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Complacer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to please, accornmodate, be pleased”.
Below are all of the conjugations for complacer 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.
| English Infinitive | to please, accornmodate, be pleased |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | complacer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está complaciendo) and past continuous (estaba complaciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. pleasing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he complacido and hubiera complacido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have pleased).
| Gerundio / Gerund | complaciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | complacido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
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 please” or “they please”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | complazco |
| Tú | complaces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complace |
| Nosotros / as | complacemos |
| Vosotros / as | complacéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacen |
| Vos | complacés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I pleased” or “she pleased” 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 | complací | I pleased |
| Tú | complaciste | You pleased |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complació | He / she / you pleased |
| Nosotros / as | complacimos | We pleased |
| Vosotros / as | complacisteis | You pleased |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacieron | They / you pleased |
| Vos | complaciste | You pleased |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was pleasing” or “she was pleasing” 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 | complacía | I was pleasing |
| Tú | complacías | You were pleasing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complacía | He was / she was / you were pleasing |
| Nosotros / as | complacíamos | We were pleasing |
| Vosotros / as | complacíais | You were pleasing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacían | They / you were pleasing |
| Vos | complacías | You were pleasing |
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 pleased” and “she has pleased”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he complacido | I have pleased |
| Tú | has complacido | You have pleased |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha complacido | He has / she has / you have pleased |
| Nosotros / as | hemos complacido | We have pleased |
| Vosotros / as | habéis complacido | You have pleased |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han complacido | They / you have pleased |
| Vos | has complacido | You have pleased |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would please” or “she would please”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | complacería | I would please |
| Tú | complacerías | You would please |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complacería | He / she / you would please |
| Nosotros / as | complaceríamos | We would please |
| Vosotros / as | complaceríais | You would please |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacerían | They / you would please |
| Vos | complacerías | You would please |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will please” or “they will please”.
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 complacer” means “They are going to please”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | complaceré | I will please |
| Tú | complacerás | You will please |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complacerá | He / she / you will please |
| Nosotros / as | complaceremos | We will please |
| Vosotros / as | complaceréis | You will please |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacerán | They / you will please |
| Vos | complacerás | You will please |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | complazca |
| Tú | complazcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complazca |
| Nosotros / as | complazcamos |
| Vosotros / as | complazcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complazcan |
| Vos | complazcas |
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 | complaciera | complaciese |
| Tú | complacieras | complaciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complaciera | complaciese |
| Nosotros / as | complaciéramos | complaciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | complacierais | complacieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacieran | complaciesen |
| Vos | complacieras | complaciese |
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 | complaciere |
| Tú | complacieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complaciere |
| Nosotros / as | complaciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | complaciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complacieren |
| Vos | complacieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “please!” and “don’t please!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | complace | no complazcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complazca | no complazca |
| Nosotros / as | complazcamos | no complazcamos |
| Vosotros / as | complaced | no complazcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complazcan | no complazcan |
| Vos | complacé | no complazcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya complacido |
| Tú | hayas complacido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya complacido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos complacido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis complacido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan complacido |
| Vos | hayas complacido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera complacido / hubiese complacido |
| Tú | hubieras complacido / hubieses complacido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera complacido / hubiese complacido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos complacido / hubiésemos complacido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais complacido / hubieseis complacido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran complacido / hubiesen complacido |
| Vos | hubieras complacido / hubieses complacido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere complacido |
| Tú | hubieres complacido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere complacido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos complacido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis complacido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren complacido |
| Vos | hubieres complacido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté complaciendo |
| Tú | estés complaciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté complaciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos complaciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis complaciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén complaciendo |
| Vos | estés complaciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera complaciendo / estuviese complaciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras complaciendo / estuvieses complaciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera complaciendo / estuviese complaciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos complaciendo / estuviésamos complaciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais complaciendo / estuvieseis complaciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera complaciendo / estuviese complaciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras complaciendo / estuvieses complaciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere complaciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres complaciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere complaciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos complaciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis complaciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere complaciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres complaciendo |
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.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos complacés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos complaciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos complacías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos complacerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos complacerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos complazcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos complacieras / Vos complaciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos complacé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no complazcas |