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Contener is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to contain, hold”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contener 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 contain, hold |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contener |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está conteniendo) and past continuous (estaba conteniendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. containing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contenido and hubiera contenido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have contained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | conteniendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contenido |
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 contain” or “they contain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contengo |
| Tú | contienes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contiene |
| Nosotros / as | contenemos |
| Vosotros / as | contenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contienen |
| Vos | contenís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I contained” or “she contained” 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 | contuve | I contained |
| Tú | contuviste | You contained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contuvo | He / she / you contained |
| Nosotros / as | contuvimos | We contained |
| Vosotros / as | contuvisteis | You contained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contuvieron | They / you contained |
| Vos | contuviste | You contained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was containing” or “she was containing” 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 | contenía | I was containing |
| Tú | contenías | You were containing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contenía | He was / she was / you were containing |
| Nosotros / as | conteníamos | We were containing |
| Vosotros / as | conteníais | You were containing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contenían | They / you were containing |
| Vos | contenías | You were containing |
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 contained” and “she has contained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contenido | I have contained |
| Tú | has contenido | You have contained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contenido | He has / she has / you have contained |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contenido | We have contained |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contenido | You have contained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contenido | They / you have contained |
| Vos | has contenido | You have contained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would contain” or “she would contain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contendría | I would contain |
| Tú | contendrías | You would contain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contendría | He / she / you would contain |
| Nosotros / as | contendríamos | We would contain |
| Vosotros / as | contendríais | You would contain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contendrían | They / you would contain |
| Vos | contendrías | You would contain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will contain” or “they will contain”.
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 contener” means “They are going to contain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contendré | I will contain |
| Tú | contendrás | You will contain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contendrá | He / she / you will contain |
| Nosotros / as | contendremos | We will contain |
| Vosotros / as | contendréis | You will contain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contendrán | They / you will contain |
| Vos | contendrás | You will contain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contenga |
| Tú | contengas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contenga |
| Nosotros / as | contengamos |
| Vosotros / as | contengáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contengan |
| Vos | contengas |
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 | contuviera | contuviese |
| Tú | contuvieras | contuviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contuviera | contuviese |
| Nosotros / as | contuviéramos | contuviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | contuvierais | contuvieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contuvieran | contuviesen |
| Vos | contuvieras | contuviese |
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 | contuviere |
| Tú | contuvieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contuviere |
| Nosotros / as | contuviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | contuviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contuvieren |
| Vos | contuvieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “contain!” and “don’t contain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contén | no contengas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contenga | no contenga |
| Nosotros / as | contengamos | no contengamos |
| Vosotros / as | contened | no contengáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contengan | no contengan |
| Vos | contené | no contengas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contenido |
| Tú | hayas contenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contenido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contenido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contenido |
| Vos | hayas contenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contenido / hubiese contenido |
| Tú | hubieras contenido / hubieses contenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contenido / hubiese contenido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contenido / hubiésemos contenido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contenido / hubieseis contenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contenido / hubiesen contenido |
| Vos | hubieras contenido / hubieses contenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contenido |
| Tú | hubieres contenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contenido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contenido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contenido |
| Vos | hubieres contenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté conteniendo |
| Tú | estés conteniendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté conteniendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos conteniendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis conteniendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén conteniendo |
| Vos | estés conteniendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera conteniendo / estuviese conteniendo |
| Tú | estuvieras conteniendo / estuvieses conteniendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera conteniendo / estuviese conteniendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos conteniendo / estuviésamos conteniendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais conteniendo / estuvieseis conteniendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera conteniendo / estuviese conteniendo |
| Vos | estuvieras conteniendo / estuvieses conteniendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere conteniendo |
| Tú | estuvieres conteniendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere conteniendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos conteniendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis conteniendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere conteniendo |
| Vos | estuvieres conteniendo |
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 contenís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contuviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contenías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contendrías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contendrás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contengas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contuvieras / Vos contuviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contené |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contengas |