Educar Conjugation in Spanish
educar means «to educate». It is a spelling-changing -ar verb verb, so the tables below show you exactly how it behaves in every tense. On this page you will find the full conjugation of educar in all thirteen tenses, notes on when to use each one, example sentences, the mistakes learners make most often, a ten-question quiz and answers to the questions students ask about this verb. For example: «Yo educo todos los días» — I educate every day.
Quick facts
- Infinitive: educar
- English: to educate
- Verb type: spelling-changing -ar verb
- Ending: -ar
- Gerund: educando
- Past participle: educado
- Auxiliary verb: haber (all perfect tenses are formed with haber + educado)
- Spelling change: in the preterite the yo form is eduqué, not educé, so the stem-final letter changes before e and i.
- Spelling change: in the present subjunctive the yo form is eduque, not educe, so the stem-final letter changes before e and i.
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for educar, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from the verified conjugation tables for educar. The imperfect subjunctive is shown in its -ra forms; the -se forms use the same stem.
Gerund: educando · Past participle: educado
Present Indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | educo |
| tú | educas |
| él/ella/Ud. | educa |
| nosotros/as | educamos |
| vosotros/as | educáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | educan |
Use the present of educar for things that happen regularly and for things that are true in general. The yo form educo is the anchor of the table: the other persons follow the regular -ar endings from it. When you talk about yourself right now, this is the form you need.
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | eduqué |
| tú | educaste |
| él/ella/Ud. | educó |
| nosotros/as | educamos |
| vosotros/as | educasteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | educaron |
Use the preterite of educar for a single finished event: something that happened once and is over. The yo form is eduqué. If you can put a finished time expression with it — ayer, la semana pasada, anoche — the preterite is usually right.
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | educaba |
| tú | educabas |
| él/ella/Ud. | educaba |
| nosotros/as | educábamos |
| vosotros/as | educabais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | educaban |
Use the imperfect of educar for what used to happen and for what was going on when something else happened. The yo form is educaba. If the action has no clear beginning or end in the story, the imperfect is the right choice.
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | educaré |
| tú | educarás |
| él/ella/Ud. | educará |
| nosotros/as | educaremos |
| vosotros/as | educaréis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | educarán |
Use the future of educar for plans, promises and predictions. The yo form is educaré, built on the infinitive plus the future endings. For a firm plan, the future sounds more formal than ir a + infinitive; for a casual plan, either works.
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | educaría |
| tú | educarías |
| él/ella/Ud. | educaría |
| nosotros/as | educaríamos |
| vosotros/as | educaríais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | educarían |
Use the conditional of educar for hypothetical situations and for softening requests. The yo form is educaría. It appears after si-clauses with the imperfect subjunctive and on its own for polite suggestions.
Present Perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he educado |
| tú | has educado |
| él/ella/Ud. | ha educado |
| nosotros/as | hemos educado |
| vosotros/as | habéis educado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | han educado |
Use the present perfect of educar for recent events with present relevance. The yo form is he educado — haber in the present plus educado. Time expressions like hoy, esta semana and últimamente are its natural partners.
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había educado |
| tú | habías educado |
| él/ella/Ud. | había educado |
| nosotros/as | habíamos educado |
| vosotros/as | habíais educado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habían educado |
Use the pluperfect of educar when you need two layers of past: one event already finished before another past event began. The yo form is había educado. It is the tense of «had already done».
Future Perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré educado |
| tú | habrás educado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habrá educado |
| nosotros/as | habremos educado |
| vosotros/as | habréis educado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrán educado |
Use the future perfect of educar to say that something will be finished by a future moment. The yo form is habré educado. It pairs naturally with deadlines: para mañana, para el viernes, para entonces.
Conditional Perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría educado |
| tú | habrías educado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habría educado |
| nosotros/as | habríamos educado |
| vosotros/as | habríais educado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrían educado |
Use the conditional perfect of educar for the past that did not happen: what would have been done with more time or a different choice. The yo form is habría educado. It follows si-clauses with the pluperfect subjunctive.
Present Subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | eduque |
| tú | eduques |
| él/ella/Ud. | eduque |
| nosotros/as | eduquemos |
| vosotros/as | eduquéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | eduquen |
Use the present subjunctive of educar when the main clause expresses a wish, a doubt, an emotion or an impersonal judgement. The yo form is eduque. After espero que, ojalá que and no creo que, the subjunctive is required, not optional.
Imperfect Subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | educara |
| tú | educaras |
| él/ella/Ud. | educara |
| nosotros/as | educáramos |
| vosotros/as | educarais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | educaran |
Use the imperfect subjunctive of educar after past-tense wishes and doubts, and in si-clauses that set up a hypothetical present. The yo form is educara. It is built on the third-person plural preterite stem, which is why it looks different from the present subjunctive.
Imperative — Affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | educa |
| él/ella/Ud. | eduque |
| nosotros/as | eduquemos |
| vosotros/as | educad |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | eduquen |
There is no yo form in the imperative — you cannot command yourself.
Use the affirmative imperative of educar to tell someone to do something: instructions, invitations and requests. The tú form is educa. For a polite command, use the usted form eduque instead of the tú form.
Imperative — Negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | eduques |
| él/ella/Ud. | eduque |
| nosotros/as | eduquemos |
| vosotros/as | eduquéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | eduquen |
There is no yo form in the imperative — you cannot command yourself.
Use the negative imperative of educar to forbid or to warn: «¡No eduques!». The tú form is eduques, taken from the present subjunctive. The word no always comes first, and the form never changes for emphasis.
Example sentences
- Yo educo todos los días. — I educate every day.
- Ayer yo eduqué por la tarde. — Yesterday I educated in the afternoon.
- Antes, yo educaba todos los días. — In the past, I used to educate every day.
- Mañana yo educaré sin falta. — Tomorrow I will educate without fail.
- Si tuviera más tiempo, yo educaría ahora mismo. — If I had more time, I would educate right now.
- Hoy yo he educado dos veces. — Today I have educated twice.
- Espero que tú eduques pronto. — I hope You educate soon.
- Si yo educara, todo sería distinto. — If I educated, everything would be different.
- Ahora mismo yo estoy educando. — Right now I am educating.
- ¡educa, por favor! — Educate, please!
Common mistakes
1. Missing the spelling change in the preterite
Wrong: Yo educé.
Right: Yo eduqué.
The spelling changes so the pronunciation stays the same: the yo form in the preterite is eduqué, not educé. The endings are regular — only the spelling of the stem-final letter adjusts before e and i.
2. Using the imperfect for a finished event
Wrong: Ayer yo educaba.
Right: Ayer yo eduqué.
Yesterday's finished action needs the preterite, eduqué. The imperfect educaba describes what used to happen or what was going on, not a single completed event.
3. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
Wrong: Espero que tú educas.
Right: Espero que tú eduques.
After espero que, Spanish requires the subjunctive: eduques, not the indicative educas. Wishes, hopes and doubts all trigger this change.
4. Using the affirmative imperative after no
Wrong: No educa.
Right: No eduques.
Negative commands use the subjunctive-based forms: no eduques. The affirmative educa can never follow no.
5. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
Wrong: Yo educar todos los días.
Right: Yo educo todos los días.
The infinitive educar names the action; it never works as the main verb of a sentence. Conjugate it for the person: yo educo.
6. Confusing the gerund with the past participle
Wrong: He educando.
Right: He educado.
The perfect tenses use haber plus the past participle: he educado. The gerund educando goes with estar for actions in progress («Estoy educando»), never with haber.
Quiz
Test yourself on the forms above. Choose the correct answer, then check the key below.
1. What is the vosotros/as form of educar in the present indicative?
- (a) educa
- (b) educas
- (c) educáis
- (d) educo
2. What is the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of educar in the preterite?
- (a) educó
- (b) eduqué
- (c) educaste
- (d) educaron
3. What is the yo form of educar in the imperfect?
- (a) educabas
- (b) educaba
- (c) educaba
- (d) educábamos
4. What is the tú form of educar in the future?
- (a) educará
- (b) educaremos
- (c) educaré
- (d) educarás
5. What is the él/ella/Ud. form of educar in the conditional?
- (a) educaría
- (b) educaríamos
- (c) educarías
- (d) educaría
6. What is the nosotros/as form of educar in the present perfect?
- (a) has educado
- (b) he educado
- (c) ha educado
- (d) hemos educado
7. What is the vosotros/as form of educar in the present subjunctive?
- (a) eduquéis
- (b) eduque
- (c) eduques
- (d) eduque
8. What is the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of educar in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)?
- (a) educara
- (b) educaran
- (c) educaras
- (d) educara
9. What is the gerund of educar?
- (a) educar
- (b) educado
- (c) educando
- (d) educo
10. What is the past participle of educar?
- (a) educado
- (b) educando
- (c) eduqué
- (d) educar
Answer key
1. (c) — In the present indicative, the vosotros/as form of educar is educáis. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 2. (d) — In the preterite, the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of educar is educaron. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 3. (b) — In the imperfect, the yo form of educar is educaba. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 4. (d) — In the future, the tú form of educar is educarás. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 5. (a) — In the conditional, the él/ella/Ud. form of educar is educaría. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 6. (d) — In the present perfect, the nosotros/as form of educar is hemos educado. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 7. (a) — In the present subjunctive, the vosotros/as form of educar is eduquéis. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 8. (b) — In the imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms), the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of educar is educaran. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 9. (c) — The gerund of educar is educando. It is used with estar for the progressive: «Estoy educando». 10. (a) — The past participle of educar is educado. It follows haber in all the perfect tenses: «he educado».
Frequently asked questions
Is educar regular or irregular?
Mostly yes — educar takes the regular -ar endings, but the spelling of the stem changes in some forms (for example the yo preterite eduqué). The endings never change; only the stem-final letter adjusts so the pronunciation stays the same.
What are the gerund and past participle of educar?
The gerund is educando and the past participle is educado. Use the gerund with estar for actions in progress («Estoy educando») and the participle with haber for the perfect tenses («he educado»).
How do I say «I educate» in Spanish?
Say «Yo educo todos los días». That is the yo form of the present tense, the form you need for talking about yourself right now.
What is the difference between the preterite and the imperfect of educar?
Use the preterite (eduqué) for a single finished event and the imperfect (educaba) for habits and background. «Ayer yo eduqué» reports something that happened and ended; «Antes, yo educaba» describes what used to happen.
When do I use the subjunctive with educar?
Use the subjunctive after wishes, doubts, emotions and impersonal expressions — for example «Espero que tú eduques». The trigger sits in the main clause; once it is there, the subjunctive form is required, not a stylistic choice.
How do I use educar in the present perfect?
Put haber in the present before the past participle: «Hoy yo he educado». The participle educado never changes for person — only haber changes — so once you know the participle, the whole perfect tense follows.
Related links
- Practise this verb in one tense: educar-present-tense
- More examples and a quiz: educar-examples-and-quiz
- Browse all Spanish verbs: /spanish/
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- Related verb: ejercitar
- Conjugate any verb: verb-conjugator
- Test yourself: verb-quiz