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Fotocopiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to photocopy”.
Below are all of the conjugations for fotocopiar 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 photocopy |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | fotocopiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está fotocopiando) and past continuous (estaba fotocopiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. photocopied).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he photocopied and hubiera photocopied. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have photocopying).
| Gerundio / Gerund | fotocopiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | photocopied |
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 photocopy” or “they photocopy”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fotocopio |
| Tú | fotocopias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopia |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiamos |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopian |
| Vos | fotocopias |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I photocopy” or “she photocopy” 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 | fotocopié | I photocopy |
| Tú | fotocopiaste | You photocopy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopió | He / she / you photocopy |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiamos | We photocopy |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiasteis | You photocopy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopiaron | They / you photocopy |
| Vos | fotocopiaste | You photocopy |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was photocopied” or “she was photocopied” 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 | fotocopiaba | I was photocopied |
| Tú | fotocopiabas | You were photocopied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopiaba | He was / she was / you were photocopied |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiábamos | We were photocopied |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiabais | You were photocopied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopiaban | They / you were photocopied |
| Vos | fotocopiabas | You were photocopied |
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 photocopying” and “she has photocopying”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he photocopied | I have photocopying |
| Tú | has photocopied | You have photocopying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha photocopied | He has / she has / you have photocopying |
| Nosotros / as | hemos photocopied | We have photocopying |
| Vosotros / as | habéis photocopied | You have photocopying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han photocopied | They / you have photocopying |
| Vos | has photocopied | You have photocopying |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would photocopy” or “she would photocopy”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fotocopiaría | I would photocopy |
| Tú | fotocopiarías | You would photocopy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopiaría | He / she / you would photocopy |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiaríamos | We would photocopy |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiaríais | You would photocopy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopiarían | They / you would photocopy |
| Vos | fotocopiarías | You would photocopy |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will photocopy” or “they will photocopy”.
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 fotocopiar” means “They are going to photocopy”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fotocopiaré | I will photocopy |
| Tú | fotocopiarás | You will photocopy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopiará | He / she / you will photocopy |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiaremos | We will photocopy |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiaréis | You will photocopy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopiarán | They / you will photocopy |
| Vos | fotocopiarás | You will photocopy |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fotocopie |
| Tú | fotocopies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopie |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiemos |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopien |
| Vos | fotocopies |
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 | fotocopiara | fotocopiase |
| Tú | fotocopiaras | fotocopiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopiara | fotocopiase |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiáramos | fotocopiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiarais | fotocopiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopiaran | fotocopiasen |
| Vos | fotocopiaras | fotocopiase |
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 | fotocopiare |
| Tú | fotocopiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopiare |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopiaren |
| Vos | fotocopiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “photocopy!” and “don’t photocopy!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | fotocopia | no fotocopies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fotocopie | no fotocopie |
| Nosotros / as | fotocopiemos | no fotocopiemos |
| Vosotros / as | fotocopiad | no fotocopiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fotocopien | no fotocopien |
| Vos | fotocopiá | no fotocopies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya photocopied |
| Tú | hayas photocopied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya photocopied |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos photocopied |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis photocopied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan photocopied |
| Vos | hayas photocopied |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera photocopied / hubiese photocopied |
| Tú | hubieras photocopied / hubieses photocopied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera photocopied / hubiese photocopied |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos photocopied / hubiésemos photocopied |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais photocopied / hubieseis photocopied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran photocopied / hubiesen photocopied |
| Vos | hubieras photocopied / hubieses photocopied |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere photocopied |
| Tú | hubieres photocopied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere photocopied |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos photocopied |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis photocopied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren photocopied |
| Vos | hubieres photocopied |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté fotocopiando |
| Tú | estés fotocopiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté fotocopiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos fotocopiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis fotocopiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén fotocopiando |
| Vos | estés fotocopiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera fotocopiando / estuviese fotocopiando |
| Tú | estuvieras fotocopiando / estuvieses fotocopiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera fotocopiando / estuviese fotocopiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos fotocopiando / estuviésamos fotocopiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais fotocopiando / estuvieseis fotocopiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera fotocopiando / estuviese fotocopiando |
| Vos | estuvieras fotocopiando / estuvieses fotocopiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere fotocopiando |
| Tú | estuvieres fotocopiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere fotocopiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos fotocopiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis fotocopiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere fotocopiando |
| Vos | estuvieres fotocopiando |
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 fotocopias |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos fotocopiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos fotocopiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos fotocopiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos fotocopiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos fotocopies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos fotocopiaras / Vos fotocopiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos fotocopiá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no fotocopies |