Skip to content
fluentbyear

SPANISH VERB

pillar

to catch (out)

  • Regular -ar verb
  • Gerund: pillando
  • Past participle: pillado

Conjugation

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

Present

Presente · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Pretérito indefinido · finished actions

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

Imperfect

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

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Condicional · “would”

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Past subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

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

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

How to use pillar

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

  1. Present

    Siempre pillo a mi hijo con el móvil a medianoche.

    I always catch my son on his phone at midnight.

  2. Past

    La profesora pilló a dos alumnos copiando.

    The teacher caught two students copying.

  3. Imperfect

    Mi madre nos pillaba cada vez que mentíamos.

    My mother caught us out every time we lied.

  4. Future

    Un día te pillarán y no sabrás qué decir.

    One day they'll catch you out and you won't know what to say.

  5. Conditional

    Con esa excusa, te pillaría hasta un niño.

    With that excuse, even a child would catch you out.

  6. Present subjunctive

    Esconde el regalo antes de que te pille.

    Hide the present before she catches you.

  7. Past subjunctive

    Salimos por detrás para que nadie nos pillara.

    We went out the back so nobody would catch us.

  8. Imperative

    Píllalo con las manos en la masa y se acabó.

    Catch him red-handed and that's the end of it.

Good to know

  • "Pillar" is very Spanish: te he pillado, caught you; "pillar un resfriado" is to catch a cold; "¿lo pillas?" is "get it?".
  • "Me pilla lejos" means it's out of my way; "me pilla de camino" is on my way.

Where you hear pillar

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

Spanish · Fluency Level 3

  • Cuando Manolo dice que las croquetas son de hoy, siempre lo pillo. When Manolo says the croquettes are from today, I always catch him out.
  • Anoche pillé a Julián comiendo turrón a las tres de la mañana. Last night I caught Julian eating nougat at three in the morning.
  • Esta noche voy a pillar a Julián con las manos en la masa. Tonight I'm going to catch Julian red-handed.
7
An Idea for a Book

Fluency Level 3 · Me habéis pillado. · Me has pillado.

Needs a subscription

Verbs like this one

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