Encontrar Conjugation | How to Conjugate Encontrar in Spanish

Encontrar means “to find” or “to come across.” You will learn its o → ue present-family change, regular past and future forms, and the main transitive uses of the non-pronominal verb.

Encontrar conjugation at a glance

Verb type: Irregular. Encontrar follows the same stem-change pattern as contar: stressed present forms use encuentr-, as in encuentro — “I find,” while nosotros/nosotras and vosotros/vosotras keep encontr-. The gerund encontrando — “finding” — and participle encontrado — “found” — are regular.

Encontrar gerund, past participle, and infinitive

The infinitive names the verb, the gerund supports progressive constructions, and the past participle combines with haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — in compound forms. With haber, the participle remains invariant.

Form	Spanish	Natural English guide
Infinitive	encontrar	to find
Gerund	encontrando	finding
Past participle	encontrado	found

Encontrar meaning and essential uses

Encontrar — “to find / come across” — is commonly transitive: Encuentro las llaves. — “I find the keys.” It can describe finding something deliberately or coming across it unexpectedly.

It also supports perception or evaluation with a complement: Encuentro útil esta herramienta. — “I find this tool useful.” RAE records several pronominal uses, but those belong to encontrarse — “to find oneself / be located / meet” — as a distinct usage pattern rather than the core paradigm taught here.

Encontrar irregular conjugation patterns

The stressed present forms use encuentr-: encuentro, encuentras, encuentra, encuentran — “I find, you find, he/she finds, they find.” The nosotros/nosotras and vosotros/vosotras forms keep encontr-.

The present subjunctive follows the same stress pattern: encuentre — “that I find” — but encontremos — “that we find.” The preterite, imperfect, future, conditional, gerund, and participle do not use a separate irregular stem.

Encontrar indicative and periphrastic conjugations

Encontrar present tense conjugation

Present indicative (el presente de indicativo) — Use it for current actions, habits, facts, and contextually near-future events. Stressed forms use encuentr-, while nosotros/nosotras and vosotros/vosotras keep encontr-.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encuentro	I find
Tú — you, singular informal	encuentras	you find
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encuentra	he / she finds; you find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontramos	we find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontráis	you find (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encuentran	they find; you find (plural)

• Encuentro mis llaves en el cajón. — I find my keys in the drawer.

Encontrar preterite conjugation

Preterite (el pretérito perfecto simple / pretérito indefinido) — Use it for completed or bounded past events. It uses the regular -AR preterite endings.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encontré	I found
Tú — you, singular informal	encontraste	you found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encontró	he / she found; you found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontramos	we found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontrasteis	you found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encontraron	they found; you found (plural)

• Ayer encontré una cafetería tranquila. — Yesterday I found a quiet café.

Encontrar imperfect conjugation

Imperfect (el pretérito imperfecto) — Use it for habitual, descriptive, background, or ongoing past situations. It uses the regular -AR imperfect endings.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encontraba	I used to find / was finding
Tú — you, singular informal	encontrabas	you used to find / were finding
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encontraba	he / she used to find / was finding; you used to find / were finding (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontrábamos	we used to find / were finding
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontrabais	you used to find / were finding (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encontraban	they used to find / were finding; you used to find / were finding (plural)

• Antes encontraba monedas en ese cajón. — I used to find coins in that drawer.

Encontrar present progressive

Present progressive — This verbal periphrasis focuses on an action or process in progress. Form it with present estar — “to be” — plus encontrando — “finding.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	estoy encontrando	I am finding
Tú — you, singular informal	estás encontrando	you are finding
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	está encontrando	he / she is finding; you are finding (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	estamos encontrando	we are finding
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	estáis encontrando	you are finding (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	están encontrando	they are finding; you are finding (plural)

• Estamos encontrando nuevas soluciones. — We are finding new solutions.

Encontrar near future conjugation

Near future — This verbal periphrasis expresses an intention, plan, or expected event. Form it with present ir — “to go” — plus a — “to” — and encontrar — “to find.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	voy a encontrar	I am going to find
Tú — you, singular informal	vas a encontrar	you are going to find
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	va a encontrar	he / she is going to find; you are going to find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	vamos a encontrar	we are going to find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	vais a encontrar	you are going to find (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	van a encontrar	they are going to find; you are going to find (plural)

• Voy a encontrar una forma de hacerlo. — I am going to find a way to do it.

Encontrar future tense conjugation

Simple future (el futuro simple) — Use it for future reference and, when useful, probability. The endings attach to the full infinitive; this verb has no separate irregular future or conditional stem.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encontraré	I will find
Tú — you, singular informal	encontrarás	you will find
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encontrará	he / she will find; you will find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontraremos	we will find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontraréis	you will find (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encontrarán	they will find; you will find (plural)

• Encontraremos una respuesta pronto. — We will find an answer soon.

Encontrar conditional conjugation

Conditional (el condicional simple) — Use it for hypothetical outcomes, softened statements, or related conditional meanings. The endings attach to the full infinitive; this verb has no separate irregular future or conditional stem.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encontraría	I would find
Tú — you, singular informal	encontrarías	you would find
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encontraría	he / she would find; you would find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontraríamos	we would find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontraríais	you would find (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encontrarían	they would find; you would find (plural)

• Encontraría el lugar con un mapa. — I would find the place with a map.

Encontrar present perfect conjugation

Present perfect (el pretérito perfecto compuesto) — Use it for completed events connected to a present reference frame; its distribution varies regionally. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	he encontrado	I have found
Tú — you, singular informal	has encontrado	you have found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	ha encontrado	he / she has found; you have found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	hemos encontrado	we have found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	habéis encontrado	you have found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	han encontrado	they have found; you have found (plural)

• Ya he encontrado el documento. — I have already found the document.

Encontrar past perfect conjugation

Past perfect (el pretérito pluscuamperfecto) — Use it for an event completed before another past reference point. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	había encontrado	I had found
Tú — you, singular informal	habías encontrado	you had found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	había encontrado	he / she had found; you had found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	habíamos encontrado	we had found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	habíais encontrado	you had found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	habían encontrado	they had found; you had found (plural)

• Habíamos encontrado una solución provisional. — We had found a temporary solution.

Encontrar future perfect conjugation

Future perfect (el futuro perfecto) — Use it for an event expected to be completed before a future reference point. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	habré encontrado	I will have found
Tú — you, singular informal	habrás encontrado	you will have found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	habrá encontrado	he / she will have found; you will have found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	habremos encontrado	we will have found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	habréis encontrado	you will have found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	habrán encontrado	they will have found; you will have found (plural)

• Para mañana habrán encontrado al responsable. — By tomorrow they will have found the person responsible.

Encontrar conditional perfect conjugation

Conditional perfect (el condicional compuesto) — Use it for a hypothetical completed outcome. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	habría encontrado	I would have found
Tú — you, singular informal	habrías encontrado	you would have found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	habría encontrado	he / she would have found; you would have found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	habríamos encontrado	we would have found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	habríais encontrado	you would have found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	habrían encontrado	they would have found; you would have found (plural)

• Habría encontrado el archivo con más tiempo. — I would have found the file with more time.

Encontrar subjunctive conjugations

Encontrar present subjunctive conjugation

Present subjunctive (el presente de subjuntivo) — Use it in subordinate environments involving wishes, influence, emotion, doubt or denial, evaluation, necessity, possibility, or non-specific reference. Stressed forms use encuentr-, while nosotros/nosotras and vosotros/vosotras use encontr-.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encuentre	that I find
Tú — you, singular informal	encuentres	that you find
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encuentre	that he / she find; that you find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontremos	that we find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontréis	that you find (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encuentren	that they find; that you find (plural)

• Espero que encuentres lo que buscas. — I hope you find what you are looking for.

Encontrar imperfect subjunctive conjugation

Imperfect subjunctive (el imperfecto de subjuntivo) — The main table uses the -ra series. The accepted -se series is also valid in many contexts and is demonstrated after the table; do not assume unrestricted interchangeability in every special construction. These forms are built from the third-person plural preterite family; the main table uses the -ra series.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encontrara	that I found
Tú — you, singular informal	encontraras	that you found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encontrara	that he / she found; that you found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontráramos	that we found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontrarais	that you found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encontraran	that they found; that you found (plural)

• Querían que encontráramos otra salida. — They wanted us to find another exit.
• Preferían que encontrases una opción más barata. — They preferred that you find a cheaper option.

Encontrar future subjunctive conjugation

Future subjunctive (el futuro de subjuntivo) — Rare in modern everyday Spanish. It survives mainly in formal, legal, proverbial, literary, or historical contexts. These rare reference forms share the same historical stem family as the imperfect subjunctive.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	encontrare	if / when I should find
Tú — you, singular informal	encontrares	if / when you should find
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	encontrare	if / when he / she should find; if / when you should find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	encontráremos	if / when we should find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontrareis	if / when you should find (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	encontraren	if / when they should find; if / when you should find (plural)

• Quien encontrare un objeto perdido deberá entregarlo. — Whoever should find a lost object must hand it in.

Encontrar present perfect subjunctive conjugation

Present perfect subjunctive (el pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo) — Use it when a completed event appears inside a present- or future-oriented subjunctive environment. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	haya encontrado	that I have found
Tú — you, singular informal	hayas encontrado	that you have found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	haya encontrado	that he / she has found; that you have found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	hayamos encontrado	that we have found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	hayáis encontrado	that you have found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	hayan encontrado	that they have found; that you have found (plural)

• Me alegra que hayas encontrado trabajo. — I am glad that you have found a job.

Encontrar past perfect subjunctive conjugation

Past perfect subjunctive (el pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo) — The main table uses hubiera; hubiese is an accepted auxiliary alternative in many contexts and is demonstrated after the table. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	hubiera encontrado	that I had found
Tú — you, singular informal	hubieras encontrado	that you had found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	hubiera encontrado	that he / she had found; that you had found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	hubiéramos encontrado	that we had found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	hubierais encontrado	that you had found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	hubieran encontrado	that they had found; that you had found (plural)

• Si hubiéramos encontrado el error antes, lo habríamos corregido. — If we had found the error earlier, we would have corrected it.
• Si hubieses encontrado el documento, me habrías llamado. — If you had found the document, you would have called me.

Encontrar future perfect subjunctive conjugation

Future perfect subjunctive (el futuro perfecto de subjuntivo) — Rare in modern everyday Spanish. Treat it as a formal or historical reference form, not an everyday conversational target. Form it with the appropriate form of haber — “to have” as an auxiliary — plus the participle encontrado — “found.”

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Yo — I	hubiere encontrado	if / when I should have found
Tú — you, singular informal	hubieres encontrado	if / when you should have found
Él / Ella / Usted — he / she / you, singular formal	hubiere encontrado	if / when he / she should have found; if / when you should have found (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we	hubiéremos encontrado	if / when we should have found
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	hubiereis encontrado	if / when you should have found (plural)
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes — they / you, plural	hubieren encontrado	if / when they should have found; if / when you should have found (plural)

• Si hubieren encontrado pruebas nuevas, deberán presentarlas. — If they should have found new evidence, they must present it.

Encontrar imperative and commands

Commands address another person directly. Spanish uses different morphological sources by person and polarity; the nosotros/nosotras row is a present-subjunctive form used with exhortative “let’s…” value.

Encontrar affirmative commands

Use affirmative commands for direct instructions when the meaning supports an instruction naturally. The table contains the five core addressee or exhortative rows.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Tú — you, singular informal	encuentra	find
Usted — you, singular formal	encuentre	find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we; let’s…	encontremos	let’s find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	encontrad	find (plural, mainly Spain)
Ustedes — you, plural	encuentren	find (plural)

• Encuentra una solución práctica. — Find a practical solution.

Encontrar negative commands

Negative commands use subjunctive-based forms, with no — “not / do not” — before the command form.

Pronoun and English meaning	Spanish	Natural English guide
Tú — you, singular informal	no encuentres	do not find
Usted — you, singular formal	no encuentre	do not find (formal)
Nosotros / Nosotras — we; let’s…	no encontremos	let’s not find
Vosotros / Vosotras — you, plural informal, mainly Spain	no encontréis	do not find (plural, mainly Spain)
Ustedes — you, plural	no encuentren	do not find (plural)

• No encuentres excusas para retrasarlo. — Do not find excuses to delay it.

Common constructions with Encontrar

These patterns show sentence frames that materially affect how the target verb is used.

• encontrar algo o a alguien. — to find something or someone.
• encontrar + object + adjective. — to find / consider something a certain way.
• encontrar una solución. — to find a solution.

Example sentences with Encontrar

These examples reinforce the target verb across useful forms and contexts already taught in the lesson.

• No encuentro mi teléfono. — I cannot find my phone.
• Encontramos un hotel cerca de la estación. — We found a hotel near the station.
• ¿Has encontrado las llaves? — Have you found the keys?
• Espero que encuentres una respuesta. — I hope you find an answer.
• Encuentro muy útil esta función. — I find this feature very useful.
• Encuentra un lugar tranquilo para trabajar. — Find a quiet place to work.

Regional and usage notes for Encontrar

The core tables retain tú, usted, vosotros/vosotras, and ustedes for project comparability. Voseo changes some common second-person singular forms in regions where vos — “you, singular informal” — is used.

• Vos encontrás la solución rápido. — You find the solution quickly. (voseo)
• Encontrá una opción mejor. — Find a better option. (affirmative vos command)

For encontrar, the main irregularity is concentrated in stressed present-family forms: encuentr- when the stem is stressed and encontr- when it is not. The other major tense families remain predictable.