Spanish Verb Bucear Conjugation, Usage, and Examples

Two scuba divers about to submerge into sea - giving the "all ok" hand signal, Komodo Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
Están listos para ir a bucear. (They are ready to go scuba diving).

Henn Photography / Getty Images
By
Jocelly Meiners
Jocelly Meiners author photo
Jocelly Meiners
Professor of Hispanic Linguistics
  • Ph.D., Hispanic Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
  • M.A., French Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
  • B.A., French and Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Jocelly Meiners has taught language courses at the University of Texas at Austin since 2008. She holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic linguistics and an M.A. in French linguistics.
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Updated on November 30, 2019

The Spanish verb bucear means to dive, to scuba dive, or to swim underwater. In a figurative sense, it can mean to explore or to delve into a subject.

Bucear is a regular -ar verb. That means that it follows the same conjugation pattern as other regular -ar verbs like crear, desear, and doblar.

Something to note about the verb bucear and other verbs with the ea or ee letter combinations, is that the sound of the e is often reduced and pronounced like an i in informal speech. For example, the first person plural conjugation in the present tense is buceamos, but you might hear it pronounced as buciamos, or the first person singular preterite conjugation bucée as bucié. The spelling remains unaltered, but the informal pronunciation may vary.

In this article you can find tables with the conjugations of bucear in the present, past, conditional, and future indicative mood, the present and past subjunctive mood, the imperative mood, and other verb forms. The tables also contain examples of how the verb bucear is used, along with their translations.

Present Indicative

Yo buceo Yo buceo en el océano Pacífico. I scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Tú buceas Tú buceas con tus amigos. You scuba dive with your friends.
Usted/él/ella bucea Ella bucea durante sus vacaciones. She scuba dives during her vacation.
Nosotros buceamos Nosotros buceamos en la piscina. We swim underwater in the pool.
Vosotros buceáis Vosotros buceáis entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. You dive into the documents to find the answer.
Ustedes/ellos/ellas bucean Ellos bucean entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. They dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Preterite Indicative

There are two forms of the past tense in Spanish. The preterite is used to describe completed actions in the past.

Yo buceé Yo buceé en el océano Pacífico. I scuba dived in the Pacific Ocean.
Tú buceaste Tú buceaste con tus amigos. You scuba dived with your friends.
Usted/él/ella buceó Ella buceó durante sus vacaciones. She scuba dived during her vacation.
Nosotros buceamos Nosotros buceamos en la piscina. We swam underwater in the pool.
Vosotros buceasteis Vosotros buceasteis entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. You dived into the documents to find the answer.
Ustedes/ellos/ellas bucearon Ellos bucearon entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. They dived into the trash to find the lost ring.

Imperfect Indicative

The other past tense in Spanish is the imperfect tense. The imperfect is used to describe ongoing or habitual actions in the past. It can be translated to English as "was diving" or "used to dive."

Yo buceaba Yo buceaba en el océano Pacífico. I used to scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Tú buceabas Tú buceabas con tus amigos. You used to scuba dive with your friends.
Usted/él/ella buceaba Ella buceaba durante sus vacaciones. She used to scuba dive during her vacation.
Nosotros buceábamos Nosotros buceábamos en la piscina. We used to swim underwater in the pool.
Vosotros buceabais Vosotros buceabais entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. You used to dive into the documents to find the answer.
Ustedes/ellos/ellas buceaban Ellos buceaban entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. They used to dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Future Indicative

Yo bucearé Yo bucearé en el océano Pacífico. I will scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Tú bucearás Tú bucearás con tus amigos. You will scuba dive with your friends.
Usted/él/ella buceará Ella buceará durante sus vacaciones. She will scuba dive during her vacation.
Nosotros bucearemos Nosotros bucearemos en la piscina. We will swim underwater in the pool.
Vosotros bucearéis Vosotros bucearéis entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. You will dive into the documents to find the answer.
Ustedes/ellos/ellas bucearán Ellos bucearán entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. They will dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Periphrastic Future Indicative 

Yo voy a bucear Yo voy a bucear en el océano Pacífico. I am going to scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Tú vas a bucear Tú vas a bucear con tus amigos. You are going to scuba dive with your friends.
Usted/él/ella va a bucear Ella va a bucear durante sus vacaciones. She is going to scuba dive during her vacation.
Nosotros vamos a bucear Nosotros vamos a bucear en la piscina. We are going to swim underwater in the pool.
Vosotros vais a bucear Vosotros vais a bucear entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. You are going to dive into the documents to find the answer.
Ustedes/ellos/ellas van a bucear Ellos van a bucear entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. They are going to dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Present Progressive/Gerund Form

The gerund or present participle is the equivalent of the English -ing form. This verb form can be used as an adverb or to form progressive verb tenses like the present progressive.

Present Progressive of Bucear está buceando Ella está buceando con sus amigos. She is scuba diving with her friends.

Past Participle

The past participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective or to form perfect tenses such as the present perfect.

Present Perfect of Bucear ha buceado Ella ha buceado con sus amigos. She has scuba dived with her friends.

Conditional Indicative

The conditional tense is the equivalent to the English "would + verb." It is used to talk about possibilities or conditions.

Yo bucearía Yo bucearía en el océano Pacífico, pero es muy lejos. I would scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean, but it's very far away.
Tú bucearías Tú bucearías con tus amigos si ellos quisieran. You would scuba dive with your friends if they wanted to.
Usted/él/ella bucearía Ella bucearía durante sus vacaciones si tuviera el dinero. She would scuba dive during her vacation if she had the money.
Nosotros bucearíamos Nosotros bucearíamos en la piscina, pero nos da miedo. We would swim underwater in the pool, but we are scared.
Vosotros bucearíais Vosotros bucearíais entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta si os dejaran. You would dive into the documents to find the answer if they let you.
Ustedes/ellos/ellas bucearían Ellos bucearían entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido, pero les da pereza. They would dive into the trash to find the lost ring, but they are lazy.

Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive is a mood that is used to express desire, doubt, denial, emotion, negation, possibility, or other subjective situations. Sentences with subjunctive always contain two clauses.

Que yo bucee El instructor quiere que yo bucee en el océano Pacífico. The instructor wants me to scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Que tú bucees Federico espera que tú bucees con tus amigos. Federico hopes that you scuba dive with your friends.
Que usted/él/ella bucee Érica sugiere que ella bucee durante sus vacaciones. Erica suggests that she scuba dive during her vacations.
Que nosotros buceemos Pablo recomienda que nosotros buceemos en la piscina. Pablo recommends that we swim underwater in the pool.
Que vosotros buceéis La abogada espera que vosotros buceéis entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. The lawyer hopes that you dive into the documents to find the answer.
Que ustedes/ellos/ellas buceen La chica quiere que ustedes buceen entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. The girl wants you to dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Imperfect Subjunctive

There are two different ways to conjugate the imperfect subjunctive:

Option 1

Que yo buceara El instructor quería que yo buceara en el océano Pacífico. The instructor wanted me to scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Que tú bucearas Federico esperaba que tú bucearas con tus amigos. Federico hoped that you would scuba dive with your friends.
Que usted/él/ella buceara Érica sugirió que ella buceara durante sus vacaciones. Erica suggested that she scuba dive during her vacations.
Que nosotros buceáramos Pablo recomendaba que nosotros buceáramos en la piscina. Pablo recommended that we swim underwater in the pool.
Que vosotros bucearais La abogada esperaba que vosotros bucearais entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. The lawyer hoped that you would dive into the documents to find the answer.
Que ustedes/ellos/ellas bucearan La chica quería que ustedes bucearan entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. The girl wanted you to dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Option 2

Que yo bucease El instructor quería que yo bucease en el océano Pacífico. The instructor wanted me to scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean.
Que tú buceases Federico esperaba que tú buceases con tus amigos. Federico hoped that you would scuba dive with your friends.
Que usted/él/ella bucease Érica sugirió que ella bucease durante sus vacaciones. Erica suggested that she scuba dive during her vacations.
Que nosotros buceásemos Pablo recomendaba que nosotros buceásemos en la piscina. Pablo recommended that we swim underwater in the pool.
Que vosotros buceaseis La abogada esperaba que vosotros buceaseis entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta. The lawyer hoped that you would dive into the documents to find the answer.
Que ustedes/ellos/ellas buceasen La chica quería que ustedes buceasen entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido. The girl wanted you to dive into the trash to find the lost ring.

Imperative

If you want to give a command or an order, you will need to use the imperative mood. Both affirmative and negative commands are shown in the tables below.

Positive Commands

Tú bucea ¡Bucea con tus amigos! Scuba dive with your friends!
Usted bucee ¡Bucee durante sus vacaciones! Scuba dive during your vacation!
Nosotros buceemos ¡Buceemos en la piscina! Let's swim underwater in the pool!
Vosotros bucead ¡Bucead entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta! Dive into the documents to find the answer!
Ustedes buceen ¡Buceen entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido! Dive into the trash to find the lost ring!

Negative Commands

Tú no bucees ¡No bucees con tus amigos! Don't scuba dive with your friends!
Usted no bucee ¡No bucee durante sus vacaciones! Don't scuba dive during your vacation!
Nosotros no buceemos ¡No buceemos en la piscina! Let's not swim underwater in the pool!
Vosotros no buceéis ¡No buceéis entre los documentos para encontrar la respuesta! Don't dive into the documents to find the answer!
Ustedes no buceen ¡No buceen entre la basura para encontrar el anillo perdido! Don't dive into the trash to find the lost ring!
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Meiners, Jocelly. "Spanish Verb Bucear Conjugation, Usage, and Examples." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/bucear-conjugation-in-spanish-4777751. Meiners, Jocelly. (2023, April 5). Spanish Verb Bucear Conjugation, Usage, and Examples. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/bucear-conjugation-in-spanish-4777751 Meiners, Jocelly. "Spanish Verb Bucear Conjugation, Usage, and Examples." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/bucear-conjugation-in-spanish-4777751 (accessed May 30, 2023).