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Certificar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to certify, attest”.
Below are all of the conjugations for certificar 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 certify, attest |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | certificar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está certificando) and past continuous (estaba certificando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. certifying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he certificado and hubiera certificado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have certified).
| Gerundio / Gerund | certificando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | certificado |
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 certify” or “they certify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | certifico |
| Tú | certificas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certifica |
| Nosotros / as | certificamos |
| Vosotros / as | certificáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certifican |
| Vos | certificás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I certified” or “she certified” 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 | certifiqué | I certified |
| Tú | certificaste | You certified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certificó | He / she / you certified |
| Nosotros / as | certificamos | We certified |
| Vosotros / as | certificasteis | You certified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certificaron | They / you certified |
| Vos | certificaste | You certified |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was certifying” or “she was certifying” 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 | certificaba | I was certifying |
| Tú | certificabas | You were certifying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certificaba | He was / she was / you were certifying |
| Nosotros / as | certificábamos | We were certifying |
| Vosotros / as | certificabais | You were certifying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certificaban | They / you were certifying |
| Vos | certificabas | You were certifying |
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 certified” and “she has certified”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he certificado | I have certified |
| Tú | has certificado | You have certified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha certificado | He has / she has / you have certified |
| Nosotros / as | hemos certificado | We have certified |
| Vosotros / as | habéis certificado | You have certified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han certificado | They / you have certified |
| Vos | has certificado | You have certified |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would certify” or “she would certify”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | certificaría | I would certify |
| Tú | certificarías | You would certify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certificaría | He / she / you would certify |
| Nosotros / as | certificaríamos | We would certify |
| Vosotros / as | certificaríais | You would certify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certificarían | They / you would certify |
| Vos | certificarías | You would certify |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will certify” or “they will certify”.
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 certificar” means “They are going to certify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | certificaré | I will certify |
| Tú | certificarás | You will certify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certificará | He / she / you will certify |
| Nosotros / as | certificaremos | We will certify |
| Vosotros / as | certificaréis | You will certify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certificarán | They / you will certify |
| Vos | certificarás | You will certify |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | certifique |
| Tú | certifiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certifique |
| Nosotros / as | certifiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | certifiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certifiquen |
| Vos | certifiques |
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 | certificara | certificase |
| Tú | certificaras | certificase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certificara | certificase |
| Nosotros / as | certificáramos | certificásemos |
| Vosotros / as | certificarais | certificaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certificaran | certificasen |
| Vos | certificaras | certificase |
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 | certificare |
| Tú | certificares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certificare |
| Nosotros / as | certificáremos |
| Vosotros / as | certificareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certificaren |
| Vos | certificares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “certify!” and “don’t certify!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | certifica | no certifiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | certifique | no certifique |
| Nosotros / as | certifiquemos | no certifiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | certificad | no certifiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | certifiquen | no certifiquen |
| Vos | certificá | no certifiques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya certificado |
| Tú | hayas certificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya certificado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos certificado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis certificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan certificado |
| Vos | hayas certificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera certificado / hubiese certificado |
| Tú | hubieras certificado / hubieses certificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera certificado / hubiese certificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos certificado / hubiésemos certificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais certificado / hubieseis certificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran certificado / hubiesen certificado |
| Vos | hubieras certificado / hubieses certificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere certificado |
| Tú | hubieres certificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere certificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos certificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis certificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren certificado |
| Vos | hubieres certificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté certificando |
| Tú | estés certificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté certificando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos certificando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis certificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén certificando |
| Vos | estés certificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera certificando / estuviese certificando |
| Tú | estuvieras certificando / estuvieses certificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera certificando / estuviese certificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos certificando / estuviésamos certificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais certificando / estuvieseis certificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera certificando / estuviese certificando |
| Vos | estuvieras certificando / estuvieses certificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere certificando |
| Tú | estuvieres certificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere certificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos certificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis certificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere certificando |
| Vos | estuvieres certificando |
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 certificás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos certificaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos certificabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos certificarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos certificarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos certifiques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos certificaras / Vos certificase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos certificá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no certifiques |