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Enlatar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to can, put into a can”.
Below are all of the conjugations for enlatar 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 can, put into a can |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | enlatar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está enlatando) and past continuous (estaba enlatando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. putting into a can).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he enlatado and hubiera enlatado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have put into a can).
| Gerundio / Gerund | enlatando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | enlatado |
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 put into a can” or “they put into a can”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | enlato |
| Tú | enlatas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlata |
| Nosotros / as | enlatamos |
| Vosotros / as | enlatáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlatan |
| Vos | enlatás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I put into a can” or “she put into a can” 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 | enlaté | I put into a can |
| Tú | enlataste | You put into a can |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlató | He / she / you put into a can |
| Nosotros / as | enlatamos | We put into a can |
| Vosotros / as | enlatasteis | You put into a can |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlataron | They / you put into a can |
| Vos | enlataste | You put into a can |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was putting into a can” or “she was putting into a can” 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 | enlataba | I was putting into a can |
| Tú | enlatabas | You were putting into a can |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlataba | He was / she was / you were putting into a can |
| Nosotros / as | enlatábamos | We were putting into a can |
| Vosotros / as | enlatabais | You were putting into a can |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlataban | They / you were putting into a can |
| Vos | enlatabas | You were putting into a can |
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 put into a can” and “she has put into a can”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he enlatado | I have put into a can |
| Tú | has enlatado | You have put into a can |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha enlatado | He has / she has / you have put into a can |
| Nosotros / as | hemos enlatado | We have put into a can |
| Vosotros / as | habéis enlatado | You have put into a can |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han enlatado | They / you have put into a can |
| Vos | has enlatado | You have put into a can |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would put into a can” or “she would put into a can”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | enlataría | I would put into a can |
| Tú | enlatarías | You would put into a can |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlataría | He / she / you would put into a can |
| Nosotros / as | enlataríamos | We would put into a can |
| Vosotros / as | enlataríais | You would put into a can |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlatarían | They / you would put into a can |
| Vos | enlatarías | You would put into a can |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will put into a can” or “they will put into a can”.
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 enlatar” means “They are going to put into a can”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | enlataré | I will put into a can |
| Tú | enlatarás | You will put into a can |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlatará | He / she / you will put into a can |
| Nosotros / as | enlataremos | We will put into a can |
| Vosotros / as | enlataréis | You will put into a can |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlatarán | They / you will put into a can |
| Vos | enlatarás | You will put into a can |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | enlate |
| Tú | enlates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlate |
| Nosotros / as | enlatemos |
| Vosotros / as | enlatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlaten |
| Vos | enlates |
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 | enlatara | enlatase |
| Tú | enlataras | enlatase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlatara | enlatase |
| Nosotros / as | enlatáramos | enlatásemos |
| Vosotros / as | enlatarais | enlataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlataran | enlatasen |
| Vos | enlataras | enlatase |
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 | enlatare |
| Tú | enlatares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlatare |
| Nosotros / as | enlatáremos |
| Vosotros / as | enlatareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlataren |
| Vos | enlatares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “put into a can!” and “don’t put into a can!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | enlata | no enlates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enlate | no enlate |
| Nosotros / as | enlatemos | no enlatemos |
| Vosotros / as | enlatad | no enlatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enlaten | no enlaten |
| Vos | enlatá | no enlates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya enlatado |
| Tú | hayas enlatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya enlatado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos enlatado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis enlatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan enlatado |
| Vos | hayas enlatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera enlatado / hubiese enlatado |
| Tú | hubieras enlatado / hubieses enlatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera enlatado / hubiese enlatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos enlatado / hubiésemos enlatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais enlatado / hubieseis enlatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran enlatado / hubiesen enlatado |
| Vos | hubieras enlatado / hubieses enlatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere enlatado |
| Tú | hubieres enlatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere enlatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos enlatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis enlatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren enlatado |
| Vos | hubieres enlatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté enlatando |
| Tú | estés enlatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté enlatando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos enlatando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis enlatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén enlatando |
| Vos | estés enlatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera enlatando / estuviese enlatando |
| Tú | estuvieras enlatando / estuvieses enlatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera enlatando / estuviese enlatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos enlatando / estuviésamos enlatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais enlatando / estuvieseis enlatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera enlatando / estuviese enlatando |
| Vos | estuvieras enlatando / estuvieses enlatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere enlatando |
| Tú | estuvieres enlatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere enlatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos enlatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis enlatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere enlatando |
| Vos | estuvieres enlatando |
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 enlatás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos enlataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos enlatabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos enlatarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos enlatarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos enlates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos enlataras / Vos enlatase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos enlatá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no enlates |