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Alabar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to praise”.
Below are all of the conjugations for alabar 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 praise |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alabar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alabando) and past continuous (estaba alabando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. praising).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alabado and hubiera alabado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have praised).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alabando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alabado |
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 praise” or “they praise”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alabo |
| Tú | alabas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alaba |
| Nosotros / as | alabamos |
| Vosotros / as | alabáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alaban |
| Vos | alabás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I praised” or “she praised” 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 | alabé | I praised |
| Tú | alabaste | You praised |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabó | He / she / you praised |
| Nosotros / as | alabamos | We praised |
| Vosotros / as | alabasteis | You praised |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alabaron | They / you praised |
| Vos | alabaste | You praised |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was praising” or “she was praising” 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 | alababa | I was praising |
| Tú | alababas | You were praising |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alababa | He was / she was / you were praising |
| Nosotros / as | alabábamos | We were praising |
| Vosotros / as | alababais | You were praising |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alababan | They / you were praising |
| Vos | alababas | You were praising |
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 praised” and “she has praised”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he alabado | I have praised |
| Tú | has alabado | You have praised |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha alabado | He has / she has / you have praised |
| Nosotros / as | hemos alabado | We have praised |
| Vosotros / as | habéis alabado | You have praised |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han alabado | They / you have praised |
| Vos | has alabado | You have praised |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would praise” or “she would praise”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alabaría | I would praise |
| Tú | alabarías | You would praise |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabaría | He / she / you would praise |
| Nosotros / as | alabaríamos | We would praise |
| Vosotros / as | alabaríais | You would praise |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alabarían | They / you would praise |
| Vos | alabarías | You would praise |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will praise” or “they will praise”.
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 alabar” means “They are going to praise”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alabaré | I will praise |
| Tú | alabarás | You will praise |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabará | He / she / you will praise |
| Nosotros / as | alabaremos | We will praise |
| Vosotros / as | alabaréis | You will praise |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alabarán | They / you will praise |
| Vos | alabarás | You will praise |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alabe |
| Tú | alabes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabe |
| Nosotros / as | alabemos |
| Vosotros / as | alabéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alaben |
| Vos | alabes |
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 | alabara | alabase |
| Tú | alabaras | alabase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabara | alabase |
| Nosotros / as | alabáramos | alabásemos |
| Vosotros / as | alabarais | alabaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alabaran | alabasen |
| Vos | alabaras | alabase |
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 | alabare |
| Tú | alabares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabare |
| Nosotros / as | alabáremos |
| Vosotros / as | alabareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alabaren |
| Vos | alabares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “praise!” and “don’t praise!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | alaba | no alabes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alabe | no alabe |
| Nosotros / as | alabemos | no alabemos |
| Vosotros / as | alabad | no alabéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alaben | no alaben |
| Vos | alabá | no alabes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alabado |
| Tú | hayas alabado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alabado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alabado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alabado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alabado |
| Vos | hayas alabado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alabado / hubiese alabado |
| Tú | hubieras alabado / hubieses alabado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alabado / hubiese alabado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alabado / hubiésemos alabado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alabado / hubieseis alabado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alabado / hubiesen alabado |
| Vos | hubieras alabado / hubieses alabado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alabado |
| Tú | hubieres alabado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alabado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alabado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alabado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alabado |
| Vos | hubieres alabado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alabando |
| Tú | estés alabando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alabando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alabando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alabando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alabando |
| Vos | estés alabando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alabando / estuviese alabando |
| Tú | estuvieras alabando / estuvieses alabando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alabando / estuviese alabando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alabando / estuviésamos alabando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alabando / estuvieseis alabando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alabando / estuviese alabando |
| Vos | estuvieras alabando / estuvieses alabando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alabando |
| Tú | estuvieres alabando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alabando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alabando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alabando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alabando |
| Vos | estuvieres alabando |
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 alabás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos alabaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos alababas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos alabarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos alabarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos alabes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos alabaras / Vos alabase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alabá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no alabes |