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Limitar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to limit”.
Below are all of the conjugations for limitar 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 limit |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | limitar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está limitando) and past continuous (estaba limitando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. limiting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he limitado and hubiera limitado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have limited).
| Gerundio / Gerund | limitando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | limitado |
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 limit” or “they limit”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | limito |
| Tú | limitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limita |
| Nosotros / as | limitamos |
| Vosotros / as | limitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitan |
| Vos | limitás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I limited” or “she limited” 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 | limité | I limited |
| Tú | limitaste | You limited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limitó | He / she / you limited |
| Nosotros / as | limitamos | We limited |
| Vosotros / as | limitasteis | You limited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitaron | They / you limited |
| Vos | limitaste | You limited |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was limiting” or “she was limiting” 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 | limitaba | I was limiting |
| Tú | limitabas | You were limiting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limitaba | He was / she was / you were limiting |
| Nosotros / as | limitábamos | We were limiting |
| Vosotros / as | limitabais | You were limiting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitaban | They / you were limiting |
| Vos | limitabas | You were limiting |
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 limited” and “she has limited”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he limitado | I have limited |
| Tú | has limitado | You have limited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha limitado | He has / she has / you have limited |
| Nosotros / as | hemos limitado | We have limited |
| Vosotros / as | habéis limitado | You have limited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han limitado | They / you have limited |
| Vos | has limitado | You have limited |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would limit” or “she would limit”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | limitaría | I would limit |
| Tú | limitarías | You would limit |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limitaría | He / she / you would limit |
| Nosotros / as | limitaríamos | We would limit |
| Vosotros / as | limitaríais | You would limit |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitarían | They / you would limit |
| Vos | limitarías | You would limit |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will limit” or “they will limit”.
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 limitar” means “They are going to limit”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | limitaré | I will limit |
| Tú | limitarás | You will limit |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limitará | He / she / you will limit |
| Nosotros / as | limitaremos | We will limit |
| Vosotros / as | limitaréis | You will limit |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitarán | They / you will limit |
| Vos | limitarás | You will limit |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | limite |
| Tú | limites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limite |
| Nosotros / as | limitemos |
| Vosotros / as | limitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limiten |
| Vos | limites |
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 | limitara | limitase |
| Tú | limitaras | limitase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limitara | limitase |
| Nosotros / as | limitáramos | limitásemos |
| Vosotros / as | limitarais | limitaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitaran | limitasen |
| Vos | limitaras | limitase |
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 | limitare |
| Tú | limitares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limitare |
| Nosotros / as | limitáremos |
| Vosotros / as | limitareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limitaren |
| Vos | limitares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “limit!” and “don’t limit!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | limita | no limites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | limite | no limite |
| Nosotros / as | limitemos | no limitemos |
| Vosotros / as | limitad | no limitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | limiten | no limiten |
| Vos | limitá | no limites |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya limitado |
| Tú | hayas limitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya limitado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos limitado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis limitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan limitado |
| Vos | hayas limitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera limitado / hubiese limitado |
| Tú | hubieras limitado / hubieses limitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera limitado / hubiese limitado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos limitado / hubiésemos limitado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais limitado / hubieseis limitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran limitado / hubiesen limitado |
| Vos | hubieras limitado / hubieses limitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere limitado |
| Tú | hubieres limitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere limitado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos limitado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis limitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren limitado |
| Vos | hubieres limitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté limitando |
| Tú | estés limitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté limitando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos limitando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis limitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén limitando |
| Vos | estés limitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera limitando / estuviese limitando |
| Tú | estuvieras limitando / estuvieses limitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera limitando / estuviese limitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos limitando / estuviésamos limitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais limitando / estuvieseis limitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera limitando / estuviese limitando |
| Vos | estuvieras limitando / estuvieses limitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere limitando |
| Tú | estuvieres limitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere limitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos limitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis limitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere limitando |
| Vos | estuvieres limitando |
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 limitás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos limitaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos limitabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos limitarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos limitarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos limites |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos limitaras / Vos limitase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos limitá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no limites |