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Moderar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to moderate, control”.
Below are all of the conjugations for moderar 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 moderate, control |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | moderar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está moderando) and past continuous (estaba moderando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. moderating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he moderado and hubiera moderado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have moderated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | moderando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | moderado |
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 moderate” or “they moderate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | modero |
| Tú | moderas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modera |
| Nosotros / as | moderamos |
| Vosotros / as | moderáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I moderated” or “she moderated” 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 | moderé | I moderated |
| Tú | moderaste | You moderated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | moderó | He / she / you moderated |
| Nosotros / as | moderamos | We moderated |
| Vosotros / as | moderasteis | You moderated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderaron | They / you moderated |
| Vos | moderaste | You moderated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was moderating” or “she was moderating” 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 | moderaba | I was moderating |
| Tú | moderabas | You were moderating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | moderaba | He was / she was / you were moderating |
| Nosotros / as | moderábamos | We were moderating |
| Vosotros / as | moderabais | You were moderating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderaban | They / you were moderating |
| Vos | moderabas | You were moderating |
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 moderated” and “she has moderated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he moderado | I have moderated |
| Tú | has moderado | You have moderated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha moderado | He has / she has / you have moderated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos moderado | We have moderated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis moderado | You have moderated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han moderado | They / you have moderated |
| Vos | has moderado | You have moderated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would moderate” or “she would moderate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | moderaría | I would moderate |
| Tú | moderarías | You would moderate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | moderaría | He / she / you would moderate |
| Nosotros / as | moderaríamos | We would moderate |
| Vosotros / as | moderaríais | You would moderate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderarían | They / you would moderate |
| Vos | moderarías | You would moderate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will moderate” or “they will moderate”.
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 moderar” means “They are going to moderate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | moderaré | I will moderate |
| Tú | moderarás | You will moderate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | moderará | He / she / you will moderate |
| Nosotros / as | moderaremos | We will moderate |
| Vosotros / as | moderaréis | You will moderate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderarán | They / you will moderate |
| Vos | moderarás | You will moderate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | modere |
| Tú | moderes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modere |
| Nosotros / as | moderemos |
| Vosotros / as | moderéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderen |
| Vos | moderes |
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 | moderara | moderase |
| Tú | moderaras | moderase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | moderara | moderase |
| Nosotros / as | moderáramos | moderásemos |
| Vosotros / as | moderarais | moderaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderaran | moderasen |
| Vos | moderaras | moderase |
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 | moderare |
| Tú | moderares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | moderare |
| Nosotros / as | moderáremos |
| Vosotros / as | moderareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderaren |
| Vos | moderares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “moderate!” and “don’t moderate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | modera | no moderes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modere | no modere |
| Nosotros / as | moderemos | no moderemos |
| Vosotros / as | moderad | no moderéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | moderen | no moderen |
| Vos | no moderes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya moderado |
| Tú | hayas moderado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya moderado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos moderado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis moderado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan moderado |
| Vos | hayas moderado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera moderado / hubiese moderado |
| Tú | hubieras moderado / hubieses moderado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera moderado / hubiese moderado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos moderado / hubiésemos moderado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais moderado / hubieseis moderado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran moderado / hubiesen moderado |
| Vos | hubieras moderado / hubieses moderado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere moderado |
| Tú | hubieres moderado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere moderado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos moderado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis moderado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren moderado |
| Vos | hubieres moderado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté moderando |
| Tú | estés moderando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté moderando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos moderando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis moderando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén moderando |
| Vos | estés moderando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera moderando / estuviese moderando |
| Tú | estuvieras moderando / estuvieses moderando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera moderando / estuviese moderando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos moderando / estuviésamos moderando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais moderando / estuvieseis moderando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera moderando / estuviese moderando |
| Vos | estuvieras moderando / estuvieses moderando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere moderando |
| Tú | estuvieres moderando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere moderando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos moderando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis moderando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere moderando |
| Vos | estuvieres moderando |
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 moderaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos moderabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos moderarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos moderarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos moderes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos moderaras / Vos moderase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no moderes |