Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Afirmar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to affirm, assert, secure”.
Below are all of the conjugations for afirmar 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 affirm, assert, secure |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | afirmar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está afirmando) and past continuous (estaba afirmando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. affirming).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he afirmado and hubiera afirmado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have affirmed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | afirmando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | afirmado |
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 affirm” or “they affirm”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | afirmo |
| Tú | afirmas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirma |
| Nosotros / as | afirmamos |
| Vosotros / as | afirmáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirman |
| Vos | afirmás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I affirmed” or “she affirmed” 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 | afirmé | I affirmed |
| Tú | afirmaste | You affirmed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirmó | He / she / you affirmed |
| Nosotros / as | afirmamos | We affirmed |
| Vosotros / as | afirmasteis | You affirmed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmaron | They / you affirmed |
| Vos | afirmaste | You affirmed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was affirming” or “she was affirming” 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 | afirmaba | I was affirming |
| Tú | afirmabas | You were affirming |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirmaba | He was / she was / you were affirming |
| Nosotros / as | afirmábamos | We were affirming |
| Vosotros / as | afirmabais | You were affirming |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmaban | They / you were affirming |
| Vos | afirmabas | You were affirming |
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 affirmed” and “she has affirmed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he afirmado | I have affirmed |
| Tú | has afirmado | You have affirmed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha afirmado | He has / she has / you have affirmed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos afirmado | We have affirmed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis afirmado | You have affirmed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han afirmado | They / you have affirmed |
| Vos | has afirmado | You have affirmed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would affirm” or “she would affirm”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | afirmaría | I would affirm |
| Tú | afirmarías | You would affirm |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirmaría | He / she / you would affirm |
| Nosotros / as | afirmaríamos | We would affirm |
| Vosotros / as | afirmaríais | You would affirm |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmarían | They / you would affirm |
| Vos | afirmarías | You would affirm |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will affirm” or “they will affirm”.
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 afirmar” means “They are going to affirm”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | afirmaré | I will affirm |
| Tú | afirmarás | You will affirm |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirmará | He / she / you will affirm |
| Nosotros / as | afirmaremos | We will affirm |
| Vosotros / as | afirmaréis | You will affirm |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmarán | They / you will affirm |
| Vos | afirmarás | You will affirm |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | afirme |
| Tú | afirmes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirme |
| Nosotros / as | afirmemos |
| Vosotros / as | afirméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmen |
| Vos | afirmes |
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 | afirmara | afirmase |
| Tú | afirmaras | afirmase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirmara | afirmase |
| Nosotros / as | afirmáramos | afirmásemos |
| Vosotros / as | afirmarais | afirmaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmaran | afirmasen |
| Vos | afirmaras | afirmase |
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 | afirmare |
| Tú | afirmares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirmare |
| Nosotros / as | afirmáremos |
| Vosotros / as | afirmareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmaren |
| Vos | afirmares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “affirm!” and “don’t affirm!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | afirma | no afirmes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | afirme | no afirme |
| Nosotros / as | afirmemos | no afirmemos |
| Vosotros / as | afirmad | no afirméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | afirmen | no afirmen |
| Vos | afirmá | no afirmes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya afirmado |
| Tú | hayas afirmado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya afirmado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos afirmado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis afirmado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan afirmado |
| Vos | hayas afirmado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera afirmado / hubiese afirmado |
| Tú | hubieras afirmado / hubieses afirmado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera afirmado / hubiese afirmado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos afirmado / hubiésemos afirmado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais afirmado / hubieseis afirmado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran afirmado / hubiesen afirmado |
| Vos | hubieras afirmado / hubieses afirmado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere afirmado |
| Tú | hubieres afirmado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere afirmado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos afirmado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis afirmado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren afirmado |
| Vos | hubieres afirmado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté afirmando |
| Tú | estés afirmando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté afirmando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos afirmando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis afirmando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén afirmando |
| Vos | estés afirmando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera afirmando / estuviese afirmando |
| Tú | estuvieras afirmando / estuvieses afirmando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera afirmando / estuviese afirmando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos afirmando / estuviésamos afirmando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais afirmando / estuvieseis afirmando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera afirmando / estuviese afirmando |
| Vos | estuvieras afirmando / estuvieses afirmando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere afirmando |
| Tú | estuvieres afirmando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere afirmando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos afirmando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis afirmando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere afirmando |
| Vos | estuvieres afirmando |
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 afirmás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos afirmaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos afirmabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos afirmarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos afirmarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos afirmes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos afirmaras / Vos afirmase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos afirmá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no afirmes |