extinguir Present Conjugation
extinguir — to extinguish
The present tense of extinguir is mostly regular, but the 'yo' form changes to 'extingo' to keep the hard 'g' sound.
extinguir Present Forms
When to Use the Present
Use the present tense to talk about current actions, general facts, or things that are currently in the process of dying out or being put out.
Notes on extinguir in the Present
Extinguir is a spelling-change verb. In the 'yo' form, the 'u' is dropped (extingo) to maintain the hard 'g' sound before the 'o'. In all other forms, the 'u' stays to show the 'g' is hard before 'e' or 'i'.
Example Sentences
Yo extingo el fuego con la arena.
I extinguish the fire with the sand.
yo
Los bomberos extinguen el incendio rápidamente.
The firefighters extinguish the fire quickly.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Esta especie se extingue poco a poco.
This species is gradually becoming extinct.
él/ella/usted
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'extinguo' for the yo form.
Correct: extingo
Why: In Spanish, 'gu' followed by 'o' would sound like 'gwo'. To keep the hard 'g' sound of the infinitive, the 'u' must be dropped.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'extinguir' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Preterite
yo: extinguí
The preterite of extinguir is regular, focusing on completed actions like putting out a fire or a species going extinct.
Imperfect
yo: extinguía
The imperfect of extinguir is completely regular: extinguía, extinguías, extinguía, extinguíamos, extinguíais, extinguían.
Future
yo: extinguiré
The future tense of extinguir is regular, formed by adding endings to the full infinitive: extinguiré, extinguirás, etc.
Conditional
yo: extinguiría
The conditional of extinguir is regular: extinguiría, extinguirías, extinguiría, extinguiríamos, extinguiríais, extinguirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: extinga
The present subjunctive of extinguir changes the 'gu' to 'g' in all forms: extinga, extingas, extinga, extingamos, extingáis, extingan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: extinguiera
The imperfect subjunctive of extinguir follows the third-person plural preterite: extinguiera, extinguieras, extinguiera, extinguiéramos, extinguierais, extinguieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: extingue
The imperative of extinguir uses 'extingue' for informal tú and 'extinga' for formal commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no extingas
The negative imperative of extinguir always drops the 'u' to keep the hard 'g' sound: no extingas, no extinga, no extingamos, no extingáis, no extingan.