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Adular is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to flatter”.
Below are all of the conjugations for adular 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 flatter |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | adular |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está adulando) and past continuous (estaba adulando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. flattering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he adulado and hubiera adulado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have flattered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | adulando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | adulado |
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 flatter” or “they flatter”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | adulo |
| Tú | adulas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adula |
| Nosotros / as | adulamos |
| Vosotros / as | aduláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adulan |
| Vos | advertís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I flattered” or “she flattered” 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 | adulé | I flattered |
| Tú | adulaste | You flattered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aduló | He / she / you flattered |
| Nosotros / as | adulamos | We flattered |
| Vosotros / as | adulasteis | You flattered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adularon | They / you flattered |
| Vos | adulaste | You flattered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was flattering” or “she was flattering” 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 | adulaba | I was flattering |
| Tú | adulabas | You were flattering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adulaba | He was / she was / you were flattering |
| Nosotros / as | adulábamos | We were flattering |
| Vosotros / as | adulabais | You were flattering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adulaban | They / you were flattering |
| Vos | adulabas | You were flattering |
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 flattered” and “she has flattered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he adulado | I have flattered |
| Tú | has adulado | You have flattered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha adulado | He has / she has / you have flattered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos adulado | We have flattered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis adulado | You have flattered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han adulado | They / you have flattered |
| Vos | has adulado | You have flattered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would flatter” or “she would flatter”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | adularía | I would flatter |
| Tú | adularías | You would flatter |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adularía | He / she / you would flatter |
| Nosotros / as | adularíamos | We would flatter |
| Vosotros / as | adularíais | You would flatter |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adularían | They / you would flatter |
| Vos | adularías | You would flatter |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will flatter” or “they will flatter”.
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 adular” means “They are going to flatter”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | adularé | I will flatter |
| Tú | adularás | You will flatter |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adulará | He / she / you will flatter |
| Nosotros / as | adularemos | We will flatter |
| Vosotros / as | adularéis | You will flatter |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adularán | They / you will flatter |
| Vos | adularás | You will flatter |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | adule |
| Tú | adules |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adule |
| Nosotros / as | adulemos |
| Vosotros / as | aduléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adulen |
| Vos | adules |
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 | adulara | adulase |
| Tú | adularas | adulase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adulara | adulase |
| Nosotros / as | aduláramos | adulásemos |
| Vosotros / as | adularais | adulaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adularan | adulasen |
| Vos | adularas | adulase |
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 | adulare |
| Tú | adulares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adulare |
| Nosotros / as | aduláremos |
| Vosotros / as | adulareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adularen |
| Vos | adulares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “flatter!” and “don’t flatter!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | adula | no adules |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adule | no adule |
| Nosotros / as | adulemos | no adulemos |
| Vosotros / as | adulad | no aduléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adulen | no adulen |
| Vos | adulá | no adules |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya adulado |
| Tú | hayas adulado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya adulado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos adulado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis adulado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan adulado |
| Vos | hayas adulado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera adulado / hubiese adulado |
| Tú | hubieras adulado / hubieses adulado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera adulado / hubiese adulado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos adulado / hubiésemos adulado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais adulado / hubieseis adulado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran adulado / hubiesen adulado |
| Vos | hubieras adulado / hubieses adulado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere adulado |
| Tú | hubieres adulado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere adulado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos adulado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis adulado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren adulado |
| Vos | hubieres adulado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté adulando |
| Tú | estés adulando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté adulando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos adulando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis adulando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén adulando |
| Vos | estés adulando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera adulando / estuviese adulando |
| Tú | estuvieras adulando / estuvieses adulando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera adulando / estuviese adulando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos adulando / estuviésamos adulando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais adulando / estuvieseis adulando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera adulando / estuviese adulando |
| Vos | estuvieras adulando / estuvieses adulando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere adulando |
| Tú | estuvieres adulando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere adulando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos adulando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis adulando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere adulando |
| Vos | estuvieres adulando |
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 advertís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos adulaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos adulabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos adularías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos adularás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos adules |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos adularas / Vos adulase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos adulá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no adules |