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Anochecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to grow or get dark, have nightfall”.
Below are all of the conjugations for anochecer 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 grow or get dark, have nightfall |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | anochecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está anocheciendo) and past continuous (estaba anocheciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. getting dark).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he anochecido and hubiera anochecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have gotten dark).
| Gerundio / Gerund | anocheciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | anochecido |
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 get dark” or “they get dark”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | anochezco |
| Tú | anocheces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anochece |
| Nosotros / as | anochecemos |
| Vosotros / as | anochecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecen |
| Vos | anochezás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I got dark” or “she got dark” 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 | anochecí | I got dark |
| Tú | anocheciste | You got dark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anocheció | He / she / you got dark |
| Nosotros / as | anochecimos | We got dark |
| Vosotros / as | anochecisteis | You got dark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecieron | They / you got dark |
| Vos | anocheciste | You got dark |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was getting dark” or “she was getting dark” 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 | anochecía | I was getting dark |
| Tú | anochecías | You were getting dark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anochecía | He was / she was / you were getting dark |
| Nosotros / as | anochecíamos | We were getting dark |
| Vosotros / as | anochecíais | You were getting dark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecían | They / you were getting dark |
| Vos | anochecías | You were getting dark |
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 gotten dark” and “she has gotten dark”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he anochecido | I have gotten dark |
| Tú | has anochecido | You have gotten dark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha anochecido | He has / she has / you have gotten dark |
| Nosotros / as | hemos anochecido | We have gotten dark |
| Vosotros / as | habéis anochecido | You have gotten dark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han anochecido | They / you have gotten dark |
| Vos | has anochecido | You have gotten dark |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would get dark” or “she would get dark”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | anochecería | I would get dark |
| Tú | anochecerías | You would get dark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anochecería | He / she / you would get dark |
| Nosotros / as | anocheceríamos | We would get dark |
| Vosotros / as | anocheceríais | You would get dark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecerían | They / you would get dark |
| Vos | anochecerías | You would get dark |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will get dark” or “they will get dark”.
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 anochecer” means “They are going to get dark”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | anocheceré | I will get dark |
| Tú | anochecerás | You will get dark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anochecerá | He / she / you will get dark |
| Nosotros / as | anocheceremos | We will get dark |
| Vosotros / as | anocheceréis | You will get dark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecerán | They / you will get dark |
| Vos | anochecerás | You will get dark |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | anochezca |
| Tú | anochezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anochezca |
| Nosotros / as | anochezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | anochezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochezcan |
| Vos | anochezcas |
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 | anocheciera | anocheciese |
| Tú | anochecieras | anocheciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anocheciera | anocheciese |
| Nosotros / as | anocheciéramos | anocheciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | anochecierais | anochecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecieran | anocheciesen |
| Vos | anochecieras | anocheciese |
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 | anocheciere |
| Tú | anochecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anocheciere |
| Nosotros / as | anocheciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | anocheciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochecieren |
| Vos | anochecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “get dark!” and “don’t get dark!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | anochece | no anochezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | anochezca | no anochezca |
| Nosotros / as | anochezcamos | no anochezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | anocheced | no anochezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | anochezcan | no anochezcan |
| Vos | anochezá | no anochezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya anochecido |
| Tú | hayas anochecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya anochecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos anochecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis anochecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan anochecido |
| Vos | hayas anochecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera anochecido / hubiese anochecido |
| Tú | hubieras anochecido / hubieses anochecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera anochecido / hubiese anochecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos anochecido / hubiésemos anochecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais anochecido / hubieseis anochecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran anochecido / hubiesen anochecido |
| Vos | hubieras anochecido / hubieses anochecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere anochecido |
| Tú | hubieres anochecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere anochecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos anochecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis anochecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren anochecido |
| Vos | hubieres anochecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté anocheciendo |
| Tú | estés anocheciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté anocheciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos anocheciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis anocheciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén anocheciendo |
| Vos | estés anocheciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera anocheciendo / estuviese anocheciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras anocheciendo / estuvieses anocheciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera anocheciendo / estuviese anocheciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos anocheciendo / estuviésamos anocheciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais anocheciendo / estuvieseis anocheciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera anocheciendo / estuviese anocheciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras anocheciendo / estuvieses anocheciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere anocheciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres anocheciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere anocheciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos anocheciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis anocheciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere anocheciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres anocheciendo |
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 anochezás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos anocheciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos anochecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos anochecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos anochecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos anochezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos anochecieras / Vos anocheciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos anochezá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no anochezcas |