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Establecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to establish, set up”.
Below are all of the conjugations for establecer 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 establish, set up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | establecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está estableciendo) and past continuous (estaba estableciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. establishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he establecido and hubiera establecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have established).
| Gerundio / Gerund | estableciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | establecido |
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 establish” or “they establish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | establezco |
| Tú | estableces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | establece |
| Nosotros / as | establecemos |
| Vosotros / as | establecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecen |
| Vos | establecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I established” or “she established” 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 | establecí | I established |
| Tú | estableciste | You established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estableció | He / she / you established |
| Nosotros / as | establecimos | We established |
| Vosotros / as | establecisteis | You established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecieron | They / you established |
| Vos | estableciste | You established |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was establishing” or “she was establishing” 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 | establecía | I was establishing |
| Tú | establecías | You were establishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | establecía | He was / she was / you were establishing |
| Nosotros / as | establecíamos | We were establishing |
| Vosotros / as | establecíais | You were establishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecían | They / you were establishing |
| Vos | establecías | You were establishing |
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 established” and “she has established”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he establecido | I have established |
| Tú | has establecido | You have established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha establecido | He has / she has / you have established |
| Nosotros / as | hemos establecido | We have established |
| Vosotros / as | habéis establecido | You have established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han establecido | They / you have established |
| Vos | has establecido | You have established |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would establish” or “she would establish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | establecería | I would establish |
| Tú | establecerías | You would establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | establecería | He / she / you would establish |
| Nosotros / as | estableceríamos | We would establish |
| Vosotros / as | estableceríais | You would establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecerían | They / you would establish |
| Vos | establecerías | You would establish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will establish” or “they will establish”.
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 establecer” means “They are going to establish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estableceré | I will establish |
| Tú | establecerás | You will establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | establecerá | He / she / you will establish |
| Nosotros / as | estableceremos | We will establish |
| Vosotros / as | estableceréis | You will establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecerán | They / you will establish |
| Vos | establecerás | You will establish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | establezca |
| Tú | establezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | establezca |
| Nosotros / as | establezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | establezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establezcan |
| Vos | establezcas |
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 | estableciera | estableciese |
| Tú | establecieras | estableciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estableciera | estableciese |
| Nosotros / as | estableciéramos | estableciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | establecierais | establecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecieran | estableciesen |
| Vos | establecieras | estableciese |
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 | estableciere |
| Tú | establecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estableciere |
| Nosotros / as | estableciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | estableciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establecieren |
| Vos | establecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “establish!” and “don’t establish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | establece | no establezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | establezca | no establezca |
| Nosotros / as | establezcamos | no establezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | estableced | no establezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | establezcan | no establezcan |
| Vos | establecé | no establezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya establecido |
| Tú | hayas establecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya establecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos establecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis establecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan establecido |
| Vos | hayas establecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera establecido / hubiese establecido |
| Tú | hubieras establecido / hubieses establecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera establecido / hubiese establecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos establecido / hubiésemos establecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais establecido / hubieseis establecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran establecido / hubiesen establecido |
| Vos | hubieras establecido / hubieses establecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere establecido |
| Tú | hubieres establecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere establecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos establecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis establecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren establecido |
| Vos | hubieres establecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté estableciendo |
| Tú | estés estableciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté estableciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos estableciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis estableciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén estableciendo |
| Vos | estés estableciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera estableciendo / estuviese estableciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras estableciendo / estuvieses estableciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera estableciendo / estuviese estableciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos estableciendo / estuviésamos estableciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais estableciendo / estuvieseis estableciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera estableciendo / estuviese estableciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras estableciendo / estuvieses estableciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere estableciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres estableciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere estableciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos estableciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis estableciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere estableciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres estableciendo |
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 establecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos estableciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos establecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos establecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos establecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos establezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos establecieras / Vos estableciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos establecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no establezcas |