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Atribuir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to attribute, impute”.
Below are all of the conjugations for atribuir 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 attribute, impute |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atribuir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atribuyendo) and past continuous (estaba atribuyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. attributing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atribuido and hubiera atribuido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have attributed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atribuyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atribuido |
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 attribute” or “they attribute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atribuyo |
| Tú | atribuyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuye |
| Nosotros / as | atribuimos |
| Vosotros / as | atribuís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuyen |
| Vos | atribuís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I attributed” or “she attributed” 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 | atribuí | I attributed |
| Tú | atribuiste | You attributed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuyó | He / she / you attributed |
| Nosotros / as | atribuimos | We attributed |
| Vosotros / as | atribuisteis | You attributed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuyeron | They / you attributed |
| Vos | atribuiste | You attributed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was attributing” or “she was attributing” 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 | atribuía | I was attributing |
| Tú | atribuías | You were attributing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuía | He was / she was / you were attributing |
| Nosotros / as | atribuíamos | We were attributing |
| Vosotros / as | atribuíais | You were attributing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuían | They / you were attributing |
| Vos | atribuías | You were attributing |
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 attributed” and “she has attributed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he atribuido | I have attributed |
| Tú | has atribuido | You have attributed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha atribuido | He has / she has / you have attributed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos atribuido | We have attributed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis atribuido | You have attributed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han atribuido | They / you have attributed |
| Vos | has atribuido | You have attributed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would attribute” or “she would attribute”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atribuiría | I would attribute |
| Tú | atribuirías | You would attribute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuiría | He / she / you would attribute |
| Nosotros / as | atribuiríamos | We would attribute |
| Vosotros / as | atribuiríais | You would attribute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuirían | They / you would attribute |
| Vos | atribuirías | You would attribute |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will attribute” or “they will attribute”.
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 atribuir” means “They are going to attribute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atribuiré | I will attribute |
| Tú | atribuirás | You will attribute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuirá | He / she / you will attribute |
| Nosotros / as | atribuiremos | We will attribute |
| Vosotros / as | atribuiréis | You will attribute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuirán | They / you will attribute |
| Vos | atribuirás | You will attribute |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atribuya |
| Tú | atribuyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuya |
| Nosotros / as | atribuyamos |
| Vosotros / as | atribuyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuyan |
| Vos | atribuyas |
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 | atribuyera | atribuyese |
| Tú | atribuyeras | atribuyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuyera | atribuyese |
| Nosotros / as | atribuyéramos | atribuyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | atribuyerais | atribuyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuyeran | atribuyesen |
| Vos | atribuyeras | atribuyese |
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 | atribuyere |
| Tú | atribuyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuyera |
| Nosotros / as | atribuyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | atribuyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuyeren |
| Vos | atribuyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “attribute!” and “don’t attribute!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | atribuye | no atribuyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atribuya | no atribuya |
| Nosotros / as | atribuyamos | no atribuyamos |
| Vosotros / as | atribuid | no atribuyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atribuyan | no atribuyan |
| Vos | atribuí | no atribuyas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atribuido |
| Tú | hayas atribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atribuido |
| Vos | hayas atribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atribuido / hubiese atribuido |
| Tú | hubieras atribuido / hubieses atribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atribuido / hubiese atribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atribuido / hubiésemos atribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atribuido / hubieseis atribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atribuido / hubiesen atribuido |
| Vos | hubieras atribuido / hubieses atribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atribuido |
| Tú | hubieres atribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atribuido |
| Vos | hubieres atribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atribuyendo |
| Tú | estés atribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atribuyendo |
| Vos | estés atribuyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atribuyendo / estuviese atribuyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras atribuyendo / estuvieses atribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atribuyendo / estuviese atribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atribuyendo / estuviésamos atribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atribuyendo / estuvieseis atribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atribuyendo / estuviese atribuyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras atribuyendo / estuvieses atribuyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atribuyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres atribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atribuyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres atribuyendo |
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 atribuís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos atribuiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos atribuías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos atribuirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos atribuirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos atribuyas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos atribuyeras / Vos atribuyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atribuí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no atribuyas |