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Adaptar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to adapt, accustom oneself”.
Below are all of the conjugations for adaptar 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 adapt, accustom oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | adaptar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está adaptando) and past continuous (estaba adaptando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. adapting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he adaptado and hubiera adaptado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have adapted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | adaptando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | adaptado |
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 adapt” or “they adapt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | adapto |
| Tú | adaptas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adapta |
| Nosotros / as | adaptamos |
| Vosotros / as | adaptáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptan |
| Vos | adaptás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I adapted” or “she adapted” 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 | adapté | I adapted |
| Tú | adaptaste | You adapted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adaptó | He / she / you adapted |
| Nosotros / as | adaptamos | We adapted |
| Vosotros / as | adaptasteis | You adapted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptaron | They / you adapted |
| Vos | adaptaste | You adapted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was adapting” or “she was adapting” 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 | adaptaba | I was adapting |
| Tú | adaptabas | You were adapting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adaptaba | He was / she was / you were adapting |
| Nosotros / as | adaptábamos | We were adapting |
| Vosotros / as | adaptabais | You were adapting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptaban | They / you were adapting |
| Vos | adaptabas | You were adapting |
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 adapted” and “she has adapted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he adaptado | I have adapted |
| Tú | has adaptado | You have adapted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha adaptado | He has / she has / you have adapted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos adaptado | We have adapted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis adaptado | You have adapted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han adaptado | They / you have adapted |
| Vos | has adaptado | You have adapted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would adapt” or “she would adapt”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | adaptaría | I would adapt |
| Tú | adaptarías | You would adapt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adaptaría | He / she / you would adapt |
| Nosotros / as | adaptaríamos | We would adapt |
| Vosotros / as | adaptaríais | You would adapt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptarían | They / you would adapt |
| Vos | adaptarías | You would adapt |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will adapt” or “they will adapt”.
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 adaptar” means “They are going to adapt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | adaptaré | I will adapt |
| Tú | adaptarás | You will adapt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adaptará | He / she / you will adapt |
| Nosotros / as | adaptaremos | We will adapt |
| Vosotros / as | adaptaréis | You will adapt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptarán | They / you will adapt |
| Vos | adaptarás | You will adapt |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | adapte |
| Tú | adaptes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adapte |
| Nosotros / as | adaptemos |
| Vosotros / as | adaptéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adapten |
| Vos | adaptes |
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 | adaptara | adaptase |
| Tú | adaptaras | adaptase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adaptara | adaptase |
| Nosotros / as | adaptáramos | adaptásemos |
| Vosotros / as | adaptarais | adaptaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptaran | adaptasen |
| Vos | adaptaras | adaptase |
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 | adaptare |
| Tú | adaptares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adaptare |
| Nosotros / as | adaptáremos |
| Vosotros / as | adaptareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adaptaren |
| Vos | adaptares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “adapt!” and “don’t adapt!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | adapta | no adaptes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adapte | no adapte |
| Nosotros / as | adaptemos | no adaptemos |
| Vosotros / as | adaptad | no adaptéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adapten | no adapten |
| Vos | adaptá | no adaptes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya adaptado |
| Tú | hayas adaptado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya adaptado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos adaptado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis adaptado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan adaptado |
| Vos | hayas adaptado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera adaptado / hubiese adaptado |
| Tú | hubieras adaptado / hubieses adaptado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera adaptado / hubiese adaptado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos adaptado / hubiésemos adaptado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais adaptado / hubieseis adaptado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran adaptado / hubiesen adaptado |
| Vos | hubieras adaptado / hubieses adaptado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere adaptado |
| Tú | hubieres adaptado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere adaptado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos adaptado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis adaptado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren adaptado |
| Vos | hubieres adaptado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté adaptando |
| Tú | estés adaptando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté adaptando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos adaptando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis adaptando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén adaptando |
| Vos | estés adaptando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera adaptando / estuviese adaptando |
| Tú | estuvieras adaptando / estuvieses adaptando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera adaptando / estuviese adaptando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos adaptando / estuviésamos adaptando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais adaptando / estuvieseis adaptando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera adaptando / estuviese adaptando |
| Vos | estuvieras adaptando / estuvieses adaptando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere adaptando |
| Tú | estuvieres adaptando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere adaptando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos adaptando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis adaptando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere adaptando |
| Vos | estuvieres adaptando |
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 adaptás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos adaptaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos adaptabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos adaptarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos adaptarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos adaptes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos adaptaras / Vos adaptase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos adaptá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no adaptes |