use escuchar affirmative commands to order someone to listen. Escúchenme, por favor. 

Negative commands

The negative imperative of escuchar is used to command people not to listen to something. For example: No escuches ese tipo de música. 

Meanings of Escuchar & Examples

Now that we’ve reviewed how to conjugate escuchar to different tenses in Spanish, you should check these examples of how to apply this verb correctly. 

[Escuchar conjugated] + [complement]

Escuché algo. 
I heard something. 

Tú nunca escuchas lo que te dicen. 
You never listen to what people say.  

¿Conoces esta canción? ¡Escúchala!
Do you know this song? Listen to it! 

Take Note: Escuchar means ‘to hear’ when talking about sounds. Because it’s a transitive verb (it takes an object), you can use direct object pronouns to replace the thing or person to which you listen. 

Download Escuchar Conjugation Charts & Uses Cheat sheet

Escuchar is a verb that you’re going to be using frequently in your daily Spanish conversations. So, if you’d like additional help mastering its different forms, you can download a PDF cheat sheet with all of the escuchar conjugation charts as well as example sentences to get more comfortable with it.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Escuchar Conjugation

Take the escuchar conjugation practice quiz to see in which tenses you can confidently conjugate it (and other regular -AR verbs) and which tenses you need to focus your efforts to take your Spanish to the next level.

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