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Explicar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to explain”.
Below are all of the conjugations for explicar 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 explain |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | explicar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está explicando) and past continuous (estaba explicando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. explaining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he explicado and hubiera explicado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have explained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | explicando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | explicado |
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 explain” or “they explain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | explico |
| Tú | explicas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explica |
| Nosotros / as | explicamos |
| Vosotros / as | explicáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explican |
| Vos | explicás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I explained” or “she explained” 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 | expliqué | I explained |
| Tú | explicaste | You explained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explicó | He / she / you explained |
| Nosotros / as | explicamos | We explained |
| Vosotros / as | explicasteis | You explained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explicaron | They / you explained |
| Vos | explicaste | You explained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was explaining” or “she was explaining” 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 | explicaba | I was explaining |
| Tú | explicabas | You were explaining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explicaba | He was / she was / you were explaining |
| Nosotros / as | explicábamos | We were explaining |
| Vosotros / as | explicabais | You were explaining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explicaban | They / you were explaining |
| Vos | explicabas | You were explaining |
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 explained” and “she has explained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he explicado | I have explained |
| Tú | has explicado | You have explained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha explicado | He has / she has / you have explained |
| Nosotros / as | hemos explicado | We have explained |
| Vosotros / as | habéis explicado | You have explained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han explicado | They / you have explained |
| Vos | has explicado | You have explained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would explain” or “she would explain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | explicaría | I would explain |
| Tú | explicarías | You would explain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explicaría | He / she / you would explain |
| Nosotros / as | explicaríamos | We would explain |
| Vosotros / as | explicaríais | You would explain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explicarían | They / you would explain |
| Vos | explicarías | You would explain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will explain” or “they will explain”.
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 explicar” means “They are going to explain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | explicaré | I will explain |
| Tú | explicarás | You will explain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explicará | He / she / you will explain |
| Nosotros / as | explicaremos | We will explain |
| Vosotros / as | explicaréis | You will explain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explicarán | They / you will explain |
| Vos | explicarás | You will explain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | explique |
| Tú | expliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explique |
| Nosotros / as | expliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | expliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expliquen |
| Vos | expliques |
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 | explicara | explicase |
| Tú | explicaras | explicase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explicara | explicase |
| Nosotros / as | explicáramos | explicásemos |
| Vosotros / as | explicarais | explicaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explicaran | explicasen |
| Vos | explicaras | explicase |
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 | explicare |
| Tú | explicares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explicare |
| Nosotros / as | explicáremos |
| Vosotros / as | explicareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | explicaren |
| Vos | explicares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “explain!” and “don’t explain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | explica | no expliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | explique | no explique |
| Nosotros / as | expliquemos | no expliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | explicad | no expliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expliquen | no expliquen |
| Vos | explicá | no expliques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya explicado |
| Tú | hayas explicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya explicado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos explicado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis explicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan explicado |
| Vos | hayas explicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera explicado / hubiese explicado |
| Tú | hubieras explicado / hubieses explicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera explicado / hubiese explicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos explicado / hubiésemos explicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais explicado / hubieseis explicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran explicado / hubiesen explicado |
| Vos | hubieras explicado / hubieses explicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere explicado |
| Tú | hubieres explicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere explicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos explicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis explicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren explicado |
| Vos | hubieres explicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté explicando |
| Tú | estés explicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté explicando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos explicando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis explicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén explicando |
| Vos | estés explicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera explicando / estuviese explicando |
| Tú | estuvieras explicando / estuvieses explicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera explicando / estuviese explicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos explicando / estuviésamos explicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais explicando / estuvieseis explicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera explicando / estuviese explicando |
| Vos | estuvieras explicando / estuvieses explicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere explicando |
| Tú | estuvieres explicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere explicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos explicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis explicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere explicando |
| Vos | estuvieres explicando |
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 explicás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos explicaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos explicabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos explicarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos explicarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos expliques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos explicaras / Vos explicase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos explicá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no expliques |
