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SPANISH VERB

proteger

to protect

  • #402 most used
  • Regular -er verb
  • Gerund: protegiendo
  • Past participle: protegido

Conjugation

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

Present

Presente · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Pretérito indefinido · finished actions

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

Imperfect

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

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

Condicional · “would”

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

Present subjunctive

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

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

Past subjunctive

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

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

Imperative

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

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

How to use proteger

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

  1. Present

    Este bloqueador protege la piel durante ocho horas.

    This sunscreen protects your skin for eight hours.

  2. Past

    La perra protegió a sus cachorros toda la noche.

    The dog protected her puppies all night.

  3. Imperfect

    Mi hermano mayor siempre me protegía en la escuela.

    My older brother always protected me at school.

  4. Future

    Este casco te protegerá si te caes de la bici.

    This helmet will protect you if you fall off your bike.

  5. Conditional

    Una buena contraseña protegería mejor tu cuenta.

    A good password would protect your account better.

  6. Present subjunctive

    Es importante que protejas tus documentos del agua.

    It's important that you protect your documents from water.

  7. Past subjunctive

    Compramos una funda para que protegiera el teléfono.

    We bought a case so it would protect the phone.

  8. Imperative

    ¡Protege a tu hermana pequeña en la calle!

    Protect your little sister in the street!

Good to know

  • "Protegerse de" is to protect yourself from something: protégete del sol.

Verbs like this one

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