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Competir conjugation

Competir conjugation - to compete

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Competir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to compete, contest”.

Below are all of the conjugations for competir in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.

The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.

The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.

Competir Infinitive

English Infinitive to compete, contest
Spanish Infinitive competir

Competir Gerund and Past Participle

The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está compitiendo) and past continuous (estaba compitiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. competing).

The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he competido and hubiera competido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have competed).

Gerundio / Gerund  compitiendo
Participio / Past Participle  competido

Competir Indicative Conjugations

The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.

Competir Presente / Present

The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I compete” or “they compete”.

Pronoun Spanish
Yo compito
compites
Él / Ella / Usted compite
Nosotros / as competimos
Vosotros / as competís
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes compiten
Vos competís

Competir Preterite / Pretérito Indefinido

Your simple past tense, e.g. “I competed” or “she competed” in English.

In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo competí I competed
competiste You competed
Él / Ella / Usted compitió He / she / you competed
Nosotros / as competimos We competed
Vosotros / as competisteis You competed
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes compitieron They / you competed
Vos competiste You competed

Competir Imperfect / Pretérito Imperfecto

The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was competing” or “she was competing” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo competía I was competing
competías You were competing
Él / Ella / Usted competía He was / she was / you were competing
Nosotros / as competíamos We were competing
Vosotros / as competíais You were competing
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes competían They / you were competing
Vos competías You were competing

Competir Perfect / Perfecto

The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.

In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have competed” and “she has competed”.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo he competido I have competed
has competido You have competed
Él / Ella / Usted ha competido He has / she has / you have competed
Nosotros / as hemos competido We have competed
Vosotros / as habéis competido You have competed
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes han competido They / you have competed
Vos has competido You have competed

Competir Conditional / Condicional

The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would compete” or “she would compete”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.

Pronoun Spanish Englush
Yo competiría I would compete
competirías You would compete
Él / Ella / Usted competiría He / she / you would compete
Nosotros / as competiríamos We would compete
Vosotros / as competiríais You would compete
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes competirían They / you would compete
Vos competirías You would compete

Competir Future / Futuro

The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will compete” or “they will compete”.

It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a competir” means “They are going to compete”.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo competiré I will compete
competirás You will compete
Él / Ella / Usted competirá He / she / you will compete
Nosotros / as competiremos We will compete
Vosotros / as competiréis You will compete
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes competirán They / you will compete
Vos competirás You will compete

Competir Subjunctive Conjugations

Competir Present Subjunctive / Presente de Subjuntivo

Pronoun Spanish
Yo compita
compitas
Él / Ella / Usted compita
Nosotros / as compitamos
Vosotros / as compitáis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes compitan
Vos compitas

Competir Past Subjunctive / Imperfecto de Subjuntivo

There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.

The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).

There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.

Pronoun Spanish era/ara Spanish ese/ase
Yo compitiera compitiese
compitieras compitiese
Él / Ella / Usted compitiera compitiese
Nosotros / as compitiéramos compitiésemos
Vosotros / as compitierais compitieseis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes compitieran compitiesen
Vos compitieras compitiese

Competir Future Subjunctive / Futuro de Subjuntivo

The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.

It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.

Pronoun Spanish
Yo compitiere
compitieres
Él / Ella / Usted compitiera
Nosotros / as compitiéremos
Vosotros / as compitiereis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes compitieren
Vos compitieres

Competir Imperative Conjugations

Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “compete!” and “don’t compete!”.

Pronoun Spanish Affirmative Spanish Negative
compite no compitas
Él / Ella / Usted compita no compita
Nosotros / as compitamos no compitamos
Vosotros / as competid no compitáis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes compitan no compitan
Vos competí no compitas

Competir Compound Subjunctive Tenses

Competir Subjunctive Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo haya competido
hayas competido
Él / Ella / Usted haya competido
Nosotros / as hayamos competido
Vosotros / as hayáis competido
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hayan competido
Vos hayas competido

Competir Subjunctive Past Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo hubiera competido / hubiese competido
hubieras competido / hubieses competido
Él / Ella / Usted hubiera competido / hubiese competido
Nosotros / as hubiéramos competido / hubiésemos competido
Vosotros / as hubierais competido / hubieseis competido
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hubieran competido / hubiesen competido
Vos hubieras competido / hubieses competido

Competir Subjunctive Future Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo hubiere competido
hubieres competido
Él / Ella / Usted hubiere competido
Nosotros / as hubiéremos competido
Vosotros / as hubiereis competido
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hubieren competido
Vos hubieres competido

Competir Subjective Progressive Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo esté compitiendo
estés compitiendo
Él / Ella / Usted esté compitiendo
Nosotros / as estemos compitiendo
Vosotros / as estéis compitiendo
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estén compitiendo
Vos estés compitiendo

Competir Subjunctive Past Progressive

Pronoun Spanish
Yo estuviera compitiendo / estuviese compitiendo
estuvieras compitiendo / estuvieses compitiendo
Él / Ella / Usted estuviera compitiendo / estuviese compitiendo
Nosotros / as estuviéramos compitiendo / estuviésamos compitiendo
Vosotros / as estuvierais compitiendo / estuvieseis compitiendo
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estuviera compitiendo / estuviese compitiendo
Vos estuvieras compitiendo / estuvieses compitiendo

Competir Subjunctive Future Progressive

Pronoun Spanish
Yo estuviere compitiendo
estuvieres compitiendo
Él / Ella / Usted estuviere compitiendo
Nosotros / as estuviéremos compitiendo
Vosotros / as estuviereis compitiendo
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estuviere compitiendo
Vos estuvieres compitiendo

Competir Vos Conjugation

Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.

There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.

The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.

TenseVos Conjugation
Present Indicative
Presente de Indicativo
Vos competís
Simle Past / Preterite
Preterite de Indicativo
Vos competiste
Imperfect Past
Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo
Vos competías
Conditional
Condicional
Vos competirías
Future
Futuro de Indicativo
Vos competirás
Present Subjunctive
Presente de Subjunctivo
Vos compitas
Imperfect Subjunctive
Imperfecto de Subjunctivo
Vos compitieras / Vos compitiese
Affirmative Imperative
Imperativo
Vos competí
Negative Imperative
Imperativo Negativo
Vos no compitas