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Adquirir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to acquire, obtain, get”.
Below are all of the conjugations for adquirir 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 acquire, obtain, get |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | adquirir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está adquiriendo) and past continuous (estaba adquiriendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. acquiring).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he adquirido and hubiera adquirido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have acquired).
| Gerundio / Gerund | adquiriendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | adquirido |
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 acquire” or “they acquire”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | adquiero |
| Tú | adquieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiere |
| Nosotros / as | adquirimos |
| Vosotros / as | adquirís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquieren |
| Vos | te adueñás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I acquired” or “she acquired” 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 | adquirí | I acquired |
| Tú | adquiriste | You acquired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquirió | He / she / you acquired |
| Nosotros / as | adquirimos | We acquired |
| Vosotros / as | adquiristeis | You acquired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquirieron | They / you acquired |
| Vos | adquiriste | You acquired |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was acquiring” or “she was acquiring” 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 | adquiría | I was acquiring |
| Tú | adquirías | You were acquiring |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiría | He was / she was / you were acquiring |
| Nosotros / as | adquiríamos | We were acquiring |
| Vosotros / as | adquiríais | You were acquiring |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquirían | They / you were acquiring |
| Vos | adquirías | You were acquiring |
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 acquired” and “she has acquired”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he adquirido | I have acquired |
| Tú | has adquirido | You have acquired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha adquirido | He has / she has / you have acquired |
| Nosotros / as | hemos adquirido | We have acquired |
| Vosotros / as | habéis adquirido | You have acquired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han adquirido | They / you have acquired |
| Vos | has adquirido | You have acquired |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would acquire” or “she would acquire”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | adquiriría | I would acquire |
| Tú | adquirirías | You would acquire |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiriría | He / she / you would acquire |
| Nosotros / as | adquiriríamos | We would acquire |
| Vosotros / as | adquiriríais | You would acquire |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquirirían | They / you would acquire |
| Vos | adquirirías | You would acquire |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will acquire” or “they will acquire”.
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 adquirir” means “They are going to acquire”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | adquiriré | I will acquire |
| Tú | adquirirás | You will acquire |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquirirá | He / she / you will acquire |
| Nosotros / as | adquiriremos | We will acquire |
| Vosotros / as | adquiriréis | You will acquire |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquirirán | They / you will acquire |
| Vos | adquirirás | You will acquire |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | adquiera |
| Tú | adquieras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiera |
| Nosotros / as | adquiramos |
| Vosotros / as | adquiráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquieran |
| Vos | adquieras |
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 | adquiriera | adquiriese |
| Tú | adquirieras | adquiriese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiriera | adquiriese |
| Nosotros / as | adquiriéramos | adquiriésemos |
| Vosotros / as | adquirierais | adquirieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquirieran | adquiriesen |
| Vos | adquirieras | adquiriese |
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 | adquiriere |
| Tú | adquirieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiriera |
| Nosotros / as | adquiriéremos |
| Vosotros / as | adquiriereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquirieren |
| Vos | adquirieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “acquire!” and “don’t acquire!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | adquiere | no adquieras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adquiera | no adquiera |
| Nosotros / as | adquiramos | no adquiramos |
| Vosotros / as | adquirid | no adquiráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adquieran | no adquieran |
| Vos | adquirí | no adquieras |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya adquirido |
| Tú | hayas adquirido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya adquirido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos adquirido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis adquirido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan adquirido |
| Vos | hayas adquirido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera adquirido / hubiese adquirido |
| Tú | hubieras adquirido / hubieses adquirido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera adquirido / hubiese adquirido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos adquirido / hubiésemos adquirido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais adquirido / hubieseis adquirido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran adquirido / hubiesen adquirido |
| Vos | hubieras adquirido / hubieses adquirido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere adquirido |
| Tú | hubieres adquirido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere adquirido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos adquirido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis adquirido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren adquirido |
| Vos | hubieres adquirido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté adquiriendo |
| Tú | estés adquiriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté adquiriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos adquiriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis adquiriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén adquiriendo |
| Vos | estés adquiriendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera adquiriendo / estuviese adquiriendo |
| Tú | estuvieras adquiriendo / estuvieses adquiriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera adquiriendo / estuviese adquiriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos adquiriendo / estuviésamos adquiriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais adquiriendo / estuvieseis adquiriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera adquiriendo / estuviese adquiriendo |
| Vos | estuvieras adquiriendo / estuvieses adquiriendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere adquiriendo |
| Tú | estuvieres adquiriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere adquiriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos adquiriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis adquiriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere adquiriendo |
| Vos | estuvieres adquiriendo |
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 te adueñás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos adquiriste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos adquirías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos adquirirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos adquirirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos adquieras |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos adquirieras / Vos adquiriese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos adquirí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no adquieras |