conseguir

Conseguir means to get, to obtain, to achieve — and, when followed by an infinitive, to manage to (do something). It is the workhorse verb for talking about effort that pays off, and it is essential from A2 onward. Conjugation-wise, conseguir stacks two changes that frequently confuse learners: the e → i stem change inherited from seguir (consigo, consigues, consigue, consiguen) and the gu → g spelling shift that kicks in whenever the u would precede an o or an a (consigo, not consiguo; consiga, not consigua). The u is silent and exists only to keep the g hard before e and i; when the following vowel is already o or a, the u has no job and is dropped.

Non-finite forms

Note the gerund consiguiendo — here the e of conseguir becomes i (because the stem-changing -ir verbs shift in the gerund), and the u stays in place because it now precedes i and is needed to keep the g hard. The participle conseguido is fully regular, so all compound tenses are easy.

Indicative — simple tenses

Presente

The e becomes i in every form except nosotros and vosotros (the so-called boot or shoe pattern — the change happens where the stress falls on the stem). The yo form consigo drops the u because it now precedes o. Compare: consigues keeps the u (silent, but needed before e); consigo drops it (the g before o is already hard).

Pretérito perfecto simple

Stem-changing -ir verbs apply their change in the third-person singular and plural of the preterite as well: consiguió, consiguieron. The yo and tú forms keep e (conseguí, conseguiste) because the stress falls on the ending, not the stem. The u stays everywhere here because it always precedes e or i.

Pretérito imperfecto

The imperfect is fully regular and does not stem-change. Every form takes an accent on the í.

Futuro simple

The future and conditional are built on the full infinitive, so no stem change and no spelling shift: conseguiré, with the u intact before é.

Condicional

Indicative — compound tenses

All compound tenses pair haber with the regular participle conseguido.

Pretérito perfecto compuesto

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto

Futuro compuesto

Condicional compuesto

Subjunctive — simple tenses

Presente de subjuntivo

In the present subjunctive of conseguir, the e → i shift applies to every person (because -ir stem-changers extend the change to nosotros and vosotros in the subjunctive), and the u drops everywhere because the ending is now -a- throughout: consiga, not consigua; consigamos, not consiguamos. This is the single trickiest table in the paradigm — write it out by hand a few times.

Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)

The imperfect subjunctive is built from the third-person plural preterite (consiguieron), so the e → i change and the u both survive. Both endings are interchangeable; -ra dominates in spoken Spain.

Subjunctive — compound tenses

Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo

Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo

Imperative

The peninsular affirmative vosotros form conseguid is mandatory in Spain. Like the subjunctive, the negative imperative drops the u and applies the e → i change throughout.

Note the asymmetry inside the vosotros row: affirmative conseguid (built on the infinitive stem, u intact) versus negative no consigáis (built on the subjunctive, u dropped). This is one of the cleanest examples of how the -gu- spelling rule operates.

Conseguir + infinitivo: the key pattern

The single most important syntactic pattern for this verb is conseguir + bare infinitive, which translates to to manage to + verb. There is no de, no que, no a between them — just the infinitive:

• Conseguí terminar a tiempo. — I managed to finish on time.
• No consigo dormir. — I can't manage to sleep.
• Han conseguido convencerla. — They've managed to convince her.

This construction is everywhere in everyday speech and is the main reason A2 learners need conseguir. It expresses success against effort or difficulty — the verb that follows is what was achieved. English splits this between manage to, succeed in, get to; Spanish unifies it under conseguir + infinitive.

High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spain

Note the construction conseguir que + subjunctive when the achievement involves persuading someone else: conseguí que viniera (I got him to come). Two clauses, two subjects, subjunctive in the subordinate clause.

The classic English-speaker error

English speakers reaching for manage to often produce ❌ consigo a terminar or ❌ consigo de terminar by analogy with I'm going to or I tried to. Conseguir takes the bare infinitive — no preposition. The same trap appears with intentar, querer, poder, necesitar, decidir: these verbs all chain directly to an infinitive with nothing in between. Memorize conseguir + infinitivo as a unit and the error disappears.

A second issue: English speakers tend to use get for receive (I got an email) and reach for conseguir there too — but recibir is the right verb for that meaning. Conseguir implies effort that succeeded. You consigues something you worked for; you recibes something that arrived.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Conseguir combines two changes: e → i in the boot pattern and gu → g before o and a. The interaction produces consigo, consigas, consiga — drop the u whenever the next vowel is o or a.
• The vosotros affirmative imperative is conseguid (with u, regular); the negative is no consigáis (no u, from the subjunctive).
• Conseguir + infinitive (no preposition) is the central pattern — it translates English manage to.
• Conseguir que
  • subjunctive is the pattern for get someone to do something.
• The participle conseguido is regular, so all compound tenses are straightforward.