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Instigar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to provoke, incite”.
Below are all of the conjugations for instigar 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 provoke, incite |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | instigar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está instigando) and past continuous (estaba instigando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. provoking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he instigado and hubiera instigado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have provoked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | instigando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | instigado |
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 provoke” or “they provoke”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | instigo |
| Tú | instigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instiga |
| Nosotros / as | instigamos |
| Vosotros / as | instigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigan |
| Vos | instigás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I provoked” or “she provoked” 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 | instigué | I provoked |
| Tú | instigaste | You provoked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigó | He / she / you provoked |
| Nosotros / as | instigamos | We provoked |
| Vosotros / as | instigasteis | You provoked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigaron | They / you provoked |
| Vos | instigaste | You provoked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was provoking” or “she was provoking” 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 | instigaba | I was provoking |
| Tú | instigabas | You were provoking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigaba | He was / she was / you were provoking |
| Nosotros / as | instigábamos | We were provoking |
| Vosotros / as | instigabais | You were provoking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigaban | They / you were provoking |
| Vos | instigabas | You were provoking |
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 provoked” and “she has provoked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he instigado | I have provoked |
| Tú | has instigado | You have provoked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha instigado | He has / she has / you have provoked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos instigado | We have provoked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis instigado | You have provoked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han instigado | They / you have provoked |
| Vos | has instigado | You have provoked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would provoke” or “she would provoke”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | instigaría | I would provoke |
| Tú | instigarías | You would provoke |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigaría | He / she / you would provoke |
| Nosotros / as | instigaríamos | We would provoke |
| Vosotros / as | instigaríais | You would provoke |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigarían | They / you would provoke |
| Vos | instigarías | You would provoke |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will provoke” or “they will provoke”.
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 instigar” means “They are going to provoke”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | instigaré | I will provoke |
| Tú | instigarás | You will provoke |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigará | He / she / you will provoke |
| Nosotros / as | instigaremos | We will provoke |
| Vosotros / as | instigaréis | You will provoke |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigarán | They / you will provoke |
| Vos | instigarás | You will provoke |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | instigue |
| Tú | instigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigue |
| Nosotros / as | instiguemos |
| Vosotros / as | instiguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instiguen |
| Vos | instigues |
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 | instigara | instigase |
| Tú | instigaras | instigase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigara | instigase |
| Nosotros / as | instigáramos | instigásemos |
| Vosotros / as | instigarais | instigaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigaran | instigasen |
| Vos | instigaras | instigase |
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 | instigare |
| Tú | instigares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigare |
| Nosotros / as | instigáremos |
| Vosotros / as | instigareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instigaren |
| Vos | instigares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “provoke!” and “don’t provoke!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | instiga | no instigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instigue | no instigue |
| Nosotros / as | instiguemos | no instiguemos |
| Vosotros / as | instigad | no instiguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instiguen | no instiguen |
| Vos | instigá | no instigues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya instigado |
| Tú | hayas instigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya instigado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos instigado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis instigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan instigado |
| Vos | hayas instigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera instigado / hubiese instigado |
| Tú | hubieras instigado / hubieses instigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera instigado / hubiese instigado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos instigado / hubiésemos instigado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais instigado / hubieseis instigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran instigado / hubiesen instigado |
| Vos | hubieras instigado / hubieses instigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere instigado |
| Tú | hubieres instigado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere instigado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos instigado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis instigado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren instigado |
| Vos | hubieres instigado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté instigando |
| Tú | estés instigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté instigando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos instigando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis instigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén instigando |
| Vos | estés instigando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera instigando / estuviese instigando |
| Tú | estuvieras instigando / estuvieses instigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera instigando / estuviese instigando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos instigando / estuviésamos instigando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais instigando / estuvieseis instigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera instigando / estuviese instigando |
| Vos | estuvieras instigando / estuvieses instigando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere instigando |
| Tú | estuvieres instigando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere instigando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos instigando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis instigando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere instigando |
| Vos | estuvieres instigando |
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 instigás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos instigaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos instigabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos instigarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos instigarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos instigues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos instigaras / Vos instigase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos instigá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no instigues |