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Acabar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to finish / to end”.
Below are all of the conjugations for acabar 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 finish / to end |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | acabar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está acabando) and past continuous (estaba acabando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. finishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he acabado and hubiera acabado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have finished).
| Gerundio / Gerund | acabando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | acabado |
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 finish” or “they finish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | acabo |
| Tú | acabas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acaba |
| Nosotros / as | acabamos |
| Vosotros / as | acabáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acaban |
| Vos | acabás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I finished” or “she finished” 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 | acabé | I finished |
| Tú | acabaste | You finished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabó | He / she / you finished |
| Nosotros / as | acabamos | We finished |
| Vosotros / as | acabasteis | You finished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acabaron | They / you finished |
| Vos | acabaste | You finished |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was finishing” or “she was finishing” 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 | acababa | I was finishing |
| Tú | acababas | You were finishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acababa | He was / she was / you were finishing |
| Nosotros / as | acabábamos | We were finishing |
| Vosotros / as | acababais | You were finishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acababan | They / you were finishing |
| Vos | acababas | You were finishing |
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 finished” and “she has finished”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he acabado | I have finished |
| Tú | has acabado | You have finished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha acabado | He has / she has / you have finished |
| Nosotros / as | hemos acabado | We have finished |
| Vosotros / as | habéis acabado | You have finished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han acabado | They / you have finished |
| Vos | has acabado | You have finished |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would finish” or “she would finish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | acabaría | I would finish |
| Tú | acabarías | You would finish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabaría | He / she / you would finish |
| Nosotros / as | acabaríamos | We would finish |
| Vosotros / as | acabaríais | You would finish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acabarían | They / you would finish |
| Vos | acabarías | You would finish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will finish” or “they will finish”.
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 acabar” means “They are going to finish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | acabaré | I will finish |
| Tú | acabarás | You will finish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabará | He / she / you will finish |
| Nosotros / as | acabaremos | We will finish |
| Vosotros / as | acabaréis | You will finish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acabarán | They / you will finish |
| Vos | acabarás | You will finish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | acabe |
| Tú | acabes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabe |
| Nosotros / as | acabemos |
| Vosotros / as | acabéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acaben |
| Vos | acabes |
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 | acabara | acabase |
| Tú | acabaras | acabase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabara | acabase |
| Nosotros / as | acabáramos | acabásemos |
| Vosotros / as | acabarais | acabaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acabaran | acabasen |
| Vos | acabaras | acabase |
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 | acabare |
| Tú | acabares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabare |
| Nosotros / as | acabáremos |
| Vosotros / as | acabareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acabaren |
| Vos | acabares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “finish!” and “don’t finish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | acaba | no acabes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acabe | no acabe |
| Nosotros / as | acabemos | no acabemos |
| Vosotros / as | acabad | no acabéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acaben | no acaben |
| Vos | acabá | no acabes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya acabado |
| Tú | hayas acabado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya acabado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos acabado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis acabado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan acabado |
| Vos | hayas acabado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera acabado / hubiese acabado |
| Tú | hubieras acabado / hubieses acabado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera acabado / hubiese acabado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos acabado / hubiésemos acabado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais acabado / hubieseis acabado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran acabado / hubiesen acabado |
| Vos | hubieras acabado / hubieses acabado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere acabado |
| Tú | hubieres acabado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere acabado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos acabado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis acabado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren acabado |
| Vos | hubieres acabado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté acabando |
| Tú | estés acabando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté acabando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos acabando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis acabando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén acabando |
| Vos | estés acabando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera acabando / estuviese acabando |
| Tú | estuvieras acabando / estuvieses acabando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera acabando / estuviese acabando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos acabando / estuviésamos acabando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais acabando / estuvieseis acabando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera acabando / estuviese acabando |
| Vos | estuvieras acabando / estuvieses acabando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere acabando |
| Tú | estuvieres acabando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere acabando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos acabando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis acabando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere acabando |
| Vos | estuvieres acabando |
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 acabás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos acabaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos acababas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos acabarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos acabarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos acabes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos acabaras / Vos acabase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos acabá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no acabes |
