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Acatar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to obey, respect the law notice , realize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for acatar 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 obey, respect the law notice , realize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | acatar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está acatando) and past continuous (estaba acatando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. obeying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he acatado and hubiera acatado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have obeyed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | acatando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | acatado |
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 obey” or “they obey”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | acato |
| Tú | acatas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acata |
| Nosotros / as | acatamos |
| Vosotros / as | acatáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acatan |
| Vos | acatás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I obeyed” or “she obeyed” 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 | acaté | I obeyed |
| Tú | acataste | You obeyed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acató | He / she / you obeyed |
| Nosotros / as | acatamos | We obeyed |
| Vosotros / as | acatasteis | You obeyed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acataron | They / you obeyed |
| Vos | acataste | You obeyed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was obeying” or “she was obeying” 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 | acataba | I was obeying |
| Tú | acatabas | You were obeying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acataba | He was / she was / you were obeying |
| Nosotros / as | acatábamos | We were obeying |
| Vosotros / as | acatabais | You were obeying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acataban | They / you were obeying |
| Vos | acatabas | You were obeying |
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 obeyed” and “she has obeyed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he acatado | I have obeyed |
| Tú | has acatado | You have obeyed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha acatado | He has / she has / you have obeyed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos acatado | We have obeyed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis acatado | You have obeyed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han acatado | They / you have obeyed |
| Vos | has acatado | You have obeyed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would obey” or “she would obey”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | acataría | I would obey |
| Tú | acatarías | You would obey |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acataría | He / she / you would obey |
| Nosotros / as | acataríamos | We would obey |
| Vosotros / as | acataríais | You would obey |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acatarían | They / you would obey |
| Vos | acatarías | You would obey |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will obey” or “they will obey”.
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 acatar” means “They are going to obey”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | acataré | I will obey |
| Tú | acatarás | You will obey |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acatará | He / she / you will obey |
| Nosotros / as | acataremos | We will obey |
| Vosotros / as | acataréis | You will obey |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acatarán | They / you will obey |
| Vos | acatarás | You will obey |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | acate |
| Tú | acates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acate |
| Nosotros / as | acatemos |
| Vosotros / as | acatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acaten |
| Vos | acates |
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 | acatara | acatase |
| Tú | acataras | acatase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acatara | acatase |
| Nosotros / as | acatáramos | acatásemos |
| Vosotros / as | acatarais | acataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acataran | acatasen |
| Vos | acataras | acatase |
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 | acatare |
| Tú | acatares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acatare |
| Nosotros / as | acatáremos |
| Vosotros / as | acatareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acataren |
| Vos | acatares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “obey!” and “don’t obey!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | acata | no acates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acate | no acate |
| Nosotros / as | acatemos | no acatemos |
| Vosotros / as | acatad | no acatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acaten | no acaten |
| Vos | acatá | no acates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya acatado |
| Tú | hayas acatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya acatado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos acatado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis acatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan acatado |
| Vos | hayas acatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera acatado / hubiese acatado |
| Tú | hubieras acatado / hubieses acatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera acatado / hubiese acatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos acatado / hubiésemos acatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais acatado / hubieseis acatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran acatado / hubiesen acatado |
| Vos | hubieras acatado / hubieses acatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere acatado |
| Tú | hubieres acatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere acatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos acatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis acatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren acatado |
| Vos | hubieres acatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté acatando |
| Tú | estés acatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté acatando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos acatando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis acatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén acatando |
| Vos | estés acatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera acatando / estuviese acatando |
| Tú | estuvieras acatando / estuvieses acatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera acatando / estuviese acatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos acatando / estuviésamos acatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais acatando / estuvieseis acatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera acatando / estuviese acatando |
| Vos | estuvieras acatando / estuvieses acatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere acatando |
| Tú | estuvieres acatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere acatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos acatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis acatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere acatando |
| Vos | estuvieres acatando |
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 acatás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos acataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos acatabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos acatarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos acatarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos acates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos acataras / Vos acatase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos acatá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no acates |