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Acallar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to silence, quiet, hush, pacify, calm down”.
Below are all of the conjugations for acallar 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 silence, quiet, hush, pacify, calm down |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | acallar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está acallando) and past continuous (estaba acallando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. silencing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he acallado and hubiera acallado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have silenced).
| Gerundio / Gerund | acallando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | acallado |
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 silence” or “they silence”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | acallo |
| Tú | acallas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acalla |
| Nosotros / as | acallamos |
| Vosotros / as | acalláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallan |
| Vos | acallás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I silenced” or “she silenced” 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 | acallé | I silenced |
| Tú | acallaste | You silenced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acalló | He / she / you silenced |
| Nosotros / as | acallamos | We silenced |
| Vosotros / as | acallasteis | You silenced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallaron | They / you silenced |
| Vos | acallaste | You silenced |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was silencing” or “she was silencing” 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 | acallaba | I was silencing |
| Tú | acallabas | You were silencing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acallaba | He was / she was / you were silencing |
| Nosotros / as | acallábamos | We were silencing |
| Vosotros / as | acallabais | You were silencing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallaban | They / you were silencing |
| Vos | acallabas | You were silencing |
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 silenced” and “she has silenced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he acallado | I have silenced |
| Tú | has acallado | You have silenced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha acallado | He has / she has / you have silenced |
| Nosotros / as | hemos acallado | We have silenced |
| Vosotros / as | habéis acallado | You have silenced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han acallado | They / you have silenced |
| Vos | has acallado | You have silenced |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would silence” or “she would silence”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | acallaría | I would silence |
| Tú | acallarías | You would silence |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acallaría | He / she / you would silence |
| Nosotros / as | acallaríamos | We would silence |
| Vosotros / as | acallaríais | You would silence |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallarían | They / you would silence |
| Vos | acallarías | You would silence |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will silence” or “they will silence”.
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 acallar” means “They are going to silence”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | acallaré | I will silence |
| Tú | acallarás | You will silence |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acallará | He / she / you will silence |
| Nosotros / as | acallaremos | We will silence |
| Vosotros / as | acallaréis | You will silence |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallarán | They / you will silence |
| Vos | acallarás | You will silence |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | acalle |
| Tú | acalles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acalle |
| Nosotros / as | acallemos |
| Vosotros / as | acalléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallen |
| Vos | acalles |
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 | acallara | acallase |
| Tú | acallaras | acallase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acallara | acallase |
| Nosotros / as | acalláramos | acallásemos |
| Vosotros / as | acallarais | acallaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallaran | acallasen |
| Vos | acallaras | acallase |
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 | acallare |
| Tú | acallares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acallare |
| Nosotros / as | acalláremos |
| Vosotros / as | acallareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallaren |
| Vos | acallares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “silence!” and “don’t silence!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | acalla | no acalles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acalle | no acalle |
| Nosotros / as | acallemos | no acallemos |
| Vosotros / as | acallad | no acalléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acallen | no acallen |
| Vos | acallá | no acalles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya acallado |
| Tú | hayas acallado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya acallado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos acallado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis acallado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan acallado |
| Vos | hayas acallado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera acallado / hubiese acallado |
| Tú | hubieras acallado / hubieses acallado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera acallado / hubiese acallado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos acallado / hubiésemos acallado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais acallado / hubieseis acallado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran acallado / hubiesen acallado |
| Vos | hubieras acallado / hubieses acallado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere acallado |
| Tú | hubieres acallado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere acallado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos acallado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis acallado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren acallado |
| Vos | hubieres acallado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté acallando |
| Tú | estés acallando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté acallando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos acallando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis acallando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén acallando |
| Vos | estés acallando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera acallando / estuviese acallando |
| Tú | estuvieras acallando / estuvieses acallando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera acallando / estuviese acallando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos acallando / estuviésamos acallando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais acallando / estuvieseis acallando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera acallando / estuviese acallando |
| Vos | estuvieras acallando / estuvieses acallando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere acallando |
| Tú | estuvieres acallando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere acallando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos acallando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis acallando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere acallando |
| Vos | estuvieres acallando |
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 acallás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos acallaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos acallabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos acallarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos acallarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos acalles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos acallaras / Vos acallase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos acallá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no acalles |