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Alimentar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to feed, nourish, nurture”.
Below are all of the conjugations for alimentar 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 feed, nourish, nurture |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alimentar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alimentando) and past continuous (estaba alimentando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. feeding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alimentado and hubiera alimentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have fed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alimentando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alimentado |
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 feed” or “they feed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alimento |
| Tú | alimentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimenta |
| Nosotros / as | alimentamos |
| Vosotros / as | alimentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentan |
| Vos | alimentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I fed” or “she fed” 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 | alimenté | I fed |
| Tú | alimentaste | You fed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimentó | He / she / you fed |
| Nosotros / as | alimentamos | We fed |
| Vosotros / as | alimentasteis | You fed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentaron | They / you fed |
| Vos | alimentaste | You fed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was feeding” or “she was feeding” 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 | alimentaba | I was feeding |
| Tú | alimentabas | You were feeding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimentaba | He was / she was / you were feeding |
| Nosotros / as | alimentábamos | We were feeding |
| Vosotros / as | alimentabais | You were feeding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentaban | They / you were feeding |
| Vos | alimentabas | You were feeding |
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 fed” and “she has fed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he alimentado | I have fed |
| Tú | has alimentado | You have fed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha alimentado | He has / she has / you have fed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos alimentado | We have fed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis alimentado | You have fed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han alimentado | They / you have fed |
| Vos | has alimentado | You have fed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would feed” or “she would feed”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alimentaría | I would feed |
| Tú | alimentarías | You would feed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimentaría | He / she / you would feed |
| Nosotros / as | alimentaríamos | We would feed |
| Vosotros / as | alimentaríais | You would feed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentarían | They / you would feed |
| Vos | alimentarías | You would feed |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will feed” or “they will feed”.
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 alimentar” means “They are going to feed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alimentaré | I will feed |
| Tú | alimentarás | You will feed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimentará | He / she / you will feed |
| Nosotros / as | alimentaremos | We will feed |
| Vosotros / as | alimentaréis | You will feed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentarán | They / you will feed |
| Vos | alimentarás | You will feed |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alimente |
| Tú | alimentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimente |
| Nosotros / as | alimentemos |
| Vosotros / as | alimentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimenten |
| Vos | alimentes |
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 | alimentara | alimentase |
| Tú | alimentaras | alimentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimentara | alimentase |
| Nosotros / as | alimentáramos | alimentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | alimentarais | alimentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentaran | alimentasen |
| Vos | alimentaras | alimentase |
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 | alimentare |
| Tú | alimentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimentare |
| Nosotros / as | alimentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | alimentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimentaren |
| Vos | alimentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “feed!” and “don’t feed!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | alimenta | no alimentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alimente | no alimente |
| Nosotros / as | alimentemos | no alimentemos |
| Vosotros / as | alimentad | no alimentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alimenten | no alimenten |
| Vos | alimentá | no alimentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alimentado |
| Tú | hayas alimentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alimentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alimentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alimentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alimentado |
| Vos | hayas alimentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alimentado / hubiese alimentado |
| Tú | hubieras alimentado / hubieses alimentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alimentado / hubiese alimentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alimentado / hubiésemos alimentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alimentado / hubieseis alimentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alimentado / hubiesen alimentado |
| Vos | hubieras alimentado / hubieses alimentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alimentado |
| Tú | hubieres alimentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alimentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alimentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alimentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alimentado |
| Vos | hubieres alimentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alimentando |
| Tú | estés alimentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alimentando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alimentando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alimentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alimentando |
| Vos | estés alimentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alimentando / estuviese alimentando |
| Tú | estuvieras alimentando / estuvieses alimentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alimentando / estuviese alimentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alimentando / estuviésamos alimentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alimentando / estuvieseis alimentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alimentando / estuviese alimentando |
| Vos | estuvieras alimentando / estuvieses alimentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alimentando |
| Tú | estuvieres alimentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alimentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alimentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alimentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alimentando |
| Vos | estuvieres alimentando |
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 alimentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos alimentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos alimentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos alimentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos alimentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos alimentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos alimentaras / Vos alimentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alimentá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no alimentes |