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Intercambiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to exchange, interchange”.
Below are all of the conjugations for intercambiar 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 exchange, interchange |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | intercambiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está intercambiando) and past continuous (estaba intercambiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. exchanging).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he intercambiado and hubiera intercambiado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have exchanged).
| Gerundio / Gerund | intercambiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | intercambiado |
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 exchange” or “they exchange”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | intercambio |
| Tú | intercambias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambia |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiamos |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambian |
| Vos | intercambiás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I exchanged” or “she exchanged” 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 | intercambié | I exchanged |
| Tú | intercambiaste | You exchanged |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambió | He / she / you exchanged |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiamos | We exchanged |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiasteis | You exchanged |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambiaron | They / you exchanged |
| Vos | intercambiaste | You exchanged |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was exchanging” or “she was exchanging” 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 | intercambiaba | I was exchanging |
| Tú | intercambiabas | You were exchanging |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambiaba | He was / she was / you were exchanging |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiábamos | We were exchanging |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiabais | You were exchanging |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambiaban | They / you were exchanging |
| Vos | intercambiabas | You were exchanging |
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 exchanged” and “she has exchanged”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he intercambiado | I have exchanged |
| Tú | has intercambiado | You have exchanged |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha intercambiado | He has / she has / you have exchanged |
| Nosotros / as | hemos intercambiado | We have exchanged |
| Vosotros / as | habéis intercambiado | You have exchanged |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han intercambiado | They / you have exchanged |
| Vos | has intercambiado | You have exchanged |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would exchange” or “she would exchange”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | intercambiaría | I would exchange |
| Tú | intercambiarías | You would exchange |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambiaría | He / she / you would exchange |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiaríamos | We would exchange |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiaríais | You would exchange |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambiarían | They / you would exchange |
| Vos | intercambiarías | You would exchange |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will exchange” or “they will exchange”.
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 intercambiar” means “They are going to exchange”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | intercambiaré | I will exchange |
| Tú | intercambiarás | You will exchange |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambiará | He / she / you will exchange |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiaremos | We will exchange |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiaréis | You will exchange |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambiarán | They / you will exchange |
| Vos | intercambiarás | You will exchange |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | intercambie |
| Tú | intercambies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambie |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiemos |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambien |
| Vos | intercambies |
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 | intercambiara | intercambiase |
| Tú | intercambiaras | intercambiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambiara | intercambiase |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiáramos | intercambiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiarais | intercambiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambiaran | intercambiasen |
| Vos | intercambiaras | intercambiase |
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 | intercambiare |
| Tú | intercambiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambiare |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambiaren |
| Vos | intercambiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “exchange!” and “don’t exchange!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | intercambia | no intercambies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intercambie | no intercambie |
| Nosotros / as | intercambiemos | no intercambiemos |
| Vosotros / as | intercambiad | no intercambiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intercambien | no intercambien |
| Vos | intercambiá | no intercambies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya intercambiado |
| Tú | hayas intercambiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya intercambiado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos intercambiado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis intercambiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan intercambiado |
| Vos | hayas intercambiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera intercambiado / hubiese intercambiado |
| Tú | hubieras intercambiado / hubieses intercambiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera intercambiado / hubiese intercambiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos intercambiado / hubiésemos intercambiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais intercambiado / hubieseis intercambiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran intercambiado / hubiesen intercambiado |
| Vos | hubieras intercambiado / hubieses intercambiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere intercambiado |
| Tú | hubieres intercambiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere intercambiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos intercambiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis intercambiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren intercambiado |
| Vos | hubieres intercambiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté intercambiando |
| Tú | estés intercambiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté intercambiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos intercambiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis intercambiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén intercambiando |
| Vos | estés intercambiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera intercambiando / estuviese intercambiando |
| Tú | estuvieras intercambiando / estuvieses intercambiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera intercambiando / estuviese intercambiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos intercambiando / estuviésamos intercambiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais intercambiando / estuvieseis intercambiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera intercambiando / estuviese intercambiando |
| Vos | estuvieras intercambiando / estuvieses intercambiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere intercambiando |
| Tú | estuvieres intercambiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere intercambiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos intercambiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis intercambiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere intercambiando |
| Vos | estuvieres intercambiando |
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 intercambiás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos intercambiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos intercambiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos intercambiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos intercambiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos intercambies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos intercambiaras / Vos intercambiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos intercambiá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no intercambies |