Reconocer Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
reconocer means "to recognise" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for recognising people, places and things you have seen before. Learning it properly means more than memorising one form: the verb changes across thirteen tenses, and this page gives you every one of them, with the exact forms from the VerbFlow engine, so you can check any person or tense in seconds. Reconocer is a irregular -er verb; c → zc spelling change before o and a verb, and it is regular in its endings, with a spelling change. That matters because the patterns on this page are the patterns you will reuse every time you speak or write. Work through the tables first, then read the notes under each tense — they explain when to use each tense and what to watch out for with this verb in particular. A natural example is: Cada día, yo reconozco a mi antigua profesora. — "Every day, I recognise my old teacher." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | reconocer |
| Translation | to recognise |
| Verb type | Irregular -er verb; c → zc spelling change before o and a |
| Gerund | reconociendo |
| Past participle | reconocido |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | regular in its endings, with a spelling change |
Full conjugation of reconocer
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconozco |
| tú | reconoces |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconoce |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconocemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconocéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconocen |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconocí |
| tú | reconociste |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconoció |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconocimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconocisteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconocieron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconocía |
| tú | reconocías |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconocía |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconocíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconocíais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconocían |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconoceré |
| tú | reconocerás |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconocerá |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconoceremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconoceréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconocerán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconocería |
| tú | reconocerías |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconocería |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconoceríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconoceríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconocerían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconozca |
| tú | reconozcas |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconozca |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconozcamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconocáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconozcan |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | reconociera |
| tú | reconocieras |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconociera |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconociéramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconocierais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconocieran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he reconocido |
| tú | has reconocido |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha reconocido |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos reconocido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis reconocido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han reconocido |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había reconocido |
| tú | habías reconocido |
| él / ella / Ud. | había reconocido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos reconocido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais reconocido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían reconocido |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré reconocido |
| tú | habrás reconocido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá reconocido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos reconocido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis reconocido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán reconocido |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría reconocido |
| tú | habrías reconocido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría reconocido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos reconocido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais reconocido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían reconocido |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | reconoce |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconozca |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconozcamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconoced |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconozcan |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | reconozcas |
| él / ella / Ud. | reconozca |
| nosotros / nosotras | reconozcamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | reconocáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | reconozcan |
Gerund: reconociendo · Past participle: reconocido
Reconocer in every tense — notes and examples
Present indicative
The present is the tense for habits, facts and what is happening now. It is the first tense to master, because the present subjunctive and the affirmative imperative are both built from the present yo form. Watch the spelling in the present: c becomes zc before o, so the yo form is reconozco, not the form you would expect from the infinitive. Example: Cada día, yo reconozco a mi antigua profesora. — "Every day, I recognise my old teacher."
Preterite
The preterite is for completed actions in the past — things that started and finished at a definite moment. Use it for a single event, a sequence of events, or an action with a clear end. Example: Ayer, yo reconocí a mi antigua profesora. — "Yesterday, I recognised my old teacher."
Imperfect
The imperfect is for the past without a definite end: habits, background scenes, descriptions and actions in progress when something else happened. It never states when the action finished. Example: Antes, yo reconocía a mi antigua profesora. — "Before, I recognised my old teacher."
Future
The future is for what will happen, and also for guesses about the present ("I wonder if…"). For regular verbs it is the infinitive plus the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. Example: Mañana, yo reconoceré a mi antigua profesora. — "Tomorrow, I will recognise my old teacher."
Conditional
The conditional is for what would happen — polite requests, hypothetical results and reported expectations. It shares its stem with the future, so any irregular future stem appears here too. Example: Yo reconocería a mi antigua profesora si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would recognise my old teacher if I had the chance."
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is for wishes, doubts, emotions and other non-facts after que, and after expressions such as ojalá, es importante que or no creo que. It is not a tense for stating facts. Example: Espero que ella reconozca a mi antigua profesora. — "I hope she will recognise my old teacher."
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
The imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms) is for wishes and doubts about the past, and for the if-part of hypothetical sentences (si + imperfect subjunctive, conditional). This page shows the -ra forms from the engine. Example: Si ella reconociera a mi antigua profesora, todo cambiaría. — "If she recognised my old teacher, everything would change."
Present perfect
The present perfect (haber + past participle) is for past actions connected to the present — recent events, experience, or something that has just happened. The auxiliary is always haber. Example: Yo he reconocido la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono varias veces. — "I have recognised my grandfather's voice on the phone several times."
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (había + past participle) is the past of the past: something that had already happened before another past event. Example: Yo había reconocido a mi antigua profesora antes de la reunión. — "I had recognised my old teacher before the meeting."
Future perfect
The future perfect (habré + past participle) is for something that will already be finished by a future moment, or for a guess about the past. It is less common in speech than the simple future. Example: Para mañana, yo habré reconocido a mi antigua profesora. — "By tomorrow, I will have recognised my old teacher."
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect (habría + past participle) is for what would have happened — the past of the conditional, used for regrets and unreal past conditions. Example: Yo habría reconocido a mi antigua profesora si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have recognised my old teacher if I had had time."
Imperative — affirmative
The affirmative imperative is for direct orders, instructions and invitations. The tú form comes from the present él/ella form, and the formal, nosotros and plural forms come from the present subjunctive. Example: ¡reconoce a mi antigua profesora! — "Recognise my old teacher!"
Imperative — negative
The negative imperative (no + subjunctive) is for telling someone not to do something. All five persons come from the present subjunctive, which is why they look different from the affirmative tú form. Example: No reconozcas a mi antigua profesora. — "Do not recognise my old teacher."
Example sentences with reconocer
Yo reconozco a mi antigua profesora. — "I recognise my old teacher."
¿Tú reconoces la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono? — "Do you recognise my grandfather's voice on the phone?"
Ayer, él reconoció a mi antigua profesora. — "Yesterday, he recognised my old teacher."
Nosotros reconocimos la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono a tiempo. — "We recognised my grandfather's voice on the phone on time."
Antes, ellos reconocían a mi antigua profesora. — "Before, they recognised my old teacher."
Mañana, yo reconoceré la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono. — "Tomorrow, I will recognise my grandfather's voice on the phone."
Nosotros reconoceríamos a mi antigua profesora si pudiéramos. — "We would recognise my old teacher if we could."
Yo he reconocido la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono varias veces. — "I have recognised my grandfather's voice on the phone several times."
Espero que ella reconozca a mi antigua profesora. — "I hope she will recognise my old teacher."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy reconociendo la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono. — "Right now, I am recognising my grandfather's voice on the phone."
Common mistakes with reconocer
1. Writing ✗ reconoco instead of the correct present form
The correct yo form in the present is reconozco. Learners often build it straight from the infinitive, but this verb changes its stem or spelling in the present, so memorise the yo form — the present subjunctive and the formal imperative are built from it.
2. Confusing reconocer with conocer (to know, to meet)
reconocer means "to recognise", while conocer means "to know, to meet". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use reconocer when you mean recognising people, places and things you have seen before, and conocer for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of conocer before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo reconocí a mi antigua profesora (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo reconocía a mi antigua profesora (imperfect: what used to happen). If you can add "yesterday" or "last week", you usually want the preterite; if you can add "used to", you want the imperfect.
4. Using estar instead of haber in the perfect tenses
The present perfect is he reconocido (haber + participle), never estoy reconocido. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Dropping the preposition before the complement
reconocer takes a here: yo reconozco a mi antigua profesora. Dropping the preposition (yo reconozco mi antigua profesora) sounds wrong to a native speaker, so learn the verb together with its preposition.
Quiz: reconocer
1. Yo ___ a mi antigua profesora.
a. reconoce b. reconozco c. reconocen
2. Ella ___ a mi antigua profesora.
a. reconozco b. reconoce c. reconocen
3. Ayer, yo ___ a mi antigua profesora.
a. reconozco b. reconocí c. reconoce
4. Ellos ___ a mi antigua profesora ayer.
a. reconozco b. reconocieron c. reconoce
5. Antes, yo ___ a mi antigua profesora.
a. reconozco b. reconocía c. reconoce
6. Mañana, yo ___ a mi antigua profesora.
a. reconozco b. reconoceré c. reconoce
7. Yo ___ a mi antigua profesora si pudiera.
a. reconozco b. reconocería c. reconoce
8. Espero que ella ___ a mi antigua profesora.
a. reconozco b. reconozca c. reconoce
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono.
a. reconocido b. reconociendo c. reconozco
10. Yo he ___ la voz de mi abuelo por teléfono varias veces.
a. reconociendo b. reconocido c. reconozco
Answer key
reconozco — present tense, yo form.
reconoce — present tense, él/ella form.
reconocí — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
reconocieron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
reconocía — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
reconoceré — future, yo form.
reconocería — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
reconozca — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
reconociendo — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
reconocido — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about reconocer
What does reconocer mean in English?
Reconocer means "to recognise". It is used for recognising people, places and things you have seen before. A simple example is yo reconozco a mi antigua profesora — "I recognise my old teacher."
Is reconocer regular or irregular?
Reconocer is a irregular -er verb; c → zc spelling change before o and a verb, and it is regular in its endings, with a spelling change. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form reconozco, the preterite yo form reconocí and the past participle reconocido — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of reconocer?
The gerund is reconociendo (used for the progressive: estoy reconociendo) and the past participle is reconocido (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he reconocido). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I recognise" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo reconocí a mi antigua profesora — "yesterday I recognised my old teacher". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo reconocía a mi antigua profesora — "before, I recognised my old teacher". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does reconocer take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Reconocer on its own takes the indicative — yo reconozco a mi antigua profesora. You will meet the subjunctive with reconocer only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is reconozca.