Encargar Examples, Sentences and Quiz in Spanish

encargar means to order, to entrust, and it is a verb you will meet in everyday Spanish again and again. Encargar means to order or to entrust, and it covers ordering a cake for a birthday, entrusting work to an assistant, ordering a book and putting someone in charge of the children. It takes a for the person entrusted, and it is a spelling-change verb: the g becomes gu before e. This page puts encargar to work: twelve example sentences in different tenses and persons, grouped by use, then two short dialogues where the verb appears naturally, then the common mistakes to avoid, and finally a ten-question quiz with explained answers. Every Spanish form on this page comes from the verified conjugation tables for encargar, and the full tables are on the encargar conjugation page if you need to check a form.

Example sentences

Everyday uses

  1. Yo encargo una tarta para el cumpleaños. — I order a cake for the birthday.
  2. Él encarga el trabajo a su ayudante. — He/she orders the work to his assistant.
  3. Ayer, yo encargué un libro en la librería. — Yesterday, I ordered a book at the bookshop.
  4. Antes, nosotros encargábamos a su hermana de los niños. — Before, we used to order his sister with the children.

In other tenses

  1. Mañana, tú encargarás una tarta para el cumpleaños. — Tomorrow, you will order a cake for the birthday.
  2. Yo encargaría el trabajo a su ayudante. — I would order the work to his assistant.
  3. Él ha encargado un libro en la librería. — He/she has ordered a book at the bookshop.
  4. Espero que él encargue a su hermana de los niños. — I hope he/she orders his sister with the children.

With other people

  1. Nosotros encargamos una tarta para el cumpleaños. — We order a cake for the birthday.
  2. Vosotros encargáis el trabajo a su ayudante. — You all order the work to his assistant.
  3. Antes, ellos encargaban un libro en la librería. — Before, they used to order a book at the bookshop.
  4. Mañana, él encargará a su hermana de los niños. — Tomorrow, he/she will order his sister with the children.

Encargar in context

Two short dialogues that use encargar the way people really use it. Read them aloud — the verb forms will stick much faster in a conversation than in a table.

Dialogue 1: today and yesterday

  • Ana: "Hola, ¿qué tal?" — "Hello, how are you?"
  • Luis: "Hoy encargo una tarta para el cumpleaños." — "Today I order a cake for the birthday."
  • Ana: "¿Y ayer?" — "And yesterday?"
  • Luis: "Ayer, encargué un libro en la librería." — "Yesterday I ordered a book at the bookshop."
  • Ana: "¿Y mañana, tú encargarás el trabajo a su ayudante?" — "And tomorrow, will you will order the work to his assistant?"
  • Luis: "Sí, claro. Y tú también." — "Yes, of course. And you too."

Dialogue 2: making plans

  • Marta: "Mañana, nosotros encargamos a su hermana de los niños." — "Tomorrow we order his sister with the children."
  • Carlos: "Perfecto. Yo encargaría el trabajo a su ayudante si tuviera más tiempo." — "Perfect. I would would order the work to his assistant if I had more time."
  • Marta: "Espero que él encargue una tarta para el cumpleaños." — "I hope he orders a cake for the birthday."
  • Carlos: "Seguro que sí. Él ya ha encargado un libro en la librería." — "Surely. He has already has ordered a book at the bookshop."
  • Marta: "Vale, nos vemos mañana." — "OK, see you tomorrow."

Notice how the same verb changes with the tense: the present for the plan, the conditional for the wish, the subjunctive after espero que, and the present perfect for what has already happened. That is the whole point of learning a verb across its tenses, not just in one form.

Common mistakes

  1. Wrong: Yo encarga una tarta para el cumpleaños. — Right: Yo encargo una tarta para el cumpleaños. — The person matters: encarga is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is encargo. Using the third-person form with yo is one of the most common beginner errors.
  2. Wrong: Yo encargé el trabajo a su ayudante. — Right: Yo encargué el trabajo a su ayudante. — In the preterite, the correct first-person form is encargué, not encargé. encargar is a spelling-change verb: g becomes gu before e, so the written form changes to keep the same sound. The regular-looking form is wrong.
  3. Wrong: Treating encargar and pedir as identical in every context. — Right: Encargar means to order, to entrust, while pedir means to ask for, the plain verb. — They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: encargar fits sentences such as Encargo una tarta para el cumpleaños, while pedir belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy encargado el trabajo a su ayudante. — Right: Yo he encargado el trabajo a su ayudante. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he encargado, has encargado, ha encargado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.
  5. Wrong: De niño, yo encargué un libro en la librería todos los días. — Right: De niño, yo encargaba un libro en la librería todos los días. — For a repeated habit in the past, use the imperfect (encargaba), not the preterite. The preterite (encargué) is for one finished action.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on encargar: four on the forms, three on the meaning, and three on spotting the correct sentence. Check the answer key below.

  1. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ una tarta para el cumpleaños. (present tense) A. encargo B. encargas C. encarga D. encargamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Él ___ el trabajo a su ayudante. (preterite tense) A. encargué B. encargaste C. encargamos D. encargó

  3. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ un libro en la librería. (future tense) A. encargará B. encargaremos C. encargarás D. encargaré

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ a su hermana de los niños. (imperfect tense) A. encargabais B. encargábamos C. encargaba D. encargabas

  5. What does "Yo encargo una tarta para el cumpleaños." mean in English? A. I order a cake for the birthday. B. I order the work to his assistant. C. I order a book at the bookshop. D. I order his sister with the children.

  6. What does "Él encargó el trabajo a su ayudante." mean in English? A. He/she ordered a cake for the birthday. B. He/she ordered a book at the bookshop. C. He/she ordered his sister with the children. D. He/she ordered the work to his assistant.

  7. What does "Nosotros encargaremos un libro en la librería." mean in English? A. We will order the work to his assistant. B. We will order his sister with the children. C. We will order a book at the bookshop. D. We will order a cake for the birthday.

  8. Which sentence is correct? A. Yo encargan el trabajo a su ayudante. B. Yo encarga el trabajo a su ayudante. C. Yo encargo el trabajo a su ayudante.

  9. Which sentence is correct? A. Él encargué un libro en la librería. B. Él encargó un libro en la librería. C. Él encargaron un libro en la librería.

  10. Which sentence is correct? A. Espero que yo encargue a su hermana de los niños. B. Yo encarge a su hermana de los niños. C. Yo encargue a su hermana de los niños.

Answer key

  1. encargo — The yo present form of encargar is encargo.
  2. encargó — The el preterite form of encargar is encargó.
  3. encargarás — The tu future form of encargar is encargarás.
  4. encargábamos — The nosotros imperfect form of encargar is encargábamos.
  5. I order a cake for the birthday. — The Spanish sentence uses the present form encargo, so the English is "I order a cake for the birthday." The other options use a different object or situation.
  6. He/she ordered the work to his assistant. — The Spanish sentence uses the preterite form encargó, so the English is "He/she ordered the work to his assistant." The other options use a different object or situation.
  7. We will order a book at the bookshop. — The Spanish sentence uses the future form encargaremos, so the English is "We will order a book at the bookshop." The other options use a different object or situation.
  8. Yo encargo el trabajo a su ayudante. — The correct sentence is "Yo encargo el trabajo a su ayudante." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  9. Él encargó un libro en la librería. — The correct sentence is "Él encargó un libro en la librería." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  10. Espero que yo encargue a su hermana de los niños. — The correct sentence is "Espero que yo encargue a su hermana de los niños." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.

Frequently asked questions

What does encargar mean, and when do I use it?

Encargar means to order, to entrust. Encargar means to order or to entrust, and it covers ordering a cake for a birthday, entrusting work to an assistant, ordering a book and putting someone in charge of the children. It takes a for the person entrusted, and it is a spelling-change verb: the g becomes gu before e. A good first sentence to remember is Yo encargo una tarta para el cumpleaños. — "I order a cake for the birthday."

What is the difference between encargar and pedir?

Encargar means to order, to entrust, while pedir means to ask for, the plain verb. They appear in similar situations, but they are not interchangeable: use encargar when you mean to order, to entrust, as in Yo encargo el trabajo a su ayudante., and use pedir for to ask for, the plain verb.

How do I say "I order" in the past?

For one finished action, use the preterite: Yo encargué el trabajo a su ayudante.. For a repeated habit or background in the past, use the imperfect: Yo encargaba un libro en la librería.. For something that has just happened, use the present perfect: Yo he encargado el trabajo a su ayudante..

How do I practise encargar?

Start with the encargar conjugation page for the full tables, then the encargar in the present tense page for the tense in focus, and use the Spanish Verb Quiz to test the forms under pressure. Spelling change: g becomes gu before e, so the preterite is encargué and the subjunctive is encargue. Encargar algo a alguien is to entrust it to them.

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