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Utilizar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to use”.
Below are all of the conjugations for utilizar 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 use |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | utilizar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está utilizando) and past continuous (estaba utilizando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. using).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he utilizado and hubiera utilizado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have used).
| Gerundio / Gerund | utilizando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | utilizado |
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 use” or “they use”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | utilizo |
| Tú | utilizas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utiliza |
| Nosotros / as | utilizamos |
| Vosotros / as | utilizáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizan |
| Vos | utilizás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I used” or “she used” 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 | utilicé | I used |
| Tú | utilizaste | You used |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilizó | He / she / you used |
| Nosotros / as | utilizamos | We used |
| Vosotros / as | utilizasteis | You used |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizaron | They / you used |
| Vos | utilizaste | You used |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was using” or “she was using” 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 | utilizaba | I was using |
| Tú | utilizabas | You were using |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilizaba | He was / she was / you were using |
| Nosotros / as | utilizábamos | We were using |
| Vosotros / as | utilizabais | You were using |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizaban | They / you were using |
| Vos | utilizabas | You were using |
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 used” and “she has used”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he utilizado | I have used |
| Tú | has utilizado | You have used |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha utilizado | He has / she has / you have used |
| Nosotros / as | hemos utilizado | We have used |
| Vosotros / as | habéis utilizado | You have used |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han utilizado | They / you have used |
| Vos | has utilizado | You have used |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would use” or “she would use”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | utilizaría | I would use |
| Tú | utilizarías | You would use |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilizaría | He / she / you would use |
| Nosotros / as | utilizaríamos | We would use |
| Vosotros / as | utilizaríais | You would use |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizarían | They / you would use |
| Vos | utilizarías | You would use |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will use” or “they will use”.
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 utilizar” means “They are going to use”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | utilizaré | I will use |
| Tú | utilizarás | You will use |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilizará | He / she / you will use |
| Nosotros / as | utilizaremos | We will use |
| Vosotros / as | utilizaréis | You will use |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizarán | They / you will use |
| Vos | utilizarás | You will use |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | utilice |
| Tú | utilices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilice |
| Nosotros / as | utilicemos |
| Vosotros / as | utilicéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilicen |
| Vos | utilices |
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 | utilizara | utilizase |
| Tú | utilizaras | utilizase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilizara | utilizase |
| Nosotros / as | utilizáramos | utilizásemos |
| Vosotros / as | utilizarais | utilizaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizaran | utilizasen |
| Vos | utilizaras | utilizase |
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 | utilizare |
| Tú | utilizares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilizare |
| Nosotros / as | utilizáremos |
| Vosotros / as | utilizareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilizaren |
| Vos | utilizares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “use!” and “don’t use!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | utiliza | no utilices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | utilice | no utilice |
| Nosotros / as | utilicemos | no utilicemos |
| Vosotros / as | utilizad | no utilicéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | utilicen | no utilicen |
| Vos | utilizá | no utilices |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya utilizado |
| Tú | hayas utilizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya utilizado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos utilizado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis utilizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan utilizado |
| Vos | hayas utilizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera utilizado / hubiese utilizado |
| Tú | hubieras utilizado / hubieses utilizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera utilizado / hubiese utilizado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos utilizado / hubiésemos utilizado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais utilizado / hubieseis utilizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran utilizado / hubiesen utilizado |
| Vos | hubieras utilizado / hubieses utilizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere utilizado |
| Tú | hubieres utilizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere utilizado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos utilizado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis utilizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren utilizado |
| Vos | hubieres utilizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté utilizando |
| Tú | estés utilizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté utilizando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos utilizando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis utilizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén utilizando |
| Vos | estés utilizando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera utilizando / estuviese utilizando |
| Tú | estuvieras utilizando / estuvieses utilizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera utilizando / estuviese utilizando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos utilizando / estuviésamos utilizando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais utilizando / estuvieseis utilizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera utilizando / estuviese utilizando |
| Vos | estuvieras utilizando / estuvieses utilizando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere utilizando |
| Tú | estuvieres utilizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere utilizando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos utilizando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis utilizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere utilizando |
| Vos | estuvieres utilizando |
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 utilizás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos utilizaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos utilizabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos utilizarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos utilizarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos utilices |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos utilizaras / Vos utilizase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos utilizá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no utilices |
