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Actuar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to act, behave, work, perform”.
Below are all of the conjugations for actuar 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 act, behave, work, perform |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | actuar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está actuando) and past continuous (estaba actuando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. activating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he actuado and hubiera actuado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have activated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | actuando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | actuado |
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 activate” or “they activate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | actúo |
| Tú | actúas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actúa |
| Nosotros / as | actuamos |
| Vosotros / as | actuáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actúan |
| Vos | actúas |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I activated” or “she activated” 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 | actué | I activated |
| Tú | actuaste | You activated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actuó | He / she / you activated |
| Nosotros / as | actuamos | We activated |
| Vosotros / as | actuasteis | You activated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actuaron | They / you activated |
| Vos | actuaste | You activated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was activating” or “she was activating” 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 | actuaba | I was activating |
| Tú | actuabas | You were activating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actuaba | He was / she was / you were activating |
| Nosotros / as | actuábamos | We were activating |
| Vosotros / as | actuabais | You were activating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actuaban | They / you were activating |
| Vos | actuabas | You were activating |
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 activated” and “she has activated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he actuado | I have activated |
| Tú | has actuado | You have activated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha actuado | He has / she has / you have activated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos actuado | We have activated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis actuado | You have activated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han actuado | They / you have activated |
| Vos | has actuado | You have activated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would activate” or “she would activate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | actuaría | I would activate |
| Tú | actuarías | You would activate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actuaría | He / she / you would activate |
| Nosotros / as | actuaríamos | We would activate |
| Vosotros / as | actuaríais | You would activate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actuarían | They / you would activate |
| Vos | actuarías | You would activate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will activate” or “they will activate”.
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 actuar” means “They are going to activate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | actuaré | I will activate |
| Tú | actuarás | You will activate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actuará | He / she / you will activate |
| Nosotros / as | actuaremos | We will activate |
| Vosotros / as | actuaréis | You will activate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actuarán | They / you will activate |
| Vos | actuarás | You will activate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | actúe |
| Tú | actúes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actúe |
| Nosotros / as | actuemos |
| Vosotros / as | actuéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actúen |
| Vos | actúes |
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 | actuara | actuase |
| Tú | actuaras | actuase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actuara | actuase |
| Nosotros / as | actuáramos | actuásemos |
| Vosotros / as | actuarais | actuaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actuaran | actuasen |
| Vos | actuaras | actuase |
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 | actuare |
| Tú | actuares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actuare |
| Nosotros / as | actuáremos |
| Vosotros / as | actuareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actuaren |
| Vos | actuares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “activate!” and “don’t activate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | actúa | no actúes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | actúe | no actúe |
| Nosotros / as | actuemos | no actuemos |
| Vosotros / as | actuad | no actuéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | actúen | no actúen |
| Vos | actuá | no actúes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya actuado |
| Tú | hayas actuado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya actuado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos actuado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis actuado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan actuado |
| Vos | hayas actuado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera actuado / hubiese actuado |
| Tú | hubieras actuado / hubieses actuado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera actuado / hubiese actuado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos actuado / hubiésemos actuado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais actuado / hubieseis actuado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran actuado / hubiesen actuado |
| Vos | hubieras actuado / hubieses actuado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere actuado |
| Tú | hubieres actuado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere actuado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos actuado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis actuado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren actuado |
| Vos | hubieres actuado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté actuando |
| Tú | estés actuando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté actuando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos actuando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis actuando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén actuando |
| Vos | estés actuando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera actuando / estuviese actuando |
| Tú | estuvieras actuando / estuvieses actuando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera actuando / estuviese actuando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos actuando / estuviésamos actuando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais actuando / estuvieseis actuando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera actuando / estuviese actuando |
| Vos | estuvieras actuando / estuvieses actuando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere actuando |
| Tú | estuvieres actuando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere actuando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos actuando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis actuando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere actuando |
| Vos | estuvieres actuando |
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 actúas |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos actuaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos actuabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos actuarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos actuarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos actúes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos actuaras / Vos actuase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos actuá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no actúes |