Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Aplicar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to apply, dedicate oneself”.
Below are all of the conjugations for aplicar 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 apply, dedicate oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | aplicar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está aplicando) and past continuous (estaba aplicando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. applying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he aplicado and hubiera aplicado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have applied).
| Gerundio / Gerund | aplicando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | aplicado |
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 apply” or “they apply”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aplico |
| Tú | aplicas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplica |
| Nosotros / as | aplicamos |
| Vosotros / as | aplicáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplican |
| Vos | aplicás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I applied” or “she applied” 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 | apliqué | I applied |
| Tú | aplicaste | You applied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplicó | He / she / you applied |
| Nosotros / as | aplicamos | We applied |
| Vosotros / as | aplicasteis | You applied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplicaron | They / you applied |
| Vos | aplicaste | You applied |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was applying” or “she was applying” 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 | aplicaba | I was applying |
| Tú | aplicabas | You were applying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplicaba | He was / she was / you were applying |
| Nosotros / as | aplicábamos | We were applying |
| Vosotros / as | aplicabais | You were applying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplicaban | They / you were applying |
| Vos | aplicabas | You were applying |
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 applied” and “she has applied”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he aplicado | I have applied |
| Tú | has aplicado | You have applied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha aplicado | He has / she has / you have applied |
| Nosotros / as | hemos aplicado | We have applied |
| Vosotros / as | habéis aplicado | You have applied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han aplicado | They / you have applied |
| Vos | has aplicado | You have applied |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would apply” or “she would apply”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aplicaría | I would apply |
| Tú | aplicarías | You would apply |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplicaría | He / she / you would apply |
| Nosotros / as | aplicaríamos | We would apply |
| Vosotros / as | aplicaríais | You would apply |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplicarían | They / you would apply |
| Vos | aplicarías | You would apply |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will apply” or “they will apply”.
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 aplicar” means “They are going to apply”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aplicaré | I will apply |
| Tú | aplicarás | You will apply |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplicará | He / she / you will apply |
| Nosotros / as | aplicaremos | We will apply |
| Vosotros / as | aplicaréis | You will apply |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplicarán | They / you will apply |
| Vos | aplicarás | You will apply |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aplique |
| Tú | apliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplique |
| Nosotros / as | apliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | apliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apliquen |
| Vos | apliques |
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 | aplicara | aplicase |
| Tú | aplicaras | aplicase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplicara | aplicase |
| Nosotros / as | aplicáramos | aplicásemos |
| Vosotros / as | aplicarais | aplicaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplicaran | aplicasen |
| Vos | aplicaras | aplicase |
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 | aplicare |
| Tú | aplicares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplicare |
| Nosotros / as | aplicáremos |
| Vosotros / as | aplicareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplicaren |
| Vos | aplicares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “apply!” and “don’t apply!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aplica | no apliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplique | no aplique |
| Nosotros / as | apliquemos | no apliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | aplicad | no apliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apliquen | no apliquen |
| Vos | aplicá | no apliques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya aplicado |
| Tú | hayas aplicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya aplicado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos aplicado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis aplicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan aplicado |
| Vos | hayas aplicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera aplicado / hubiese aplicado |
| Tú | hubieras aplicado / hubieses aplicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera aplicado / hubiese aplicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos aplicado / hubiésemos aplicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais aplicado / hubieseis aplicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran aplicado / hubiesen aplicado |
| Vos | hubieras aplicado / hubieses aplicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere aplicado |
| Tú | hubieres aplicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere aplicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos aplicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis aplicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren aplicado |
| Vos | hubieres aplicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté aplicando |
| Tú | estés aplicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté aplicando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos aplicando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis aplicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén aplicando |
| Vos | estés aplicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera aplicando / estuviese aplicando |
| Tú | estuvieras aplicando / estuvieses aplicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera aplicando / estuviese aplicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos aplicando / estuviésamos aplicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais aplicando / estuvieseis aplicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera aplicando / estuviese aplicando |
| Vos | estuvieras aplicando / estuvieses aplicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere aplicando |
| Tú | estuvieres aplicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere aplicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos aplicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis aplicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere aplicando |
| Vos | estuvieres aplicando |
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 aplicás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos aplicaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos aplicabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos aplicarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos aplicarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos apliques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos aplicaras / Vos aplicase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos aplicá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no apliques |