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Esclarecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lighten, light up, clarify”.
Below are all of the conjugations for esclarecer 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 lighten, light up, clarify |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esclarecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esclareciendo) and past continuous (estaba esclareciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. lightening).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esclarecido and hubiera esclarecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lightened).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esclareciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esclarecido |
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 lighten” or “they lighten”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esclarezco |
| Tú | esclareces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclarece |
| Nosotros / as | esclarecemos |
| Vosotros / as | esclarecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecen |
| Vos | esclarecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lightened” or “she lightened” 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 | esclarecí | I lightened |
| Tú | esclareciste | You lightened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclareció | He / she / you lightened |
| Nosotros / as | esclarecimos | We lightened |
| Vosotros / as | esclarecisteis | You lightened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecieron | They / you lightened |
| Vos | esclareciste | You lightened |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was lightening” or “she was lightening” 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 | esclarecía | I was lightening |
| Tú | esclarecías | You were lightening |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclarecía | He was / she was / you were lightening |
| Nosotros / as | esclarecíamos | We were lightening |
| Vosotros / as | esclarecíais | You were lightening |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecían | They / you were lightening |
| Vos | esclarecías | You were lightening |
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 lightened” and “she has lightened”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he esclarecido | I have lightened |
| Tú | has esclarecido | You have lightened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha esclarecido | He has / she has / you have lightened |
| Nosotros / as | hemos esclarecido | We have lightened |
| Vosotros / as | habéis esclarecido | You have lightened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han esclarecido | They / you have lightened |
| Vos | has esclarecido | You have lightened |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lighten” or “she would lighten”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esclarecería | I would lighten |
| Tú | esclarecerías | You would lighten |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclarecería | He / she / you would lighten |
| Nosotros / as | esclareceríamos | We would lighten |
| Vosotros / as | esclareceríais | You would lighten |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecerían | They / you would lighten |
| Vos | esclarecerías | You would lighten |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lighten” or “they will lighten”.
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 esclarecer” means “They are going to lighten”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esclareceré | I will lighten |
| Tú | esclarecerás | You will lighten |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclarecerá | He / she / you will lighten |
| Nosotros / as | esclareceremos | We will lighten |
| Vosotros / as | esclareceréis | You will lighten |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecerán | They / you will lighten |
| Vos | esclarecerás | You will lighten |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esclarezca |
| Tú | esclarezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclarezca |
| Nosotros / as | esclarezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | esclarezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarezcan |
| Vos | esclarezcas |
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 | esclareciera | esclareciese |
| Tú | esclarecieras | esclareciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclareciera | esclareciese |
| Nosotros / as | esclareciéramos | esclareciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | esclarecierais | esclarecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecieran | esclareciesen |
| Vos | esclarecieras | esclareciese |
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 | esclareciere |
| Tú | esclarecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclareciere |
| Nosotros / as | esclareciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | esclareciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarecieren |
| Vos | esclarecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lighten!” and “don’t lighten!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | esclarece | no esclarezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esclarezca | no esclarezca |
| Nosotros / as | esclarezcamos | no esclarezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | esclareced | no esclarezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esclarezcan | no esclarezcan |
| Vos | esclarecé | no esclarezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esclarecido |
| Tú | hayas esclarecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esclarecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esclarecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esclarecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esclarecido |
| Vos | hayas esclarecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esclarecido / hubiese esclarecido |
| Tú | hubieras esclarecido / hubieses esclarecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esclarecido / hubiese esclarecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esclarecido / hubiésemos esclarecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esclarecido / hubieseis esclarecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esclarecido / hubiesen esclarecido |
| Vos | hubieras esclarecido / hubieses esclarecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esclarecido |
| Tú | hubieres esclarecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esclarecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esclarecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esclarecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esclarecido |
| Vos | hubieres esclarecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esclareciendo |
| Tú | estés esclareciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esclareciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esclareciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esclareciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esclareciendo |
| Vos | estés esclareciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esclareciendo / estuviese esclareciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras esclareciendo / estuvieses esclareciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esclareciendo / estuviese esclareciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esclareciendo / estuviésamos esclareciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esclareciendo / estuvieseis esclareciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esclareciendo / estuviese esclareciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras esclareciendo / estuvieses esclareciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esclareciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres esclareciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esclareciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esclareciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esclareciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esclareciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres esclareciendo |
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 esclarecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos esclareciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos esclarecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos esclarecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos esclarecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos esclarezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos esclarecieras / Vos esclareciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esclarecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no esclarezcas |