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Empatar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to tie, be equal”.
Below are all of the conjugations for empatar 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 tie, be equal |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | empatar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está empatando) and past continuous (estaba empatando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. tying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he empatado and hubiera empatado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have tied).
| Gerundio / Gerund | empatando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | empatado |
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 tie” or “they tie”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | empato |
| Tú | empatas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empata |
| Nosotros / as | empatamos |
| Vosotros / as | empatáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empatan |
| Vos | empatás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I tied” or “she tied” 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 | empaté | I tied |
| Tú | empataste | You tied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empató | He / she / you tied |
| Nosotros / as | empatamos | We tied |
| Vosotros / as | empatasteis | You tied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empataron | They / you tied |
| Vos | empataste | You tied |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was tying” or “she was tying” 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 | empataba | I was tying |
| Tú | empatabas | You were tying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empataba | He was / she was / you were tying |
| Nosotros / as | empatábamos | We were tying |
| Vosotros / as | empatabais | You were tying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empataban | They / you were tying |
| Vos | empatabas | You were tying |
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 tied” and “she has tied”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he empatado | I have tied |
| Tú | has empatado | You have tied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha empatado | He has / she has / you have tied |
| Nosotros / as | hemos empatado | We have tied |
| Vosotros / as | habéis empatado | You have tied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han empatado | They / you have tied |
| Vos | has empatado | You have tied |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would tie” or “she would tie”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | empataría | I would tie |
| Tú | empatarías | You would tie |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empataría | He / she / you would tie |
| Nosotros / as | empataríamos | We would tie |
| Vosotros / as | empataríais | You would tie |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empatarían | They / you would tie |
| Vos | empatarías | You would tie |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will tie” or “they will tie”.
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 empatar” means “They are going to tie”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | empataré | I will tie |
| Tú | empatarás | You will tie |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empatará | He / she / you will tie |
| Nosotros / as | empataremos | We will tie |
| Vosotros / as | empataréis | You will tie |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empatarán | They / you will tie |
| Vos | empatarás | You will tie |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | empate |
| Tú | empates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empate |
| Nosotros / as | empatemos |
| Vosotros / as | empatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empaten |
| Vos | empates |
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 | empatara | empatase |
| Tú | empataras | empatase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empatara | empatase |
| Nosotros / as | empatáramos | empatásemos |
| Vosotros / as | empatarais | empataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empataran | empatasen |
| Vos | empataras | empatase |
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 | empatare |
| Tú | empatares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empatare |
| Nosotros / as | empatáremos |
| Vosotros / as | empatareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empataren |
| Vos | empatares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “tie!” and “don’t tie!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | empata | no empates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empate | no empate |
| Nosotros / as | empatemos | no empatemos |
| Vosotros / as | empatad | no empatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empaten | no empaten |
| Vos | empatá | no empates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya empatado |
| Tú | hayas empatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya empatado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos empatado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis empatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan empatado |
| Vos | hayas empatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera empatado / hubiese empatado |
| Tú | hubieras empatado / hubieses empatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera empatado / hubiese empatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos empatado / hubiésemos empatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais empatado / hubieseis empatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran empatado / hubiesen empatado |
| Vos | hubieras empatado / hubieses empatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere empatado |
| Tú | hubieres empatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere empatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos empatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis empatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren empatado |
| Vos | hubieres empatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté empatando |
| Tú | estés empatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté empatando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos empatando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis empatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén empatando |
| Vos | estés empatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera empatando / estuviese empatando |
| Tú | estuvieras empatando / estuvieses empatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera empatando / estuviese empatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos empatando / estuviésamos empatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais empatando / estuvieseis empatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera empatando / estuviese empatando |
| Vos | estuvieras empatando / estuvieses empatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere empatando |
| Tú | estuvieres empatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere empatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos empatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis empatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere empatando |
| Vos | estuvieres empatando |
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 empatás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos empataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos empatabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos empatarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos empatarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos empates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos empataras / Vos empatase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos empatá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no empates |