Spanish Verb Recoger Conjugation

Recoger, a Spanish verb that usually conveys the idea of picking up or gathering things, is conjugated regularly in terms of pronunciation but not in spelling.

Recoger is conjugated the same way as other -er verbs except that the g in the stem of recog- becomes j when it comes before an a or o. This affects mainly the subjunctive present tense and the imperative mood. The first-person singular present indicative also becomes recojo instead of recogo.

The recoger conjugation tables below also include the two indicative past tenses (preterite and imperfect), the conditional tense, the future tense, the imperfect subjunctive, the past participle, and the gerund.

Recoger Meaning

Recoger can be translated in a wide variety of ways depending on the context. The most common translations include "to pick up," "to gather," "to collect," "to tidy up," and "to harvest." The verb can be used figuratively, as in recoger los pensamientos (to gather one's thoughts). Although "pick up" is used in the chart below, the sample Spanish sentences are sometimes better translated using one of the alternatives.

Present Indicative Tense of Recoger

The present indicative tense is, of course, commonly used for actions occurring at present. It can be used as the equivalent not only of "pick up" or "picks up," but also of "is picking up" or "are picking up."

Recoger Preterite

The preterite is a simple past tense used for actions that occurred at a definite time or over a definite time period. It contrasts with the imperfect, a simple past tense for actions that took place over an indefinite or unspecified time.

Imperfect Indicative Form of Recoger

Recoger Future Tense

Periphrastic Future of Recoger

The periphrastic future has basically the same meaning as the simple future shown above. However, it is both more informal and more common, especially in speech.

Present Progressive/Gerund Form of Recoger

The Spanish gerund is also known as the present participle. It is used to form the continuous or progressive tenses.

Gerund of Recoger: recogiendo

Is picking up -> Ella está recogiendo las piezas del juego.

Past Participle of Recoger

The past participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective to describe nouns. For example, la información recogida could refer to information that has been collected.

Participle of Recoger: ha recogido

Has picked up -> Ella ha recogido las piezas del juego.

Conditional Form of Recoger

Present Subjunctive of Recoger

The subjunctive mood is used much more often in Spanish than in English. The present subjunctive is used for actions that could take place in the present or future.

Imperfect Subjunctive Form of Recoger

Most of the time, there's no difference in meaning between these two forms of the imperfect subjunctive. You'll hear the first option more frequently.

Option 1

Option 2

Imperative Forms of Recoger

The imperative mood is used for direct commands.

Imperative (Positive Command)

Imperative (Negative Command)