Spanish Verb Encantar Conjugation

Encantar is a transitive verb that can be translated as "to enchant" or "to bewitch." However, it is most often used to express an extreme like or love for an object. For example, Me encanta el chocolate is translated as I love chocolate. This article includes encantar conjugations reflecting this usage in the present, past, conditional and future indicative, the present and past subjunctive, the imperative, and other verb forms.

The verbs encantar and gustar have a unique property: they are considered backward verbs. They are frequently used in the third person, where the subject in the English sentence becomes the object in Spanish. For example, the English sentence "I like the house" (subject + verb + object) is reversed as me gusta la casa (object + verb + subject) in Spanish. If we wish to say "I like the house very much" or "I love the house," the phrase would be translated as Me encanta la casa.

Backward verb sentence construction is not unique to Spanish. English also uses this sentence formation in some instances. For example, look at the flipped sentence, "Love matters to me." This backward construction in English and Spanish is inherited from Latin verbs in the 1500s that had this flipped verb-subject usage.

The Spanish language uniquely borrowed several verbs from Latin, used the Latin backward construction, and then extended this construction to more than two dozen newly formed verbs over time. 

The following list includes other Spanish backward verbs. Note that most are used to describe opinions or psychological/physical reactions, possession, or involvement.

• aburrir - to bore
• faltar - to lack
• molestar - to bother
• interesar - to interest
• disgustar - to disgust
• picar - to itch
• fastidiar - to annoy
• importar - to care about something
• quedar - to remain

When used with the meaning of "to enchant" or "to bewitch", encantar is conjugated like any regular -ar verb such as tratar, or ayudar. For example, you can say La bruja encanta a la niña (The witch enchants the girl). However, encantar is more commonly used as a backward verb meaning "to love something." To reflect this popular usage, this article includes conjugations of encantar as a backward verb. For all of these conjugations, the subject of the sentence is the object that is loved. If the object is singular or a verb, the third person singular conjugation is used, and if the object is plural, the third person plural conjugation is used.

Note that all of the conjugations use indirect object pronouns to show who loves the object, and the object always includes the definite article (el, la, los, las).

Sentences with verbs like encantar may include the preposition a plus a pronoun or noun that matches the indirect object. This is usually included to draw attention to or make explicit the entity that is doing the liking. For example, A muchas mujeres les encantan los cuentos de amor, which means, "Many women really like love stories."

We use the preterite to describe completed actions in the past. When used with encantar, it usually means that when you see or experience something for the first time, you love it.

We use the imperfect tense to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past. When used with encantar, it would mean that you used to love something, but not anymore.

The conditional tense is used to talk about possibilities.

Note that there are two options for conjugating the imperfect subjunctive:

Option 1

Option 2

The imperative mood is used to give commands or orders. If you use encantar as a regular verb meaning to enchant or bewitch someone, then you can use the imperative forms as with other regular -ar verbs. However, when encantar is used as a backward verb to mean to love something, the subject of the sentence is the person who loves the object. Therefore, if you form the imperative for these backward verbs, you would be telling the object to enchant the person, instead of telling the person to love the object. For that reason, the imperative forms of encantar are rarely used when the verb is a backward verb. If you wanted to tell someone to love something, you could use a structure with the subjunctive, such as Quiero que te encante bailar (I want you to love dancing).