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SPANISH VERB

ocupar

to take up, to occupy

  • #123 most used
  • Regular -ar verb
  • Gerund: ocupando
  • Past participle: ocupado

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Presente · now, habits and facts

  1. yo I take up
  2. tú you take up
  3. usted, él, ella he/she takes up
  4. nosotros we take up
  5. vosotros Spain you all take up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they take up

Past

Pretérito indefinido · finished actions

  1. yo I took up
  2. tú you took up
  3. usted, él, ella he/she took up
  4. nosotros we took up
  5. vosotros Spain you all took up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they took up

Imperfect

Pretérito imperfecto · “used to” and “was …ing”

  1. yo I used to take up
  2. tú you used to take up
  3. usted, él, ella he/she used to take up
  4. nosotros we used to take up
  5. vosotros Spain you all used to take up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they used to take up

Future

Futuro · plans and promises; in speech, “voy a hablar” is just as common

  1. yo I will take up
  2. tú you will take up
  3. usted, él, ella he/she will take up
  4. nosotros we will take up
  5. vosotros Spain you all will take up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they will take up

Conditional

Condicional · “would”

  1. yo I would take up
  2. tú you would take up
  3. usted, él, ella he/she would take up
  4. nosotros we would take up
  5. vosotros Spain you all would take up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they would take up

Present subjunctive

Presente de subjuntivo · wishes, doubts, “que …”

  1. yo (that) I take up
  2. tú (that) you take up
  3. usted, él, ella (that) he/she take up
  4. nosotros (that) we take up
  5. vosotros Spain (that) you all take up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas (that) they take up

Past subjunctive

Imperfecto de subjuntivo · “if I were”, “si …”

  1. yo (if) I took up
  2. tú (if) you took up
  3. usted, él, ella (if) he/she took up
  4. nosotros (if) we took up
  5. vosotros Spain (if) you all took up
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas (if) they took up

Imperative

Imperativo · requests and orders; a negative one uses the subjunctive (no hables)

  1. tú take up!
  2. usted take up! (formal)
  3. nosotros take up! (let’s)
  4. vosotros Spain take up! (all of you)
  5. ustedes take up! (all of you)

How to use ocupar

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    La cama ocupa casi toda la habitación.

    The bed takes up almost the whole room.

  2. Past

    Ocupamos la mesa junto a la ventana.

    We took the table by the window.

  3. Imperfect

    Los libros ocupaban todas las paredes de su casa.

    Books took up every wall of his house.

  4. Future

    La maleta grande ocupará todo el maletero.

    The big suitcase will take up the whole trunk.

  5. Conditional

    Una mesa redonda ocuparía menos espacio aquí.

    A round table would take up less space here.

  6. Present subjunctive

    No quiero que ocupes el baño una hora otra vez.

    I don't want you taking the bathroom for an hour again.

  7. Past subjunctive

    Nos pidieron que ocupáramos los asientos de atrás.

    They asked us to take the back seats.

  8. Imperative

    ¡Ocupa este asiento, yo me bajo en la próxima!

    Take this seat, I'm getting off at the next one!

Good to know

  • "Ocuparse de" is to take care of something: "yo me ocupo de la cena". In Mexico "ocupar" also means to need: "¿ocupas algo?"

Where you hear ocupar

The lessons that teach a form of it, and how they say it.

Spanish · Intermediate Level 3

  • Las cajas de gasas ocupan todo el pasillo. The boxes of gauze take up the whole corridor.
  • Mis libros ocuparon toda la mesa. My books took up the whole table.
  • Mi prima va a ocupar tu lugar, gringa. My cousin is going to take your place, gringa.
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In the Meantime

Intermediate Level 3 · ocupar mi lugar

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Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: regular -ar verb.