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Nadar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to swim”.
Below are all of the conjugations for nadar 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 swim |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | nadar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está nadando) and past continuous (estaba nadando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. swimming).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he nadado and hubiera nadado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have swum).
| Gerundio / Gerund | nadando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | nadado |
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 swim” or “they swim”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | nado |
| Tú | nadas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nada |
| Nosotros / as | nadamos |
| Vosotros / as | nadáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I swam” or “she swam” 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 | nadé | I swam |
| Tú | nadaste | You swam |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nadó | He / she / you swam |
| Nosotros / as | nadamos | We swam |
| Vosotros / as | nadasteis | You swam |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadaron | They / you swam |
| Vos | nadaste | You swam |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was swimming” or “she was swimming” 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 | nadaba | I was swimming |
| Tú | nadabas | You were swimming |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nadaba | He was / she was / you were swimming |
| Nosotros / as | nadábamos | We were swimming |
| Vosotros / as | nadabais | You were swimming |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadaban | They / you were swimming |
| Vos | nadabas | You were swimming |
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 swum” and “she has swum”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he nadado | I have swum |
| Tú | has nadado | You have swum |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha nadado | He has / she has / you have swum |
| Nosotros / as | hemos nadado | We have swum |
| Vosotros / as | habéis nadado | You have swum |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han nadado | They / you have swum |
| Vos | has nadado | You have swum |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would swim” or “she would swim”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | nadaría | I would swim |
| Tú | nadarías | You would swim |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nadaría | He / she / you would swim |
| Nosotros / as | nadaríamos | We would swim |
| Vosotros / as | nadaríais | You would swim |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadarían | They / you would swim |
| Vos | nadarías | You would swim |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will swim” or “they will swim”.
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 nadar” means “They are going to swim”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | nadaré | I will swim |
| Tú | nadarás | You will swim |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nadará | He / she / you will swim |
| Nosotros / as | nadaremos | We will swim |
| Vosotros / as | nadaréis | You will swim |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadarán | They / you will swim |
| Vos | nadarás | You will swim |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | nade |
| Tú | nades |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nade |
| Nosotros / as | nademos |
| Vosotros / as | nadéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | naden |
| Vos | nades |
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 | nadara | nadase |
| Tú | nadaras | nadase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nadara | nadase |
| Nosotros / as | nadáramos | nadásemos |
| Vosotros / as | nadarais | nadaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadaran | nadasen |
| Vos | nadaras | nadase |
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 | nadare |
| Tú | nadares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nadare |
| Nosotros / as | nadáremos |
| Vosotros / as | nadareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nadaren |
| Vos | nadares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “swim!” and “don’t swim!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | nada | no nades |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nade | no nade |
| Nosotros / as | nademos | no nademos |
| Vosotros / as | nadad | no nadéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | naden | no naden |
| Vos | no nades |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya nadado |
| Tú | hayas nadado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya nadado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos nadado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis nadado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan nadado |
| Vos | hayas nadado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera nadado / hubiese nadado |
| Tú | hubieras nadado / hubieses nadado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera nadado / hubiese nadado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos nadado / hubiésemos nadado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais nadado / hubieseis nadado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran nadado / hubiesen nadado |
| Vos | hubieras nadado / hubieses nadado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere nadado |
| Tú | hubieres nadado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere nadado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos nadado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis nadado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren nadado |
| Vos | hubieres nadado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté nadando |
| Tú | estés nadando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté nadando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos nadando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis nadando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén nadando |
| Vos | estés nadando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera nadando / estuviese nadando |
| Tú | estuvieras nadando / estuvieses nadando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera nadando / estuviese nadando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos nadando / estuviésamos nadando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais nadando / estuvieseis nadando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera nadando / estuviese nadando |
| Vos | estuvieras nadando / estuvieses nadando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere nadando |
| Tú | estuvieres nadando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere nadando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos nadando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis nadando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere nadando |
| Vos | estuvieres nadando |
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 nadaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos nadabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos nadarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos nadarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos nades |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos nadaras / Vos nadase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no nades |