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Insultar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to insult”.
Below are all of the conjugations for insultar 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 insult |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | insultar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está insultando) and past continuous (estaba insultando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. insulting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he insultado and hubiera insultado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have insulted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | insultando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | insultado |
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 insult” or “they insult”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | insulto |
| Tú | insultas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insulta |
| Nosotros / as | insultamos |
| Vosotros / as | insultáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultan |
| Vos | insultás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I insulted” or “she insulted” 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 | insulté | I insulted |
| Tú | insultaste | You insulted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insultó | He / she / you insulted |
| Nosotros / as | insultamos | We insulted |
| Vosotros / as | insultasteis | You insulted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultaron | They / you insulted |
| Vos | insultaste | You insulted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was insulting” or “she was insulting” 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 | insultaba | I was insulting |
| Tú | insultabas | You were insulting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insultaba | He was / she was / you were insulting |
| Nosotros / as | insultábamos | We were insulting |
| Vosotros / as | insultabais | You were insulting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultaban | They / you were insulting |
| Vos | insultabas | You were insulting |
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 insulted” and “she has insulted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he insultado | I have insulted |
| Tú | has insultado | You have insulted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha insultado | He has / she has / you have insulted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos insultado | We have insulted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis insultado | You have insulted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han insultado | They / you have insulted |
| Vos | has insultado | You have insulted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would insult” or “she would insult”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | insultaría | I would insult |
| Tú | insultarías | You would insult |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insultaría | He / she / you would insult |
| Nosotros / as | insultaríamos | We would insult |
| Vosotros / as | insultaríais | You would insult |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultarían | They / you would insult |
| Vos | insultarías | You would insult |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will insult” or “they will insult”.
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 insultar” means “They are going to insult”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | insultaré | I will insult |
| Tú | insultarás | You will insult |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insultará | He / she / you will insult |
| Nosotros / as | insultaremos | We will insult |
| Vosotros / as | insultaréis | You will insult |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultarán | They / you will insult |
| Vos | insultarás | You will insult |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | insulte |
| Tú | insultes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insulte |
| Nosotros / as | insultemos |
| Vosotros / as | insultéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insulten |
| Vos | insultes |
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 | insultara | insultase |
| Tú | insultaras | insultase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insultara | insultase |
| Nosotros / as | insultáramos | insultásemos |
| Vosotros / as | insultarais | insultaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultaran | insultasen |
| Vos | insultaras | insultase |
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 | insultare |
| Tú | insultares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insultare |
| Nosotros / as | insultáremos |
| Vosotros / as | insultareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insultaren |
| Vos | insultares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “insult!” and “don’t insult!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | insulta | no insultes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insulte | no insulte |
| Nosotros / as | insultemos | no insultemos |
| Vosotros / as | insultad | no insultéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insulten | no insulten |
| Vos | insultá | no insultes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya insultado |
| Tú | hayas insultado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya insultado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos insultado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis insultado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan insultado |
| Vos | hayas insultado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera insultado / hubiese insultado |
| Tú | hubieras insultado / hubieses insultado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera insultado / hubiese insultado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos insultado / hubiésemos insultado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais insultado / hubieseis insultado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran insultado / hubiesen insultado |
| Vos | hubieras insultado / hubieses insultado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere insultado |
| Tú | hubieres insultado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere insultado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos insultado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis insultado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren insultado |
| Vos | hubieres insultado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté insultando |
| Tú | estés insultando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté insultando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos insultando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis insultando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén insultando |
| Vos | estés insultando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera insultando / estuviese insultando |
| Tú | estuvieras insultando / estuvieses insultando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera insultando / estuviese insultando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos insultando / estuviésamos insultando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais insultando / estuvieseis insultando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera insultando / estuviese insultando |
| Vos | estuvieras insultando / estuvieses insultando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere insultando |
| Tú | estuvieres insultando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere insultando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos insultando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis insultando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere insultando |
| Vos | estuvieres insultando |
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 insultás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos insultaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos insultabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos insultarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos insultarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos insultes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos insultaras / Vos insultase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos insultá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no insultes |