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Alumbrar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to illuminate, light”.
Below are all of the conjugations for alumbrar 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 illuminate, light |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alumbrar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alumbrando) and past continuous (estaba alumbrando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. illuminating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alumbrado and hubiera alumbrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have illuminated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alumbrando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alumbrado |
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 illuminate” or “they illuminate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alumbro |
| Tú | alumbras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbra |
| Nosotros / as | alumbramos |
| Vosotros / as | alumbráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbran |
| Vos | alumbrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I illuminated” or “she illuminated” 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 | alumbré | I illuminated |
| Tú | alumbraste | You illuminated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbró | He / she / you illuminated |
| Nosotros / as | alumbramos | We illuminated |
| Vosotros / as | alumbrasteis | You illuminated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbraron | They / you illuminated |
| Vos | alumbraste | You illuminated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was illuminating” or “she was illuminating” 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 | alumbraba | I was illuminating |
| Tú | alumbrabas | You were illuminating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbraba | He was / she was / you were illuminating |
| Nosotros / as | alumbrábamos | We were illuminating |
| Vosotros / as | alumbrabais | You were illuminating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbraban | They / you were illuminating |
| Vos | alumbrabas | You were illuminating |
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 illuminated” and “she has illuminated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he alumbrado | I have illuminated |
| Tú | has alumbrado | You have illuminated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha alumbrado | He has / she has / you have illuminated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos alumbrado | We have illuminated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis alumbrado | You have illuminated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han alumbrado | They / you have illuminated |
| Vos | has alumbrado | You have illuminated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would illuminate” or “she would illuminate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alumbraría | I would illuminate |
| Tú | alumbrarías | You would illuminate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbraría | He / she / you would illuminate |
| Nosotros / as | alumbraríamos | We would illuminate |
| Vosotros / as | alumbraríais | You would illuminate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbrarían | They / you would illuminate |
| Vos | alumbrarías | You would illuminate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will illuminate” or “they will illuminate”.
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 alumbrar” means “They are going to illuminate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alumbraré | I will illuminate |
| Tú | alumbrarás | You will illuminate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbrará | He / she / you will illuminate |
| Nosotros / as | alumbraremos | We will illuminate |
| Vosotros / as | alumbraréis | You will illuminate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbrarán | They / you will illuminate |
| Vos | alumbrarás | You will illuminate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alumbre |
| Tú | alumbres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbre |
| Nosotros / as | alumbremos |
| Vosotros / as | alumbréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbren |
| Vos | alumbres |
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 | alumbrara | alumbrase |
| Tú | alumbraras | alumbrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbrara | alumbrase |
| Nosotros / as | alumbráramos | alumbrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | alumbrarais | alumbraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbraran | alumbrasen |
| Vos | alumbraras | alumbrase |
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 | alumbrare |
| Tú | alumbrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbrare |
| Nosotros / as | alumbráremos |
| Vosotros / as | alumbrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbraren |
| Vos | alumbrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “illuminate!” and “don’t illuminate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | alumbra | no alumbres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alumbre | no alumbre |
| Nosotros / as | alumbremos | no alumbremos |
| Vosotros / as | alumbrad | no alumbréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alumbren | no alumbren |
| Vos | alumbrá | no alumbres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alumbrado |
| Tú | hayas alumbrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alumbrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alumbrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alumbrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alumbrado |
| Vos | hayas alumbrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alumbrado / hubiese alumbrado |
| Tú | hubieras alumbrado / hubieses alumbrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alumbrado / hubiese alumbrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alumbrado / hubiésemos alumbrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alumbrado / hubieseis alumbrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alumbrado / hubiesen alumbrado |
| Vos | hubieras alumbrado / hubieses alumbrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alumbrado |
| Tú | hubieres alumbrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alumbrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alumbrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alumbrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alumbrado |
| Vos | hubieres alumbrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alumbrando |
| Tú | estés alumbrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alumbrando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alumbrando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alumbrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alumbrando |
| Vos | estés alumbrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alumbrando / estuviese alumbrando |
| Tú | estuvieras alumbrando / estuvieses alumbrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alumbrando / estuviese alumbrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alumbrando / estuviésamos alumbrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alumbrando / estuvieseis alumbrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alumbrando / estuviese alumbrando |
| Vos | estuvieras alumbrando / estuvieses alumbrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alumbrando |
| Tú | estuvieres alumbrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alumbrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alumbrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alumbrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alumbrando |
| Vos | estuvieres alumbrando |
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 alumbrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos alumbraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos alumbrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos alumbrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos alumbrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos alumbres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos alumbraras / Vos alumbrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alumbrá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no alumbres |