Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Aborrecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to hate, detest”.
Below are all of the conjugations for aborrecer 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 hate, detest |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | aborrecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está aborreciendo) and past continuous (estaba aborreciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. detesting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he aborrecido and hubiera aborrecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have detested).
| Gerundio / Gerund | aborreciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | aborrecido |
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 detest” or “they detest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aborrezco |
| Tú | aborreces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborrece |
| Nosotros / as | aborrecemos |
| Vosotros / as | aborrecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecen |
| Vos | aborrecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I detested” or “she detested” 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 | aborrecí | I detested |
| Tú | aborreciste | You detested |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborreció | He / she / you detested |
| Nosotros / as | aborrecimos | We detested |
| Vosotros / as | aborrecisteis | You detested |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecieron | They / you detested |
| Vos | aborreciste | You detested |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was detesting” or “she was detesting” 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 | aborrecía | I was detesting |
| Tú | aborrecías | You were detesting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborrecía | He was / she was / you were detesting |
| Nosotros / as | aborrecíamos | We were detesting |
| Vosotros / as | aborrecíais | You were detesting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecían | They / you were detesting |
| Vos | aborrecías | You were detesting |
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 detested” and “she has detested”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he aborrecido | I have detested |
| Tú | has aborrecido | You have detested |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha aborrecido | He has / she has / you have detested |
| Nosotros / as | hemos aborrecido | We have detested |
| Vosotros / as | habéis aborrecido | You have detested |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han aborrecido | They / you have detested |
| Vos | has aborrecido | You have detested |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would detest” or “she would detest”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aborrecería | I would detest |
| Tú | aborrecerías | You would detest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborrecería | He / she / you would detest |
| Nosotros / as | aborreceríamos | We would detest |
| Vosotros / as | aborreceríais | You would detest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecerían | They / you would detest |
| Vos | aborrecerías | You would detest |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will detest” or “they will detest”.
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 aborrecer” means “They are going to detest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aborreceré | I will detest |
| Tú | aborrecerás | You will detest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborrecerá | He / she / you will detest |
| Nosotros / as | aborreceremos | We will detest |
| Vosotros / as | aborreceréis | You will detest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecerán | They / you will detest |
| Vos | aborrecerás | You will detest |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aborrezca |
| Tú | aborrezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborrezca |
| Nosotros / as | aborrezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | aborrezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrezcan |
| Vos | aborrezcas |
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 | aborreciera | aborreciese |
| Tú | aborrecieras | aborreciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborreciera | aborreciese |
| Nosotros / as | aborreciéramos | aborreciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | aborrecierais | aborrecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecieran | aborreciesen |
| Vos | aborrecieras | aborreciese |
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 | aborreciere |
| Tú | aborrecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborreciere |
| Nosotros / as | aborreciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | aborreciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrecieren |
| Vos | aborrecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “detest!” and “don’t detest!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aborrece | no aborrezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aborrezca | no aborrezca |
| Nosotros / as | aborrezcamos | no aborrezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | aborreced | no aborrezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aborrezcan | no aborrezcan |
| Vos | aborrecé | no aborrezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya aborrecido |
| Tú | hayas aborrecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya aborrecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos aborrecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis aborrecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan aborrecido |
| Vos | hayas aborrecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera aborrecido / hubiese aborrecido |
| Tú | hubieras aborrecido / hubieses aborrecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera aborrecido / hubiese aborrecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos aborrecido / hubiésemos aborrecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais aborrecido / hubieseis aborrecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran aborrecido / hubiesen aborrecido |
| Vos | hubieras aborrecido / hubieses aborrecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere aborrecido |
| Tú | hubieres aborrecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere aborrecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos aborrecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis aborrecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren aborrecido |
| Vos | hubieres aborrecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté aborreciendo |
| Tú | estés aborreciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté aborreciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos aborreciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis aborreciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén aborreciendo |
| Vos | estés aborreciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera aborreciendo / estuviese aborreciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras aborreciendo / estuvieses aborreciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera aborreciendo / estuviese aborreciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos aborreciendo / estuviésamos aborreciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais aborreciendo / estuvieseis aborreciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera aborreciendo / estuviese aborreciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras aborreciendo / estuvieses aborreciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere aborreciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres aborreciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere aborreciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos aborreciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis aborreciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere aborreciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres aborreciendo |
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 aborrecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos aborreciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos aborrecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos aborrecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos aborrecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos aborrezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos aborrecieras / Vos aborreciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos aborrecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no aborrezcas |