Caber means to fit — to have enough room, to go inside, to be containable. It is one of the most stubbornly irregular verbs in Spanish, sharing its irregularity profile with saber (the two are practically twin paradigms): a fully irregular yo quepo in the present, a "strong" u-stem preterite (cupe, cupiste, cupo…), and a dropped-vowel future and conditional (cabré, cabría), where the -e- of the infinitive simply disappears before the future endings. None of this can be derived from the infinitive — caber must be memorized as a whole.
Beyond its conjugation, caber lives a second life as a high-frequency impersonal verb in fixed expressions: no cabe duda (there is no doubt), no cabe la menor duda (there is not the slightest doubt), cabe preguntarse (it is worth asking oneself), cabe destacar (it is worth pointing out). In journalistic and academic Spanish in Spain you will see these formulas constantly.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | caber | to fit |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber cabido | to have fit |
| Gerundio | cabiendo | fitting |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo cabido | having fit |
| Participio | cabido | fit (past participle) |
The participle cabido is regular — the irregularity of caber stops short of the participle.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quepo | cabes | cabe | cabemos | cabéis | caben |
The yo form quepo is the headline irregularity. It is not a yo-go verb in the tengo / pongo / salgo family — the irregularity goes deeper, producing quep- as the stem (with the c hardening to qu before o on the surface, just orthography). Every other person in the present uses the regular -er paradigm.
Yo no quepo en este coche, ¿podemos ir en el tuyo?
I don't fit in this car — can we take yours?
En este vagón ya no cabemos, esperamos al siguiente.
There's no more room for us in this carriage — we'll wait for the next one.
Pretérito perfecto simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cupe | cupiste | cupo | cupimos | cupisteis | cupieron |
The preterite of caber is a classic strong preterite (pretérito fuerte): the stem changes to cup- and the endings are unstressed (-e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron) — note that the yo and él forms are cupe and cupo, with no written accent, because the stress falls on the stem, not the ending. This is the same pattern as saber (supe), tener (tuve), estar (estuve), poder (pude), poner (puse), haber (hube), and andar (anduve).
Por suerte cupimos todos en un solo taxi.
Luckily we all fit into a single taxi.
No me lo creo: ese sofá no cupo por la puerta y tuvieron que pasarlo por la ventana.
I can't believe it — that sofa wouldn't fit through the door and they had to bring it through the window.
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cabía | cabías | cabía | cabíamos | cabíais | cabían |
The imperfect is perfectly regular for an -er verb. No yo-irregularity, no strong stem.
En la maleta vieja cabían el doble de cosas.
The old suitcase used to hold twice as much stuff.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cabré | cabrás | cabrá | cabremos | cabréis | cabrán |
In the future, the -e- of the infinitive caber simply drops: cabré, not caberé. This is the same "dropped-vowel" pattern that gives sabré, podré, querré, habré. The endings (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án) are standard.
¿Cabré yo también en el coche o tendréis que hacer dos viajes?
Will I fit in the car too, or will you have to make two trips?
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cabría | cabrías | cabría | cabríamos | cabríais | cabrían |
Same dropped-vowel stem as the future. The conditional endings (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían) attach to the cabr- stem.
Cabría preguntarse por qué nadie dijo nada antes.
One might well ask why no one said anything earlier.
The form cabría is especially common in the impersonal expression cabría preguntarse / esperar / pensar, used in journalistic and essayistic Spanish.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses use the regular participle cabido.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he cabido | has cabido | ha cabido | hemos cabido | habéis cabido | han cabido |
Esta vez todo el equipaje ha cabido en una sola maleta.
This time all the luggage has fit in a single suitcase.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había cabido | habías cabido | había cabido | habíamos cabido | habíais cabido | habían cabido |
Nunca antes habían cabido tantos invitados en aquel salón.
Never before had so many guests fit into that living room.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré cabido | habrás cabido | habrá cabido | habremos cabido | habréis cabido | habrán cabido |
Para entonces ya habrá cabido todo en la nueva oficina.
By then everything will already have fit into the new office.
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría cabido | habrías cabido | habría cabido | habríamos cabido | habríais cabido | habrían cabido |
Habría cabido en el ascensor si no llevásemos la silla de ruedas.
It would have fit in the lift if we weren't carrying the wheelchair.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quepa | quepas | quepa | quepamos | quepáis | quepan |
The whole subjunctive paradigm uses the irregular quep- stem (lifted from the yo form of the present indicative quepo). This is the standard rule for forming the present subjunctive of irregular verbs: take the irregular yo stem, swap to the opposite vowel.
Espero que quepamos todos en el coche de Marta.
I hope we all fit in Marta's car.
No creo que quepa la mesa por esa puerta.
I don't think the table will fit through that door.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | cupiera | cupieras | cupiera | cupiéramos | cupierais | cupieran |
| -se | cupiese | cupieses | cupiese | cupiésemos | cupieseis | cupiesen |
Built from the third-person plural preterite stem (cupieron → drop -ron, add -ra/-se endings). The strong cup- stem reappears here. Both -ra and -se sets are interchangeable.
Si cupiera en mi mochila, me lo llevaría conmigo.
If it fit in my backpack, I'd take it with me.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya cabido | hayas cabido | haya cabido | hayamos cabido | hayáis cabido | hayan cabido |
Me sorprende que hayan cabido todos en una sola mesa.
I'm surprised they've all fit at a single table.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera cabido | hubieras cabido | hubiera cabido | hubiéramos cabido | hubierais cabido | hubieran cabido |
| -se | hubiese cabido | hubieses cabido | hubiese cabido | hubiésemos cabido | hubieseis cabido | hubiesen cabido |
Si hubiera cabido en la maleta, te lo habría traído.
If it had fit in the suitcase, I would have brought it for you.
Imperative
Caber has an imperative paradigm in theory, but in practice it is almost never used — the meaning fit! is unusual as a command. When it does appear, the forms are these. The vosotros affirmative drops the -r of the infinitive and adds -d, as for any verb.
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | cabe | no quepas |
| usted | quepa | no quepa |
| nosotros | quepamos | no quepamos |
| vosotros | cabed | no quepáis |
| ustedes | quepan | no quepan |
The forms are listed here for completeness; in real speech, the impersonal third-person constructions (no cabe duda, no cabe la menor duda, cabe destacar, cabe preguntarse) carry most of the verb's weight in commands and assertions.
Caber as an impersonal verb — the high-frequency use
In Spain, caber shows up far more often in fixed impersonal expressions than in literal "to fit" sentences. These are the formulas you will encounter constantly in newspapers, essays, speeches, and educated speech. Most of them appear in the third-person singular indicative or conditional.
| Phrase | Translation | Register |
|---|---|---|
| no cabe duda (de que) | there is no doubt (that) | formal / journalistic |
| no cabe la menor duda | there is not the slightest doubt | formal |
| cabe destacar / señalar / mencionar | it is worth highlighting / pointing out / mentioning | academic / journalistic |
| cabe preguntarse | one might well ask oneself | academic / essay |
| cabe esperar / suponer | one can expect / suppose | formal |
| no cabe en sí (de alegría / orgullo) | (idiom) to be beside oneself (with joy / pride) | everyday |
| todo cabe | (idiom) anything is possible | everyday |
| no me cabe en la cabeza | (idiom) I can't get my head around it | everyday / colloquial |
No cabe duda de que la economía ha mejorado este trimestre.
There is no doubt that the economy has improved this quarter.
Cabe destacar el esfuerzo de los voluntarios durante la pandemia.
It is worth highlighting the volunteers' effort during the pandemic.
No me cabe en la cabeza cómo ha podido pasar esto.
I can't get my head around how this could have happened.
No cabía en sí de alegría cuando le dieron la noticia.
She was beside herself with joy when they gave her the news.
High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spanish
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| caber en la maleta / el coche / la nevera | to fit in the suitcase / the car / the fridge |
| no caber un alfiler | to be packed solid (literally "not a pin would fit") |
| no caber por la puerta | not to fit through the door (literal or metaphorical: of pride) |
| no me cabe duda | I have no doubt |
| no cabe más | no more will fit |
| cabe la posibilidad de que… | there is the possibility that… |
En el metro a las ocho de la mañana no cabe un alfiler.
On the metro at eight in the morning, you can't fit a pin in.
Cabe la posibilidad de que se cancele el vuelo por la huelga.
There's a possibility the flight will be canceled because of the strike.
The classic English-speaker error
English fit is often used reflexively or with into: I can't fit it in, it fits me well, the dress fits. Spanish caber is different in two ways. First, it is intransitive in its literal sense — the thing that fits is the subject, and the container is introduced by en: el sofá no cabe en el coche, not no caigo el sofá en el coche. The verb does not take a direct object. Second, when English uses fit to mean be the right size for clothing, Spanish does not use caber — it uses quedar bien / mal: este vestido te queda muy bien (that dress fits you really well), me queda grande (it's too big on me). Caber is strictly about volume / spatial capacity, not about cut or tailoring.
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo cabo en el coche.
The yo form is fully irregular: quepo, not cabo.
✅ Yo quepo en el coche.
I fit in the car.
❌ Ayer cabí en la última fila del cine.
The preterite has a strong stem: cupe, not cabí.
✅ Ayer cupe en la última fila del cine.
Yesterday I fit in the last row of the cinema.
❌ El año que viene caberé en esos pantalones.
The future drops the -e- of the infinitive: cabré, not caberé.
✅ El año que viene cabré en esos pantalones.
Next year I'll fit in those trousers.
❌ Este vestido no me cabe.
For clothing fit, Spanish uses quedar, not caber.
✅ Este vestido me queda grande. / Este vestido no me queda bien.
This dress is too big on me. / This dress doesn't fit me well.
❌ No quiero que cabas allí, vente conmigo.
The subjunctive uses the quep- stem from quepo: quepas, not cabas.
✅ No quiero que quepas ahí apretado, ven conmigo.
I don't want you cramped in there — come with me.
Key Takeaways
- Caber and saber share an irregularity recipe: irregular yo (quepo, sé), strong u-stem preterite (cupe, supe), dropped-vowel future (cabré, sabré). Learn them together.
- The whole present subjunctive (quepa, quepas, quepa, quepamos, quepáis, quepan) is built on the quep- stem.
- The strong preterite cupe / cupo has no written accent — the stress falls on the stem, not the ending.
- Caber is intransitive: the thing that fits is the subject, the container takes en.
- For clothing fit, use quedar, not caber: me queda bien, never me cabe bien.
- The impersonal expressions (no cabe duda, cabe destacar, cabe preguntarse) account for most of the verb's everyday use in formal Spain Spanish — learn them as chunks.
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