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Motivar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to motivate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for motivar 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 motivate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | motivar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está motivando) and past continuous (estaba motivando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. motivating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he motivado and hubiera motivado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have motivated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | motivando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | motivado |
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 motivate” or “they motivate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | motivo |
| Tú | motivas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motiva |
| Nosotros / as | motivamos |
| Vosotros / as | motiváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I motivated” or “she motivated” 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 | motivé | I motivated |
| Tú | motivaste | You motivated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motivó | He / she / you motivated |
| Nosotros / as | motivamos | We motivated |
| Vosotros / as | motivasteis | You motivated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivaron | They / you motivated |
| Vos | motivaste | You motivated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was motivating” or “she was motivating” 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 | motivaba | I was motivating |
| Tú | motivabas | You were motivating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motivaba | He was / she was / you were motivating |
| Nosotros / as | motivábamos | We were motivating |
| Vosotros / as | motivabais | You were motivating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivaban | They / you were motivating |
| Vos | motivabas | You were motivating |
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 motivated” and “she has motivated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he motivado | I have motivated |
| Tú | has motivado | You have motivated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha motivado | He has / she has / you have motivated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos motivado | We have motivated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis motivado | You have motivated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han motivado | They / you have motivated |
| Vos | has motivado | You have motivated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would motivate” or “she would motivate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | motivaría | I would motivate |
| Tú | motivarías | You would motivate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motivaría | He / she / you would motivate |
| Nosotros / as | motivaríamos | We would motivate |
| Vosotros / as | motivaríais | You would motivate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivarían | They / you would motivate |
| Vos | motivarías | You would motivate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will motivate” or “they will motivate”.
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 motivar” means “They are going to motivate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | motivaré | I will motivate |
| Tú | motivarás | You will motivate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motivará | He / she / you will motivate |
| Nosotros / as | motivaremos | We will motivate |
| Vosotros / as | motivaréis | You will motivate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivarán | They / you will motivate |
| Vos | motivarás | You will motivate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | motive |
| Tú | motives |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motive |
| Nosotros / as | motivemos |
| Vosotros / as | motivéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motiven |
| Vos | motives |
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 | motivara | motivase |
| Tú | motivaras | motivase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motivara | motivase |
| Nosotros / as | motiváramos | motivásemos |
| Vosotros / as | motivarais | motivaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivaran | motivasen |
| Vos | motivaras | motivase |
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 | motivare |
| Tú | motivares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motivare |
| Nosotros / as | motiváremos |
| Vosotros / as | motivareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motivaren |
| Vos | motivares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “motivate!” and “don’t motivate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | motiva | no motives |
| Él / Ella / Usted | motive | no motive |
| Nosotros / as | motivemos | no motivemos |
| Vosotros / as | motivad | no motivéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | motiven | no motiven |
| Vos | no motives |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya motivado |
| Tú | hayas motivado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya motivado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos motivado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis motivado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan motivado |
| Vos | hayas motivado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera motivado / hubiese motivado |
| Tú | hubieras motivado / hubieses motivado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera motivado / hubiese motivado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos motivado / hubiésemos motivado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais motivado / hubieseis motivado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran motivado / hubiesen motivado |
| Vos | hubieras motivado / hubieses motivado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere motivado |
| Tú | hubieres motivado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere motivado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos motivado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis motivado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren motivado |
| Vos | hubieres motivado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté motivando |
| Tú | estés motivando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté motivando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos motivando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis motivando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén motivando |
| Vos | estés motivando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera motivando / estuviese motivando |
| Tú | estuvieras motivando / estuvieses motivando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera motivando / estuviese motivando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos motivando / estuviésamos motivando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais motivando / estuvieseis motivando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera motivando / estuviese motivando |
| Vos | estuvieras motivando / estuvieses motivando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere motivando |
| Tú | estuvieres motivando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere motivando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos motivando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis motivando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere motivando |
| Vos | estuvieres motivando |
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 motivaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos motivabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos motivarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos motivarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos motives |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos motivaras / Vos motivase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no motives |