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Modificar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to modify, change”.
Below are all of the conjugations for modificar 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 modify, change |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | modificar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está modificando) and past continuous (estaba modificando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. modifying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he modificado and hubiera modificado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have modified).
| Gerundio / Gerund | modificando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | modificado |
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 modify” or “they modify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | modifico |
| Tú | modificas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modifica |
| Nosotros / as | modificamos |
| Vosotros / as | modificáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modifican |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I modified” or “she modified” 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 | modifiqué | I modified |
| Tú | modificaste | You modified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modificó | He / she / you modified |
| Nosotros / as | modificamos | We modified |
| Vosotros / as | modificasteis | You modified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modificaron | They / you modified |
| Vos | modificaste | You modified |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was modifying” or “she was modifying” 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 | modificaba | I was modifying |
| Tú | modificabas | You were modifying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modificaba | He was / she was / you were modifying |
| Nosotros / as | modificábamos | We were modifying |
| Vosotros / as | modificabais | You were modifying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modificaban | They / you were modifying |
| Vos | modificabas | You were modifying |
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 modified” and “she has modified”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he modificado | I have modified |
| Tú | has modificado | You have modified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha modificado | He has / she has / you have modified |
| Nosotros / as | hemos modificado | We have modified |
| Vosotros / as | habéis modificado | You have modified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han modificado | They / you have modified |
| Vos | has modificado | You have modified |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would modify” or “she would modify”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | modificaría | I would modify |
| Tú | modificarías | You would modify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modificaría | He / she / you would modify |
| Nosotros / as | modificaríamos | We would modify |
| Vosotros / as | modificaríais | You would modify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modificarían | They / you would modify |
| Vos | modificarías | You would modify |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will modify” or “they will modify”.
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 modificar” means “They are going to modify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | modificaré | I will modify |
| Tú | modificarás | You will modify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modificará | He / she / you will modify |
| Nosotros / as | modificaremos | We will modify |
| Vosotros / as | modificaréis | You will modify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modificarán | They / you will modify |
| Vos | modificarás | You will modify |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | modifique |
| Tú | modifiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modifique |
| Nosotros / as | modifiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | modifiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modifiquen |
| Vos | modifiques |
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 | modificara | modificase |
| Tú | modificaras | modificase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modificara | modificase |
| Nosotros / as | modificáramos | modificásemos |
| Vosotros / as | modificarais | modificaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modificaran | modificasen |
| Vos | modificaras | modificase |
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 | modificare |
| Tú | modificares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modificare |
| Nosotros / as | modificáremos |
| Vosotros / as | modificareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modificaren |
| Vos | modificares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “modify!” and “don’t modify!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | modifica | no modifiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | modifique | no modifique |
| Nosotros / as | modifiquemos | no modifiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | modificad | no modifiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | modifiquen | no modifiquen |
| Vos | no modifiques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya modificado |
| Tú | hayas modificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya modificado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos modificado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis modificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan modificado |
| Vos | hayas modificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera modificado / hubiese modificado |
| Tú | hubieras modificado / hubieses modificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera modificado / hubiese modificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos modificado / hubiésemos modificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais modificado / hubieseis modificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran modificado / hubiesen modificado |
| Vos | hubieras modificado / hubieses modificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere modificado |
| Tú | hubieres modificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere modificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos modificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis modificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren modificado |
| Vos | hubieres modificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté modificando |
| Tú | estés modificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté modificando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos modificando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis modificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén modificando |
| Vos | estés modificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera modificando / estuviese modificando |
| Tú | estuvieras modificando / estuvieses modificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera modificando / estuviese modificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos modificando / estuviésamos modificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais modificando / estuvieseis modificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera modificando / estuviese modificando |
| Vos | estuvieras modificando / estuvieses modificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere modificando |
| Tú | estuvieres modificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere modificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos modificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis modificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere modificando |
| Vos | estuvieres modificando |
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 modificaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos modificabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos modificarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos modificarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos modifiques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos modificaras / Vos modificase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no modifiques |