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Apoyar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to rest, lean, support, help”.
Below are all of the conjugations for apoyar 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 rest, lean, support, help |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | apoyar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está apoyando) and past continuous (estaba apoyando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. supporting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he apoyado and hubiera apoyado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have supported).
| Gerundio / Gerund | apoyando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | apoyado |
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 support” or “they support”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | apoyo |
| Tú | apoyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoya |
| Nosotros / as | apoyamos |
| Vosotros / as | apoyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyan |
| Vos | apoyás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I supported” or “she supported” 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 | apoyé | I supported |
| Tú | apoyaste | You supported |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoyó | He / she / you supported |
| Nosotros / as | apoyamos | We supported |
| Vosotros / as | apoyasteis | You supported |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyaron | They / you supported |
| Vos | apoyaste | You supported |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was supporting” or “she was supporting” 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 | apoyaba | I was supporting |
| Tú | apoyabas | You were supporting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoyaba | He was / she was / you were supporting |
| Nosotros / as | apoyábamos | We were supporting |
| Vosotros / as | apoyabais | You were supporting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyaban | They / you were supporting |
| Vos | apoyabas | You were supporting |
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 supported” and “she has supported”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he apoyado | I have supported |
| Tú | has apoyado | You have supported |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha apoyado | He has / she has / you have supported |
| Nosotros / as | hemos apoyado | We have supported |
| Vosotros / as | habéis apoyado | You have supported |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han apoyado | They / you have supported |
| Vos | has apoyado | You have supported |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would support” or “she would support”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | apoyaría | I would support |
| Tú | apoyarías | You would support |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoyaría | He / she / you would support |
| Nosotros / as | apoyaríamos | We would support |
| Vosotros / as | apoyaríais | You would support |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyarían | They / you would support |
| Vos | apoyarías | You would support |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will support” or “they will support”.
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 apoyar” means “They are going to support”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | apoyaré | I will support |
| Tú | apoyarás | You will support |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoyará | He / she / you will support |
| Nosotros / as | apoyaremos | We will support |
| Vosotros / as | apoyaréis | You will support |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyarán | They / you will support |
| Vos | apoyarás | You will support |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | apoye |
| Tú | apoyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoye |
| Nosotros / as | apoyemos |
| Vosotros / as | apoyéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyen |
| Vos | apoyes |
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 | apoyara | apoyase |
| Tú | apoyaras | apoyase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoyara | apoyase |
| Nosotros / as | apoyáramos | apoyásemos |
| Vosotros / as | apoyarais | apoyaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyaran | apoyasen |
| Vos | apoyaras | apoyase |
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 | apoyare |
| Tú | apoyares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoyare |
| Nosotros / as | apoyáremos |
| Vosotros / as | apoyareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyaren |
| Vos | apoyares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “support!” and “don’t support!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | apoya | no apoyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apoye | no apoye |
| Nosotros / as | apoyemos | no apoyemos |
| Vosotros / as | apoyad | no apoyéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apoyen | no apoyen |
| Vos | apoyá | no apoyes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya apoyado |
| Tú | hayas apoyado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya apoyado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos apoyado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis apoyado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan apoyado |
| Vos | hayas apoyado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera apoyado / hubiese apoyado |
| Tú | hubieras apoyado / hubieses apoyado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera apoyado / hubiese apoyado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos apoyado / hubiésemos apoyado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais apoyado / hubieseis apoyado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran apoyado / hubiesen apoyado |
| Vos | hubieras apoyado / hubieses apoyado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere apoyado |
| Tú | hubieres apoyado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere apoyado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos apoyado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis apoyado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren apoyado |
| Vos | hubieres apoyado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté apoyando |
| Tú | estés apoyando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté apoyando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos apoyando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis apoyando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén apoyando |
| Vos | estés apoyando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera apoyando / estuviese apoyando |
| Tú | estuvieras apoyando / estuvieses apoyando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera apoyando / estuviese apoyando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos apoyando / estuviésamos apoyando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais apoyando / estuvieseis apoyando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera apoyando / estuviese apoyando |
| Vos | estuvieras apoyando / estuvieses apoyando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere apoyando |
| Tú | estuvieres apoyando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere apoyando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos apoyando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis apoyando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere apoyando |
| Vos | estuvieres apoyando |
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 apoyás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos apoyaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos apoyabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos apoyarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos apoyarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos apoyes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos apoyaras / Vos apoyase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos apoyá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no apoyes |