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Decorar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to decorate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for decorar 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 decorate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | decorar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está decorando) and past continuous (estaba decorando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. decorating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he decorado and hubiera decorado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have decorated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | decorando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | decorado |
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 decorate” or “they decorate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | decoro |
| Tú | decoras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decora |
| Nosotros / as | decoramos |
| Vosotros / as | decoráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoran |
| Vos | decorás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I decorated” or “she decorated” 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 | decoré | I decorated |
| Tú | decoraste | You decorated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decoró | He / she / you decorated |
| Nosotros / as | decoramos | We decorated |
| Vosotros / as | decorasteis | You decorated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoraron | They / you decorated |
| Vos | decoraste | You decorated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was decorating” or “she was decorating” 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 | decoraba | I was decorating |
| Tú | decorabas | You were decorating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decoraba | He was / she was / you were decorating |
| Nosotros / as | decorábamos | We were decorating |
| Vosotros / as | decorabais | You were decorating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoraban | They / you were decorating |
| Vos | decorabas | You were decorating |
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 decorated” and “she has decorated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he decorado | I have decorated |
| Tú | has decorado | You have decorated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha decorado | He has / she has / you have decorated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos decorado | We have decorated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis decorado | You have decorated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han decorado | They / you have decorated |
| Vos | has decorado | You have decorated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would decorate” or “she would decorate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | decoraría | I would decorate |
| Tú | decorarías | You would decorate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decoraría | He / she / you would decorate |
| Nosotros / as | decoraríamos | We would decorate |
| Vosotros / as | decoraríais | You would decorate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decorarían | They / you would decorate |
| Vos | decorarías | You would decorate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will decorate” or “they will decorate”.
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 decorar” means “They are going to decorate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | decoraré | I will decorate |
| Tú | decorarás | You will decorate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decorará | He / she / you will decorate |
| Nosotros / as | decoraremos | We will decorate |
| Vosotros / as | decoraréis | You will decorate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decorarán | They / you will decorate |
| Vos | decorarás | You will decorate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | decore |
| Tú | decores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decore |
| Nosotros / as | decoremos |
| Vosotros / as | decoréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoren |
| Vos | decores |
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 | decorara | decorase |
| Tú | decoraras | decorase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decorara | decorase |
| Nosotros / as | decoráramos | decorásemos |
| Vosotros / as | decorarais | decoraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoraran | decorasen |
| Vos | decoraras | decorase |
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 | decorare |
| Tú | decorares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decorare |
| Nosotros / as | decoráremos |
| Vosotros / as | decorareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoraren |
| Vos | decorares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “decorate!” and “don’t decorate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | decora | no decores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decore | no decore |
| Nosotros / as | decoremos | no decoremos |
| Vosotros / as | decorad | no decoréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decoren | no decoren |
| Vos | decorá | no decores |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya decorado |
| Tú | hayas decorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya decorado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos decorado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis decorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan decorado |
| Vos | hayas decorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera decorado / hubiese decorado |
| Tú | hubieras decorado / hubieses decorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera decorado / hubiese decorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos decorado / hubiésemos decorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais decorado / hubieseis decorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran decorado / hubiesen decorado |
| Vos | hubieras decorado / hubieses decorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere decorado |
| Tú | hubieres decorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere decorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos decorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis decorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren decorado |
| Vos | hubieres decorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté decorando |
| Tú | estés decorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté decorando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos decorando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis decorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén decorando |
| Vos | estés decorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera decorando / estuviese decorando |
| Tú | estuvieras decorando / estuvieses decorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera decorando / estuviese decorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos decorando / estuviésamos decorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais decorando / estuvieseis decorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera decorando / estuviese decorando |
| Vos | estuvieras decorando / estuvieses decorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere decorando |
| Tú | estuvieres decorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere decorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos decorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis decorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere decorando |
| Vos | estuvieres decorando |
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 decorás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos decoraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos decorabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos decorarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos decorarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos decores |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos decoraras / Vos decorase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos decorá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no decores |