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Diferenciar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to differentiate, distinguish, differ”.
Below are all of the conjugations for diferenciar 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 differentiate, distinguish, differ |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | diferenciar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está diferenciando) and past continuous (estaba diferenciando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. differentiating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he diferenciado and hubiera diferenciado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have differentiated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | diferenciando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | diferenciado |
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 differentiate” or “they differentiate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | diferencio |
| Tú | diferencias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferencia |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciamos |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferencian |
| Vos | diferenciás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I differentiated” or “she differentiated” 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 | diferencié | I differentiated |
| Tú | diferenciaste | You differentiated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferenció | He / she / you differentiated |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciamos | We differentiated |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciasteis | You differentiated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferenciaron | They / you differentiated |
| Vos | diferenciaste | You differentiated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was differentiating” or “she was differentiating” 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 | diferenciaba | I was differentiating |
| Tú | diferenciabas | You were differentiating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferenciaba | He was / she was / you were differentiating |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciábamos | We were differentiating |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciabais | You were differentiating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferenciaban | They / you were differentiating |
| Vos | diferenciabas | You were differentiating |
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 differentiated” and “she has differentiated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he diferenciado | I have differentiated |
| Tú | has diferenciado | You have differentiated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha diferenciado | He has / she has / you have differentiated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos diferenciado | We have differentiated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis diferenciado | You have differentiated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han diferenciado | They / you have differentiated |
| Vos | has diferenciado | You have differentiated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would differentiate” or “she would differentiate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | diferenciaría | I would differentiate |
| Tú | diferenciarías | You would differentiate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferenciaría | He / she / you would differentiate |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciaríamos | We would differentiate |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciaríais | You would differentiate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferenciarían | They / you would differentiate |
| Vos | diferenciarías | You would differentiate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will differentiate” or “they will differentiate”.
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 diferenciar” means “They are going to differentiate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | diferenciaré | I will differentiate |
| Tú | diferenciarás | You will differentiate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferenciará | He / she / you will differentiate |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciaremos | We will differentiate |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciaréis | You will differentiate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferenciarán | They / you will differentiate |
| Vos | diferenciarás | You will differentiate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | diferencie |
| Tú | diferencies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferencie |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciemos |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferencien |
| Vos | diferencies |
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 | diferenciara | diferenciase |
| Tú | diferenciaras | diferenciase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferenciara | diferenciase |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciáramos | diferenciásemos |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciarais | diferenciaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferenciaran | diferenciasen |
| Vos | diferenciaras | diferenciase |
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 | diferenciare |
| Tú | diferenciares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferenciare |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciáremos |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferenciaren |
| Vos | diferenciares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “differentiate!” and “don’t differentiate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | diferencia | no diferencies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diferencie | no diferencie |
| Nosotros / as | diferenciemos | no diferenciemos |
| Vosotros / as | diferenciad | no diferenciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | diferencien | no diferencien |
| Vos | diferenciá | no diferencies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya diferenciado |
| Tú | hayas diferenciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya diferenciado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos diferenciado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis diferenciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan diferenciado |
| Vos | hayas diferenciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera diferenciado / hubiese diferenciado |
| Tú | hubieras diferenciado / hubieses diferenciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera diferenciado / hubiese diferenciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos diferenciado / hubiésemos diferenciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais diferenciado / hubieseis diferenciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran diferenciado / hubiesen diferenciado |
| Vos | hubieras diferenciado / hubieses diferenciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere diferenciado |
| Tú | hubieres diferenciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere diferenciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos diferenciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis diferenciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren diferenciado |
| Vos | hubieres diferenciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté diferenciando |
| Tú | estés diferenciando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté diferenciando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos diferenciando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis diferenciando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén diferenciando |
| Vos | estés diferenciando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera diferenciando / estuviese diferenciando |
| Tú | estuvieras diferenciando / estuvieses diferenciando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera diferenciando / estuviese diferenciando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos diferenciando / estuviésamos diferenciando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais diferenciando / estuvieseis diferenciando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera diferenciando / estuviese diferenciando |
| Vos | estuvieras diferenciando / estuvieses diferenciando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere diferenciando |
| Tú | estuvieres diferenciando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere diferenciando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos diferenciando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis diferenciando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere diferenciando |
| Vos | estuvieres diferenciando |
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 diferenciás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos diferenciaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos diferenciabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos diferenciarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos diferenciarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos diferencies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos diferenciaras / Vos diferenciase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos diferenciá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no diferencies |