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Alzar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lift, pick up, raise, rise”.
Below are all of the conjugations for alzar 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 lift, pick up, raise, rise |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alzar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alzando) and past continuous (estaba alzando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. lifting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alzado and hubiera alzado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lifted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alzando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alzado |
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 lift” or “they lift”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alzo |
| Tú | alzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alza |
| Nosotros / as | alzamos |
| Vosotros / as | alzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzan |
| Vos | alzá |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lifted” or “she lifted” 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 | alcé | I lifted |
| Tú | alzaste | You lifted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alzó | He / she / you lifted |
| Nosotros / as | alzamos | We lifted |
| Vosotros / as | alzasteis | You lifted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzaron | They / you lifted |
| Vos | alzaste | You lifted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was lifting” or “she was lifting” 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 | alzaba | I was lifting |
| Tú | alzabas | You were lifting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alzaba | He was / she was / you were lifting |
| Nosotros / as | alzábamos | We were lifting |
| Vosotros / as | alzabais | You were lifting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzaban | They / you were lifting |
| Vos | alzabas | You were lifting |
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 lifted” and “she has lifted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he alzado | I have lifted |
| Tú | has alzado | You have lifted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha alzado | He has / she has / you have lifted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos alzado | We have lifted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis alzado | You have lifted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han alzado | They / you have lifted |
| Vos | has alzado | You have lifted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lift” or “she would lift”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alzaría | I would lift |
| Tú | alzarías | You would lift |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alzaría | He / she / you would lift |
| Nosotros / as | alzaríamos | We would lift |
| Vosotros / as | alzaríais | You would lift |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzarían | They / you would lift |
| Vos | alzarías | You would lift |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lift” or “they will lift”.
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 alzar” means “They are going to lift”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alzaré | I will lift |
| Tú | alzarás | You will lift |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alzará | He / she / you will lift |
| Nosotros / as | alzaremos | We will lift |
| Vosotros / as | alzaréis | You will lift |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzarán | They / you will lift |
| Vos | alzarás | You will lift |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | alce |
| Tú | alces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alce |
| Nosotros / as | alcemos |
| Vosotros / as | alcéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcen |
| Vos | alces |
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 | alzara | alzase |
| Tú | alzaras | alzase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alzara | alzase |
| Nosotros / as | alzáramos | alzásemos |
| Vosotros / as | alzarais | alzaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzaran | alzasen |
| Vos | alzaras | alzase |
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 | alzare |
| Tú | alzares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alzare |
| Nosotros / as | alzáremos |
| Vosotros / as | alzareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alzaren |
| Vos | alzares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lift!” and “don’t lift!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | alza | no alces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alce | no alce |
| Nosotros / as | alcemos | no alcemos |
| Vosotros / as | alzad | no alcéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alcen | no alcen |
| Vos | alzá | no alces |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alzado |
| Tú | hayas alzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alzado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alzado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alzado |
| Vos | hayas alzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alzado / hubiese alzado |
| Tú | hubieras alzado / hubieses alzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alzado / hubiese alzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alzado / hubiésemos alzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alzado / hubieseis alzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alzado / hubiesen alzado |
| Vos | hubieras alzado / hubieses alzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alzado |
| Tú | hubieres alzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alzado |
| Vos | hubieres alzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alzando |
| Tú | estés alzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alzando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alzando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alzando |
| Vos | estés alzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alzando / estuviese alzando |
| Tú | estuvieras alzando / estuvieses alzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alzando / estuviese alzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alzando / estuviésamos alzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alzando / estuvieseis alzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alzando / estuviese alzando |
| Vos | estuvieras alzando / estuvieses alzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alzando |
| Tú | estuvieres alzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alzando |
| Vos | estuvieres alzando |
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 alzá |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos alzaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos alzabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos alzarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos alzarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos alces |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos alzaras / Vos alzase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alzá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no alces |