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Librar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to save, rescue, release”.
Below are all of the conjugations for librar 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 save, rescue, release |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | librar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está librando) and past continuous (estaba librando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. releasing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he librado and hubiera librado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have released).
| Gerundio / Gerund | librando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | librado |
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 release” or “they release”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | libro |
| Tú | libras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | libra |
| Nosotros / as | libramos |
| Vosotros / as | libráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libran |
| Vos | librá |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I released” or “she released” 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 | libré | I released |
| Tú | libraste | You released |
| Él / Ella / Usted | libró | He / she / you released |
| Nosotros / as | libramos | We released |
| Vosotros / as | librasteis | You released |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libraron | They / you released |
| Vos | libraste | You released |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was releasing” or “she was releasing” 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 | libraba | I was releasing |
| Tú | librabas | You were releasing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | libraba | He was / she was / you were releasing |
| Nosotros / as | librábamos | We were releasing |
| Vosotros / as | librabais | You were releasing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libraban | They / you were releasing |
| Vos | librabas | You were releasing |
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 released” and “she has released”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he librado | I have released |
| Tú | has librado | You have released |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha librado | He has / she has / you have released |
| Nosotros / as | hemos librado | We have released |
| Vosotros / as | habéis librado | You have released |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han librado | They / you have released |
| Vos | has librado | You have released |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would release” or “she would release”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | libraría | I would release |
| Tú | librarías | You would release |
| Él / Ella / Usted | libraría | He / she / you would release |
| Nosotros / as | libraríamos | We would release |
| Vosotros / as | libraríais | You would release |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | librarían | They / you would release |
| Vos | librarías | You would release |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will release” or “they will release”.
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 librar” means “They are going to release”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | libraré | I will release |
| Tú | librarás | You will release |
| Él / Ella / Usted | librará | He / she / you will release |
| Nosotros / as | libraremos | We will release |
| Vosotros / as | libraréis | You will release |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | librarán | They / you will release |
| Vos | librarás | You will release |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | libre |
| Tú | libres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | libre |
| Nosotros / as | libremos |
| Vosotros / as | libréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libren |
| Vos | libres |
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 | librara | librase |
| Tú | libraras | librase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | librara | librase |
| Nosotros / as | libráramos | librásemos |
| Vosotros / as | librarais | libraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libraran | librasen |
| Vos | libraras | librase |
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 | librare |
| Tú | librares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | librare |
| Nosotros / as | libráremos |
| Vosotros / as | librareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libraren |
| Vos | librares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “release!” and “don’t release!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | libra | no libres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | libre | no libre |
| Nosotros / as | libremos | no libremos |
| Vosotros / as | librad | no libréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | libren | no libren |
| Vos | librá | no libres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya librado |
| Tú | hayas librado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya librado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos librado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis librado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan librado |
| Vos | hayas librado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera librado / hubiese librado |
| Tú | hubieras librado / hubieses librado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera librado / hubiese librado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos librado / hubiésemos librado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais librado / hubieseis librado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran librado / hubiesen librado |
| Vos | hubieras librado / hubieses librado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere librado |
| Tú | hubieres librado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere librado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos librado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis librado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren librado |
| Vos | hubieres librado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté librando |
| Tú | estés librando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté librando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos librando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis librando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén librando |
| Vos | estés librando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera librando / estuviese librando |
| Tú | estuvieras librando / estuvieses librando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera librando / estuviese librando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos librando / estuviésamos librando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais librando / estuvieseis librando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera librando / estuviese librando |
| Vos | estuvieras librando / estuvieses librando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere librando |
| Tú | estuvieres librando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere librando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos librando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis librando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere librando |
| Vos | estuvieres librando |
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 librá |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos libraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos librabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos librarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos librarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos libres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos libraras / Vos librase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos librá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no libres |