incubar

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin incubāre. Doublet of covar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central, Northwestern) [iŋ.kuˈβa]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [iŋ.kuˈba]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [iŋ.kuˈbaɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Verb

incubar (first-person singular present incubo, first-person singular preterite incubí, past participle incubat)

1. (transitive) to incubate

   Synonym: covar

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of incubar (first conjugation)

infinitive			incubar
gerund			incubant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		incubat		incubada
		plural		incubats		incubades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	incubo	incubes	incuba	incubem	incubeu	incuben
	imperfect	incubava	incubaves	incubava	incubàvem	incubàveu	incubaven
	future	incubaré	incubaràs	incubarà	incubarem	incubareu	incubaran
	preterite	incubí	incubares	incubà	incubàrem	incubàreu	incubaren
	conditional	incubaria	incubaries	incubaria	incubaríem	incubaríeu	incubarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	incubi	incubis	incubi	incubem	incubeu	incubin
	imperfect	incubés	incubessis	incubés	incubéssim	incubéssiu	incubessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	incuba	incubi	incubem	incubeu	incubin
	negative (no)	—	no incubis	no incubi	no incubem	no incubeu	no incubin

Related terms

• incubació
• incubador

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “incubar”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “incubar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “incubar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈba(ʁ)/ [ĩ.kuˈba(h)]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈba(ʁ)/ [ĩ.kuˈba(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈba(ɾ)/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈba(ʁ)/ [ĩ.kuˈba(χ)]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈba(ɻ)/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈbaɾ/ [ĩ.kuˈβaɾ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈbaɾ/ [ĩ.kuˈβaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩ.kuˈba.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: in‧cu‧bar

Verb

incubar (first-person singular present incubo, first-person singular preterite incubei, past participle incubado)

1. to incubate

Conjugation

    Conjugation of incubar (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	incubar
Personal	incubar	incubares	incubar	incubarmos	incubardes	incubarem
Gerund
	incubando
Past participle
Masculine	incubado			incubados
Feminine	incubada			incubadas
Indicative
Present	incubo	incubas	incuba	incubamos	incubais	incubam
Imperfect	incubava	incubavas	incubava	incubávamos	incubáveis	incubavam
Preterite	incubei	incubaste	incubou	incubamos1, incubámos2	incubastes	incubaram
Pluperfect	incubara	incubaras	incubara	incubáramos	incubáreis	incubaram
Future	incubarei	incubarás	incubará	incubaremos	incubareis	incubarão
Conditional	incubaria	incubarias	incubaria	incubaríamos	incubaríeis	incubariam
Subjunctive
Present	incube	incubes	incube	incubemos	incubeis	incubem
Imperfect	incubasse	incubasses	incubasse	incubássemos	incubásseis	incubassem
Future	incubar	incubares	incubar	incubarmos	incubardes	incubarem
Imperative
Affirmative		incuba	incube	incubemos	incubai	incubem
Negative (não)		não incubes	não incube	não incubemos	não incubeis	não incubem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Further reading

• “incubar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin incubāre (“to lie on”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inkuˈbaɾ/ [ĩŋ.kuˈβ̞aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: in‧cu‧bar

Verb

incubar (first-person singular present incubo, first-person singular preterite incubé, past participle incubado)

1. to incubate

Conjugation

    Conjugation of incubar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			incubar
gerund			incubando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		incubado		incubada
		plural		incubados		incubadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	incubo	incubastú incubásvos	incuba	incubamos	incubáis	incuban
	imperfect	incubaba	incubabas	incubaba	incubábamos	incubabais	incubaban
	preterite	incubé	incubaste	incubó	incubamos	incubasteis	incubaron
	future	incubaré	incubarás	incubará	incubaremos	incubaréis	incubarán
	conditional	incubaría	incubarías	incubaría	incubaríamos	incubaríais	incubarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	incube	incubestú incubésvos2	incube	incubemos	incubéis	incuben
	imperfect (ra)	incubara	incubaras	incubara	incubáramos	incubarais	incubaran
	imperfect (se)	incubase	incubases	incubase	incubásemos	incubaseis	incubasen
	future1	incubare	incubares	incubare	incubáremos	incubareis	incubaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		incubatú incubávos	incube	incubemos	incubad	incuben
	negative		no incubes	no incube	no incubemos	no incubéis	no incuben

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of incubar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive incubar	dative	incubarme	incubarte	incubarle, incubarse	incubarnos	incubaros	incubarles, incubarse
	accusative	incubarme	incubarte	incubarlo, incubarla, incubarse	incubarnos	incubaros	incubarlos, incubarlas, incubarse
with gerund incubando	dative	incubándome	incubándote	incubándole, incubándose	incubándonos	incubándoos	incubándoles, incubándose
	accusative	incubándome	incubándote	incubándolo, incubándola, incubándose	incubándonos	incubándoos	incubándolos, incubándolas, incubándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative incuba	dative	incúbame	incúbate	incúbale	incúbanos	not used	incúbales
	accusative	incúbame	incúbate	incúbalo, incúbala	incúbanos	not used	incúbalos, incúbalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative incubá	dative	incubame	incubate	incubale	incubanos	not used	incubales
	accusative	incubame	incubate	incubalo, incubala	incubanos	not used	incubalos, incubalas
with formal second-person singular imperative incube	dative	incúbeme	not used	incúbele, incúbese	incúbenos	not used	incúbeles
	accusative	incúbeme	not used	incúbelo, incúbela, incúbese	incúbenos	not used	incúbelos, incúbelas
with first-person plural imperative incubemos	dative	not used	incubémoste	incubémosle	incubémonos	incubémoos	incubémosles
	accusative	not used	incubémoste	incubémoslo, incubémosla	incubémonos	incubémoos	incubémoslos, incubémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative incubad	dative	incubadme	not used	incubadle	incubadnos	incubaos	incubadles
	accusative	incubadme	not used	incubadlo, incubadla	incubadnos	incubaos	incubadlos, incubadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative incuben	dative	incúbenme	not used	incúbenle	incúbennos	not used	incúbenles, incúbense
	accusative	incúbenme	not used	incúbenlo, incúbenla	incúbennos	not used	incúbenlos, incúbenlas, incúbense

Related terms

• incubación
• incubadora

Further reading

• “incubar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025