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Indicar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to indicate, show, point out”.
Below are all of the conjugations for indicar 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 indicate, show, point out |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | indicar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está indicando) and past continuous (estaba indicando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. indicating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he indicado and hubiera indicado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have indicated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | indicando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | indicado |
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 indicate” or “they indicate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | indico |
| Tú | indicas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indica |
| Nosotros / as | indicamos |
| Vosotros / as | indicáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indican |
| Vos | indicás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I indicated” or “she indicated” 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 | indiqué | I indicated |
| Tú | indicaste | You indicated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indicó | He / she / you indicated |
| Nosotros / as | indicamos | We indicated |
| Vosotros / as | indicasteis | You indicated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indicaron | They / you indicated |
| Vos | indicaste | You indicated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was indicating” or “she was indicating” 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 | indicaba | I was indicating |
| Tú | indicabas | You were indicating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indicaba | He was / she was / you were indicating |
| Nosotros / as | indicábamos | We were indicating |
| Vosotros / as | indicabais | You were indicating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indicaban | They / you were indicating |
| Vos | indicabas | You were indicating |
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 indicated” and “she has indicated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he indicado | I have indicated |
| Tú | has indicado | You have indicated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha indicado | He has / she has / you have indicated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos indicado | We have indicated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis indicado | You have indicated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han indicado | They / you have indicated |
| Vos | has indicado | You have indicated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would indicate” or “she would indicate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | indicaría | I would indicate |
| Tú | indicarías | You would indicate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indicaría | He / she / you would indicate |
| Nosotros / as | indicaríamos | We would indicate |
| Vosotros / as | indicaríais | You would indicate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indicarían | They / you would indicate |
| Vos | indicarías | You would indicate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will indicate” or “they will indicate”.
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 indicar” means “They are going to indicate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | indicaré | I will indicate |
| Tú | indicarás | You will indicate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indicará | He / she / you will indicate |
| Nosotros / as | indicaremos | We will indicate |
| Vosotros / as | indicaréis | You will indicate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indicarán | They / you will indicate |
| Vos | indicarás | You will indicate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | indique |
| Tú | indiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indique |
| Nosotros / as | indiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | indiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indiquen |
| Vos | indiques |
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 | indicara | indicase |
| Tú | indicaras | indicase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indicara | indicase |
| Nosotros / as | indicáramos | indicásemos |
| Vosotros / as | indicarais | indicaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indicaran | indicasen |
| Vos | indicaras | indicase |
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 | indicare |
| Tú | indicares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indicare |
| Nosotros / as | indicáremos |
| Vosotros / as | indicareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indicaren |
| Vos | indicares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “indicate!” and “don’t indicate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | indica | no indiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | indique | no indique |
| Nosotros / as | indiquemos | no indiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | indicad | no indiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | indiquen | no indiquen |
| Vos | indicá | no indiques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya indicado |
| Tú | hayas indicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya indicado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos indicado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis indicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan indicado |
| Vos | hayas indicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera indicado / hubiese indicado |
| Tú | hubieras indicado / hubieses indicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera indicado / hubiese indicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos indicado / hubiésemos indicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais indicado / hubieseis indicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran indicado / hubiesen indicado |
| Vos | hubieras indicado / hubieses indicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere indicado |
| Tú | hubieres indicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere indicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos indicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis indicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren indicado |
| Vos | hubieres indicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté indicando |
| Tú | estés indicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté indicando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos indicando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis indicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén indicando |
| Vos | estés indicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera indicando / estuviese indicando |
| Tú | estuvieras indicando / estuvieses indicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera indicando / estuviese indicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos indicando / estuviésamos indicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais indicando / estuvieseis indicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera indicando / estuviese indicando |
| Vos | estuvieras indicando / estuvieses indicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere indicando |
| Tú | estuvieres indicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere indicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos indicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis indicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere indicando |
| Vos | estuvieres indicando |
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 indicás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos indicaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos indicabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos indicarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos indicarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos indiques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos indicaras / Vos indicase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos indicá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no indiques |