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Contribuir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to contribute”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contribuir 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 contribute |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contribuir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contribuyendo) and past continuous (estaba contribuyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. contributing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contribuido and hubiera contribuido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have contributed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contribuyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contribuido |
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 contribute” or “they contribute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contribuyo |
| Tú | contribuyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuye |
| Nosotros / as | contribuimos |
| Vosotros / as | contribuís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuyen |
| Vos | contribuís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I contributed” or “she contributed” 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 | contribuí | I contributed |
| Tú | contribuiste | You contributed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuyó | He / she / you contributed |
| Nosotros / as | contribuimos | We contributed |
| Vosotros / as | contribuisteis | You contributed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuyeron | They / you contributed |
| Vos | contribuiste | You contributed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was contributing” or “she was contributing” 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 | contribuía | I was contributing |
| Tú | contribuías | You were contributing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuía | He was / she was / you were contributing |
| Nosotros / as | contribuíamos | We were contributing |
| Vosotros / as | contribuíais | You were contributing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuían | They / you were contributing |
| Vos | contribuías | You were contributing |
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 contributed” and “she has contributed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contribuido | I have contributed |
| Tú | has contribuido | You have contributed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contribuido | He has / she has / you have contributed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contribuido | We have contributed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contribuido | You have contributed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contribuido | They / you have contributed |
| Vos | has contribuido | You have contributed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would contribute” or “she would contribute”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contribuiría | I would contribute |
| Tú | contribuirías | You would contribute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuiría | He / she / you would contribute |
| Nosotros / as | contribuiríamos | We would contribute |
| Vosotros / as | contribuiríais | You would contribute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuirían | They / you would contribute |
| Vos | contribuirías | You would contribute |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will contribute” or “they will contribute”.
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 contribuir” means “They are going to contribute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contribuiré | I will contribute |
| Tú | contribuirás | You will contribute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuirá | He / she / you will contribute |
| Nosotros / as | contribuiremos | We will contribute |
| Vosotros / as | contribuiréis | You will contribute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuirán | They / you will contribute |
| Vos | contribuirás | You will contribute |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contribuya |
| Tú | contribuyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuya |
| Nosotros / as | contribuyamos |
| Vosotros / as | contribuyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuyan |
| Vos | contribuyas |
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 | contribuyera | contribuyese |
| Tú | contribuyeras | contribuyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuyera | contribuyese |
| Nosotros / as | contribuyéramos | contribuyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | contribuyerais | contribuyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuyeran | contribuyesen |
| Vos | contribuyeras | contribuyese |
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 | contribuyere |
| Tú | contribuyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuyera |
| Nosotros / as | contribuyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | contribuyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuyeren |
| Vos | contribuyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “contribute!” and “don’t contribute!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contribuye | no contribuyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contribuya | no contribuya |
| Nosotros / as | contribuyamos | no contribuyamos |
| Vosotros / as | contribuid | no contribuyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contribuyan | no contribuyan |
| Vos | contribuí | no contribuyas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contribuido |
| Tú | hayas contribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contribuido |
| Vos | hayas contribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contribuido / hubiese contribuido |
| Tú | hubieras contribuido / hubieses contribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contribuido / hubiese contribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contribuido / hubiésemos contribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contribuido / hubieseis contribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contribuido / hubiesen contribuido |
| Vos | hubieras contribuido / hubieses contribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contribuido |
| Tú | hubieres contribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contribuido |
| Vos | hubieres contribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contribuyendo |
| Tú | estés contribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contribuyendo |
| Vos | estés contribuyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contribuyendo / estuviese contribuyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras contribuyendo / estuvieses contribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contribuyendo / estuviese contribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contribuyendo / estuviésamos contribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contribuyendo / estuvieseis contribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contribuyendo / estuviese contribuyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras contribuyendo / estuvieses contribuyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contribuyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres contribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contribuyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres contribuyendo |
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 contribuís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contribuiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contribuías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contribuirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contribuirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contribuyas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contribuyeras / Vos contribuyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contribuí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contribuyas |