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Depender is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to depend, be subject to”.
Below are all of the conjugations for depender 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 depend, be subject to |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | depender |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está dependiendo) and past continuous (estaba dependiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. depending).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dependido and hubiera dependido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have depended).
| Gerundio / Gerund | dependiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dependido |
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 depend” or “they depend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | dependo |
| Tú | dependes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | depende |
| Nosotros / as | dependemos |
| Vosotros / as | dependéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependen |
| Vos | dependés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I depended” or “she depended” 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 | dependí | I depended |
| Tú | dependiste | You depended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependió | He / she / you depended |
| Nosotros / as | dependimos | We depended |
| Vosotros / as | dependisteis | You depended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependieron | They / you depended |
| Vos | dependiste | You depended |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was depending” or “she was depending” 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 | dependía | I was depending |
| Tú | dependías | You were depending |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependía | He was / she was / you were depending |
| Nosotros / as | dependíamos | We were depending |
| Vosotros / as | dependíais | You were depending |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependían | They / you were depending |
| Vos | dependías | You were depending |
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 depended” and “she has depended”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he dependido | I have depended |
| Tú | has dependido | You have depended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha dependido | He has / she has / you have depended |
| Nosotros / as | hemos dependido | We have depended |
| Vosotros / as | habéis dependido | You have depended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han dependido | They / you have depended |
| Vos | has dependido | You have depended |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would depend” or “she would depend”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dependería | I would depend |
| Tú | dependerías | You would depend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependería | He / she / you would depend |
| Nosotros / as | dependeríamos | We would depend |
| Vosotros / as | dependeríais | You would depend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependerían | They / you would depend |
| Vos | dependerías | You would depend |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will depend” or “they will depend”.
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 depender” means “They are going to depend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dependeré | I will depend |
| Tú | dependerás | You will depend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependerá | He / she / you will depend |
| Nosotros / as | dependeremos | We will depend |
| Vosotros / as | dependeréis | You will depend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependerán | They / you will depend |
| Vos | dependerás | You will depend |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | dependa |
| Tú | dependas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependa |
| Nosotros / as | dependamos |
| Vosotros / as | dependáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependan |
| Vos | dependas |
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 | dependiera | dependiese |
| Tú | dependieras | dependiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependiera | dependiese |
| Nosotros / as | dependiéramos | dependiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | dependierais | dependieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependieran | dependiesen |
| Vos | dependieras | dependiese |
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 | dependiere |
| Tú | dependieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependiere |
| Nosotros / as | dependiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | dependiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependieren |
| Vos | dependieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “depend!” and “don’t depend!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | depende | no dependas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dependa | no dependa |
| Nosotros / as | dependamos | no dependamos |
| Vosotros / as | depended | no dependáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dependan | no dependan |
| Vos | dependé | no dependas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dependido |
| Tú | hayas dependido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dependido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dependido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dependido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dependido |
| Vos | hayas dependido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dependido / hubiese dependido |
| Tú | hubieras dependido / hubieses dependido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dependido / hubiese dependido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dependido / hubiésemos dependido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dependido / hubieseis dependido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dependido / hubiesen dependido |
| Vos | hubieras dependido / hubieses dependido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dependido |
| Tú | hubieres dependido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dependido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dependido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dependido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dependido |
| Vos | hubieres dependido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté dependiendo |
| Tú | estés dependiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté dependiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos dependiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis dependiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén dependiendo |
| Vos | estés dependiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera dependiendo / estuviese dependiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras dependiendo / estuvieses dependiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera dependiendo / estuviese dependiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos dependiendo / estuviésamos dependiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais dependiendo / estuvieseis dependiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera dependiendo / estuviese dependiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras dependiendo / estuvieses dependiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere dependiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres dependiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere dependiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos dependiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis dependiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere dependiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres dependiendo |
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 dependés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos dependiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos dependías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos dependerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos dependerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos dependas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos dependieras / Vos dependiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos dependé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no dependas |