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Habitar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to inhabit, live, reside”.
Below are all of the conjugations for habitar 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 inhabit, live, reside |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | habitar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está habitando) and past continuous (estaba habitando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. inhabited).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he inhabited and hubiera inhabited. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have inhabiting).
| Gerundio / Gerund | habitando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | inhabited |
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 inhabit” or “they inhabit”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | habito |
| Tú | habitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habita |
| Nosotros / as | habitamos |
| Vosotros / as | habitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitan |
| Vos | habitás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I inhabit” or “she inhabit” 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 | habité | I inhabit |
| Tú | habitaste | You inhabit |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habitó | He / she / you inhabit |
| Nosotros / as | habitamos | We inhabit |
| Vosotros / as | habitasteis | You inhabit |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitaron | They / you inhabit |
| Vos | habitaste | You inhabit |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was inhabited” or “she was inhabited” 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 | habitaba | I was inhabited |
| Tú | habitabas | You were inhabited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habitaba | He was / she was / you were inhabited |
| Nosotros / as | habitábamos | We were inhabited |
| Vosotros / as | habitabais | You were inhabited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitaban | They / you were inhabited |
| Vos | habitabas | You were inhabited |
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 inhabiting” and “she has inhabiting”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he inhabited | I have inhabiting |
| Tú | has inhabited | You have inhabiting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha inhabited | He has / she has / you have inhabiting |
| Nosotros / as | hemos inhabited | We have inhabiting |
| Vosotros / as | habéis inhabited | You have inhabiting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han inhabited | They / you have inhabiting |
| Vos | has inhabited | You have inhabiting |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would inhabit” or “she would inhabit”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | habitaría | I would inhabit |
| Tú | habitarías | You would inhabit |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habitaría | He / she / you would inhabit |
| Nosotros / as | habitaríamos | We would inhabit |
| Vosotros / as | habitaríais | You would inhabit |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitarían | They / you would inhabit |
| Vos | habitarías | You would inhabit |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will inhabit” or “they will inhabit”.
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 habitar” means “They are going to inhabit”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | habitaré | I will inhabit |
| Tú | habitarás | You will inhabit |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habitará | He / she / you will inhabit |
| Nosotros / as | habitaremos | We will inhabit |
| Vosotros / as | habitaréis | You will inhabit |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitarán | They / you will inhabit |
| Vos | habitarás | You will inhabit |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | habite |
| Tú | habites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habite |
| Nosotros / as | habitemos |
| Vosotros / as | habitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habiten |
| Vos | habites |
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 | habitara | habitase |
| Tú | habitaras | habitase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habitara | habitase |
| Nosotros / as | habitáramos | habitásemos |
| Vosotros / as | habitarais | habitaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitaran | habitasen |
| Vos | habitaras | habitase |
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 | habitare |
| Tú | habitares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habitare |
| Nosotros / as | habitáremos |
| Vosotros / as | habitareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habitaren |
| Vos | habitares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “inhabit!” and “don’t inhabit!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | habita | no habites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habite | no habite |
| Nosotros / as | habitemos | no habitemos |
| Vosotros / as | habitad | no habitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habiten | no habiten |
| Vos | habitá | no habites |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya inhabited |
| Tú | hayas inhabited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya inhabited |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos inhabited |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis inhabited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan inhabited |
| Vos | hayas inhabited |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera inhabited / hubiese inhabited |
| Tú | hubieras inhabited / hubieses inhabited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera inhabited / hubiese inhabited |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos inhabited / hubiésemos inhabited |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais inhabited / hubieseis inhabited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran inhabited / hubiesen inhabited |
| Vos | hubieras inhabited / hubieses inhabited |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere inhabited |
| Tú | hubieres inhabited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere inhabited |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos inhabited |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis inhabited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren inhabited |
| Vos | hubieres inhabited |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté habitando |
| Tú | estés habitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté habitando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos habitando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis habitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén habitando |
| Vos | estés habitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera habitando / estuviese habitando |
| Tú | estuvieras habitando / estuvieses habitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera habitando / estuviese habitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos habitando / estuviésamos habitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais habitando / estuvieseis habitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera habitando / estuviese habitando |
| Vos | estuvieras habitando / estuvieses habitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere habitando |
| Tú | estuvieres habitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere habitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos habitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis habitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere habitando |
| Vos | estuvieres habitando |
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 habitás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos habitaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos habitabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos habitarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos habitarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos habites |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos habitaras / Vos habitase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos habitá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no habites |