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Gobernar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to govern, rule”.
Below are all of the conjugations for gobernar 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 govern, rule |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | gobernar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está gobernando) and past continuous (estaba gobernando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. governed).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he governed and hubiera governed. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have governing).
| Gerundio / Gerund | gobernando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | governed |
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 govern” or “they govern”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | gobierno |
| Tú | gobiernas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobierna |
| Nosotros / as | gobernamos |
| Vosotros / as | gobernáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobiernan |
| Vos | gobernás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I govern” or “she govern” 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 | goberné | I govern |
| Tú | gobernaste | You govern |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobernó | He / she / you govern |
| Nosotros / as | gobernamos | We govern |
| Vosotros / as | gobernasteis | You govern |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobernaron | They / you govern |
| Vos | gobernaste | You govern |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was governed” or “she was governed” 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 | gobernaba | I was governed |
| Tú | gobernabas | You were governed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobernaba | He was / she was / you were governed |
| Nosotros / as | gobernábamos | We were governed |
| Vosotros / as | gobernabais | You were governed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobernaban | They / you were governed |
| Vos | gobernabas | You were governed |
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 governing” and “she has governing”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he governed | I have governing |
| Tú | has governed | You have governing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha governed | He has / she has / you have governing |
| Nosotros / as | hemos governed | We have governing |
| Vosotros / as | habéis governed | You have governing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han governed | They / you have governing |
| Vos | has governed | You have governing |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would govern” or “she would govern”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gobernaría | I would govern |
| Tú | gobernarías | You would govern |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobernaría | He / she / you would govern |
| Nosotros / as | gobernaríamos | We would govern |
| Vosotros / as | gobernaríais | You would govern |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobernarían | They / you would govern |
| Vos | gobernarías | You would govern |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will govern” or “they will govern”.
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 gobernar” means “They are going to govern”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gobernaré | I will govern |
| Tú | gobernarás | You will govern |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobernará | He / she / you will govern |
| Nosotros / as | gobernaremos | We will govern |
| Vosotros / as | gobernaréis | You will govern |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobernarán | They / you will govern |
| Vos | gobernarás | You will govern |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | gobierne |
| Tú | gobiernes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobierne |
| Nosotros / as | gobernemos |
| Vosotros / as | gobernéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobiernen |
| Vos | gobiernes |
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 | gobernara | gobernase |
| Tú | gobernaras | gobernase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobernara | gobernase |
| Nosotros / as | gobernáramos | gobernásemos |
| Vosotros / as | gobernarais | gobernaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobernaran | gobernasen |
| Vos | gobernaras | gobernase |
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 | gobernare |
| Tú | gobernares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobernare |
| Nosotros / as | gobernáremos |
| Vosotros / as | gobernareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobernaren |
| Vos | gobernares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “govern!” and “don’t govern!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | gobierna | no gobiernes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gobierne | no gobierne |
| Nosotros / as | gobernemos | no gobernemos |
| Vosotros / as | gobernad | no gobernéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gobiernen | no gobiernen |
| Vos | goberná | no gobiernes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya governed |
| Tú | hayas governed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya governed |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos governed |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis governed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan governed |
| Vos | hayas governed |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera governed / hubiese governed |
| Tú | hubieras governed / hubieses governed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera governed / hubiese governed |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos governed / hubiésemos governed |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais governed / hubieseis governed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran governed / hubiesen governed |
| Vos | hubieras governed / hubieses governed |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere governed |
| Tú | hubieres governed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere governed |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos governed |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis governed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren governed |
| Vos | hubieres governed |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté gobernando |
| Tú | estés gobernando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté gobernando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos gobernando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis gobernando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén gobernando |
| Vos | estés gobernando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera gobernando / estuviese gobernando |
| Tú | estuvieras gobernando / estuvieses gobernando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera gobernando / estuviese gobernando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos gobernando / estuviésamos gobernando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais gobernando / estuvieseis gobernando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera gobernando / estuviese gobernando |
| Vos | estuvieras gobernando / estuvieses gobernando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere gobernando |
| Tú | estuvieres gobernando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere gobernando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos gobernando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis gobernando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere gobernando |
| Vos | estuvieres gobernando |
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 gobernás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos gobernaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos gobernabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos gobernarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos gobernarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos gobiernes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos gobernaras / Vos gobernase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos goberná |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no gobiernes |