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Manejar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to drive, handle, manage”.
Below are all of the conjugations for manejar 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 drive, handle, manage |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | manejar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está manejando) and past continuous (estaba manejando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. driving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he manejado and hubiera manejado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have driven).
| Gerundio / Gerund | manejando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | manejado |
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 drive” or “they drive”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | manejo |
| Tú | manejas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | maneja |
| Nosotros / as | manejamos |
| Vosotros / as | manejáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I drove” or “she drove” 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 | manejé | I drove |
| Tú | manejaste | You drove |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manejó | He / she / you drove |
| Nosotros / as | manejamos | We drove |
| Vosotros / as | manejasteis | You drove |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejaron | They / you drove |
| Vos | manejaste | You drove |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was driving” or “she was driving” 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 | manejaba | I was driving |
| Tú | manejabas | You were driving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manejaba | He was / she was / you were driving |
| Nosotros / as | manejábamos | We were driving |
| Vosotros / as | manejabais | You were driving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejaban | They / you were driving |
| Vos | manejabas | You were driving |
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 driven” and “she has driven”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he manejado | I have driven |
| Tú | has manejado | You have driven |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha manejado | He has / she has / you have driven |
| Nosotros / as | hemos manejado | We have driven |
| Vosotros / as | habéis manejado | You have driven |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han manejado | They / you have driven |
| Vos | has manejado | You have driven |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would drive” or “she would drive”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | manejaría | I would drive |
| Tú | manejarías | You would drive |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manejaría | He / she / you would drive |
| Nosotros / as | manejaríamos | We would drive |
| Vosotros / as | manejaríais | You would drive |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejarían | They / you would drive |
| Vos | manejarías | You would drive |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will drive” or “they will drive”.
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 manejar” means “They are going to drive”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | manejaré | I will drive |
| Tú | manejarás | You will drive |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manejará | He / she / you will drive |
| Nosotros / as | manejaremos | We will drive |
| Vosotros / as | manejaréis | You will drive |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejarán | They / you will drive |
| Vos | manejarás | You will drive |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | maneje |
| Tú | manejes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | maneje |
| Nosotros / as | manejemos |
| Vosotros / as | manejéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejen |
| Vos | manejes |
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 | manejara | manejase |
| Tú | manejaras | manejase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manejara | manejase |
| Nosotros / as | manejáramos | manejásemos |
| Vosotros / as | manejarais | manejaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejaran | manejasen |
| Vos | manejaras | manejase |
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 | manejare |
| Tú | manejares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manejare |
| Nosotros / as | manejáremos |
| Vosotros / as | manejareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejaren |
| Vos | manejares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “drive!” and “don’t drive!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | maneja | no manejes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | maneje | no maneje |
| Nosotros / as | manejemos | no manejemos |
| Vosotros / as | manejad | no manejéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manejen | no manejen |
| Vos | no manejes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya manejado |
| Tú | hayas manejado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya manejado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos manejado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis manejado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan manejado |
| Vos | hayas manejado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera manejado / hubiese manejado |
| Tú | hubieras manejado / hubieses manejado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera manejado / hubiese manejado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos manejado / hubiésemos manejado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais manejado / hubieseis manejado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran manejado / hubiesen manejado |
| Vos | hubieras manejado / hubieses manejado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere manejado |
| Tú | hubieres manejado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere manejado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos manejado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis manejado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren manejado |
| Vos | hubieres manejado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté manejando |
| Tú | estés manejando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté manejando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos manejando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis manejando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén manejando |
| Vos | estés manejando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera manejando / estuviese manejando |
| Tú | estuvieras manejando / estuvieses manejando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera manejando / estuviese manejando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos manejando / estuviésamos manejando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais manejando / estuvieseis manejando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera manejando / estuviese manejando |
| Vos | estuvieras manejando / estuvieses manejando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere manejando |
| Tú | estuvieres manejando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere manejando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos manejando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis manejando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere manejando |
| Vos | estuvieres manejando |
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 |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos manejaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos manejabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos manejarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos manejarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos manejes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos manejaras / Vos manejase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no manejes |