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Construir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to construct, build”.
Below are all of the conjugations for construir 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 construct, build |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | construir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está construyendo) and past continuous (estaba construyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. constructing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he construido and hubiera construido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have constructed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | construyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | construido |
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 construct” or “they construct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | construyo |
| Tú | construyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construye |
| Nosotros / as | construimos |
| Vosotros / as | construís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construyen |
| Vos | construís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I constructed” or “she constructed” 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 | construí | I constructed |
| Tú | construiste | You constructed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construyó | He / she / you constructed |
| Nosotros / as | construimos | We constructed |
| Vosotros / as | construisteis | You constructed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construyeron | They / you constructed |
| Vos | construiste | You constructed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was constructing” or “she was constructing” 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 | construía | I was constructing |
| Tú | construías | You were constructing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construía | He was / she was / you were constructing |
| Nosotros / as | construíamos | We were constructing |
| Vosotros / as | construíais | You were constructing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construían | They / you were constructing |
| Vos | construías | You were constructing |
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 constructed” and “she has constructed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he construido | I have constructed |
| Tú | has construido | You have constructed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha construido | He has / she has / you have constructed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos construido | We have constructed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis construido | You have constructed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han construido | They / you have constructed |
| Vos | has construido | You have constructed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would construct” or “she would construct”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | construiría | I would construct |
| Tú | construirías | You would construct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construiría | He / she / you would construct |
| Nosotros / as | construiríamos | We would construct |
| Vosotros / as | construiríais | You would construct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construirían | They / you would construct |
| Vos | construirías | You would construct |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will construct” or “they will construct”.
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 construir” means “They are going to construct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | construiré | I will construct |
| Tú | construirás | You will construct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construirá | He / she / you will construct |
| Nosotros / as | construiremos | We will construct |
| Vosotros / as | construiréis | You will construct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construirán | They / you will construct |
| Vos | construirás | You will construct |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | construya |
| Tú | construyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construya |
| Nosotros / as | construyamos |
| Vosotros / as | construyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construyan |
| Vos | construyas |
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 | construyera | construyese |
| Tú | construyeras | construyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construyera | construyese |
| Nosotros / as | construyéramos | construyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | construyerais | construyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construyeran | construyesen |
| Vos | construyeras | construyese |
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 | construyere |
| Tú | construyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construyera |
| Nosotros / as | construyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | construyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construyeren |
| Vos | construyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “construct!” and “don’t construct!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | construye | no construyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | construya | no construya |
| Nosotros / as | construyamos | no construyamos |
| Vosotros / as | construid | no construyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | construyan | no construyan |
| Vos | construí | no construyas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya construido |
| Tú | hayas construido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya construido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos construido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis construido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan construido |
| Vos | hayas construido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera construido / hubiese construido |
| Tú | hubieras construido / hubieses construido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera construido / hubiese construido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos construido / hubiésemos construido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais construido / hubieseis construido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran construido / hubiesen construido |
| Vos | hubieras construido / hubieses construido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere construido |
| Tú | hubieres construido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere construido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos construido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis construido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren construido |
| Vos | hubieres construido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté construyendo |
| Tú | estés construyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté construyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos construyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis construyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén construyendo |
| Vos | estés construyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera construyendo / estuviese construyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras construyendo / estuvieses construyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera construyendo / estuviese construyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos construyendo / estuviésamos construyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais construyendo / estuvieseis construyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera construyendo / estuviese construyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras construyendo / estuvieses construyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere construyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres construyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere construyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos construyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis construyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere construyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres construyendo |
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 construís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos construiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos construías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos construirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos construirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos construyas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos construyeras / Vos construyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos construí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no construyas |