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Atajar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to intercept, halt, interrupt”.
Below are all of the conjugations for atajar 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 intercept, halt, interrupt |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atajar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atajando) and past continuous (estaba atajando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. intercepting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atajado and hubiera atajado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have intercepted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atajando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atajado |
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 intercept” or “they intercept”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atajo |
| Tú | atajas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ataja |
| Nosotros / as | atajamos |
| Vosotros / as | atajáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajan |
| Vos | atajás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I intercepted” or “she intercepted” 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 | atajé | I intercepted |
| Tú | atajaste | You intercepted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atajó | He / she / you intercepted |
| Nosotros / as | atajamos | We intercepted |
| Vosotros / as | atajasteis | You intercepted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajaron | They / you intercepted |
| Vos | atajaste | You intercepted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was intercepting” or “she was intercepting” 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 | atajaba | I was intercepting |
| Tú | atajabas | You were intercepting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atajaba | He was / she was / you were intercepting |
| Nosotros / as | atajábamos | We were intercepting |
| Vosotros / as | atajabais | You were intercepting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajaban | They / you were intercepting |
| Vos | atajabas | You were intercepting |
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 intercepted” and “she has intercepted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he atajado | I have intercepted |
| Tú | has atajado | You have intercepted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha atajado | He has / she has / you have intercepted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos atajado | We have intercepted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis atajado | You have intercepted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han atajado | They / you have intercepted |
| Vos | has atajado | You have intercepted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would intercept” or “she would intercept”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atajaría | I would intercept |
| Tú | atajarías | You would intercept |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atajaría | He / she / you would intercept |
| Nosotros / as | atajaríamos | We would intercept |
| Vosotros / as | atajaríais | You would intercept |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajarían | They / you would intercept |
| Vos | atajarías | You would intercept |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will intercept” or “they will intercept”.
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 atajar” means “They are going to intercept”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atajaré | I will intercept |
| Tú | atajarás | You will intercept |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atajará | He / she / you will intercept |
| Nosotros / as | atajaremos | We will intercept |
| Vosotros / as | atajaréis | You will intercept |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajarán | They / you will intercept |
| Vos | atajarás | You will intercept |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ataje |
| Tú | atajes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ataje |
| Nosotros / as | atajemos |
| Vosotros / as | atajéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajen |
| Vos | atajes |
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 | atajara | atajase |
| Tú | atajaras | atajase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atajara | atajase |
| Nosotros / as | atajáramos | atajásemos |
| Vosotros / as | atajarais | atajaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajaran | atajasen |
| Vos | atajaras | atajase |
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 | atajare |
| Tú | atajares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atajare |
| Nosotros / as | atajáremos |
| Vosotros / as | atajareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajaren |
| Vos | atajares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “intercept!” and “don’t intercept!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | ataja | no atajes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ataje | no ataje |
| Nosotros / as | atajemos | no atajemos |
| Vosotros / as | atajad | no atajéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atajen | no atajen |
| Vos | atajá | no atajes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atajado |
| Tú | hayas atajado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atajado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atajado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atajado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atajado |
| Vos | hayas atajado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atajado / hubiese atajado |
| Tú | hubieras atajado / hubieses atajado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atajado / hubiese atajado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atajado / hubiésemos atajado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atajado / hubieseis atajado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atajado / hubiesen atajado |
| Vos | hubieras atajado / hubieses atajado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atajado |
| Tú | hubieres atajado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atajado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atajado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atajado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atajado |
| Vos | hubieres atajado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atajando |
| Tú | estés atajando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atajando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atajando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atajando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atajando |
| Vos | estés atajando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atajando / estuviese atajando |
| Tú | estuvieras atajando / estuvieses atajando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atajando / estuviese atajando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atajando / estuviésamos atajando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atajando / estuvieseis atajando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atajando / estuviese atajando |
| Vos | estuvieras atajando / estuvieses atajando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atajando |
| Tú | estuvieres atajando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atajando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atajando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atajando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atajando |
| Vos | estuvieres atajando |
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 atajás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos atajaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos atajabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos atajarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos atajarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos atajes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos atajaras / Vos atajase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atajá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no atajes |