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Helar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to freeze”.
Below are all of the conjugations for helar 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 freeze |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | helar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está helando) and past continuous (estaba helando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. froze).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he frozen and hubiera frozen. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have freezing).
| Gerundio / Gerund | helando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | frozen |
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 freeze” or “they freeze”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hielo |
| Tú | hielas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hiela |
| Nosotros / as | helamos |
| Vosotros / as | heláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hielan |
| Vos | helás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I freeze” or “she freeze” 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 | helé | I freeze |
| Tú | helaste | You freeze |
| Él / Ella / Usted | heló | He / she / you freeze |
| Nosotros / as | helamos | We freeze |
| Vosotros / as | helasteis | You freeze |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | helaron | They / you freeze |
| Vos | helaste | You freeze |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was froze” or “she was froze” 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 | helaba | I was froze |
| Tú | helabas | You were froze |
| Él / Ella / Usted | helaba | He was / she was / you were froze |
| Nosotros / as | helábamos | We were froze |
| Vosotros / as | helabais | You were froze |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | helaban | They / you were froze |
| Vos | helabas | You were froze |
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 freezing” and “she has freezing”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he frozen | I have freezing |
| Tú | has frozen | You have freezing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha frozen | He has / she has / you have freezing |
| Nosotros / as | hemos frozen | We have freezing |
| Vosotros / as | habéis frozen | You have freezing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han frozen | They / you have freezing |
| Vos | has frozen | You have freezing |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would freeze” or “she would freeze”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | helaría | I would freeze |
| Tú | helarías | You would freeze |
| Él / Ella / Usted | helaría | He / she / you would freeze |
| Nosotros / as | helaríamos | We would freeze |
| Vosotros / as | helaríais | You would freeze |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | helarían | They / you would freeze |
| Vos | helarías | You would freeze |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will freeze” or “they will freeze”.
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 helar” means “They are going to freeze”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | helaré | I will freeze |
| Tú | helarás | You will freeze |
| Él / Ella / Usted | helará | He / she / you will freeze |
| Nosotros / as | helaremos | We will freeze |
| Vosotros / as | helaréis | You will freeze |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | helarán | They / you will freeze |
| Vos | helarás | You will freeze |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hiele |
| Tú | hieles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hiele |
| Nosotros / as | helemos |
| Vosotros / as | heléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hielen |
| Vos | hieles |
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 | helara | helase |
| Tú | helaras | helase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | helara | helase |
| Nosotros / as | heláramos | helásemos |
| Vosotros / as | helarais | helaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | helaran | helasen |
| Vos | helaras | helase |
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 | helare |
| Tú | helares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | helare |
| Nosotros / as | heláremos |
| Vosotros / as | helareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | helaren |
| Vos | helares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “freeze!” and “don’t freeze!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | hiela | no hieles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hiele | no hiele |
| Nosotros / as | helemos | no helemos |
| Vosotros / as | helad | no heléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hielen | no hielen |
| Vos | helá | no hieles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya frozen |
| Tú | hayas frozen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya frozen |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos frozen |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis frozen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan frozen |
| Vos | hayas frozen |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera frozen / hubiese frozen |
| Tú | hubieras frozen / hubieses frozen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera frozen / hubiese frozen |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos frozen / hubiésemos frozen |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais frozen / hubieseis frozen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran frozen / hubiesen frozen |
| Vos | hubieras frozen / hubieses frozen |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere frozen |
| Tú | hubieres frozen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere frozen |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos frozen |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis frozen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren frozen |
| Vos | hubieres frozen |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté helando |
| Tú | estés helando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté helando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos helando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis helando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén helando |
| Vos | estés helando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera helando / estuviese helando |
| Tú | estuvieras helando / estuvieses helando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera helando / estuviese helando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos helando / estuviésamos helando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais helando / estuvieseis helando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera helando / estuviese helando |
| Vos | estuvieras helando / estuvieses helando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere helando |
| Tú | estuvieres helando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere helando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos helando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis helando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere helando |
| Vos | estuvieres helando |
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 helás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos helaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos helabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos helarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos helarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos hieles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos helaras / Vos helase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos helá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no hieles |