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Apretar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to tighten, squeeze, press down”.
Below are all of the conjugations for apretar 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 tighten, squeeze, press down |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | apretar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está apretando) and past continuous (estaba apretando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. tightening).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he apretado and hubiera apretado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have tightened).
| Gerundio / Gerund | apretando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | apretado |
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 tighten” or “they tighten”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aprieto |
| Tú | aprietas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprieta |
| Nosotros / as | apretamos |
| Vosotros / as | apretáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprietan |
| Vos | apretás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I tightened” or “she tightened” 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 | apreté | I tightened |
| Tú | apretaste | You tightened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apretó | He / she / you tightened |
| Nosotros / as | apretamos | We tightened |
| Vosotros / as | apretasteis | You tightened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apretaron | They / you tightened |
| Vos | apretaste | You tightened |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was tightening” or “she was tightening” 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 | apretaba | I was tightening |
| Tú | apretabas | You were tightening |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apretaba | He was / she was / you were tightening |
| Nosotros / as | apretábamos | We were tightening |
| Vosotros / as | apretabais | You were tightening |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apretaban | They / you were tightening |
| Vos | apretabas | You were tightening |
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 tightened” and “she has tightened”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he apretado | I have tightened |
| Tú | has apretado | You have tightened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha apretado | He has / she has / you have tightened |
| Nosotros / as | hemos apretado | We have tightened |
| Vosotros / as | habéis apretado | You have tightened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han apretado | They / you have tightened |
| Vos | has apretado | You have tightened |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would tighten” or “she would tighten”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | apretaría | I would tighten |
| Tú | apretarías | You would tighten |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apretaría | He / she / you would tighten |
| Nosotros / as | apretaríamos | We would tighten |
| Vosotros / as | apretaríais | You would tighten |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apretarían | They / you would tighten |
| Vos | apretarías | You would tighten |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will tighten” or “they will tighten”.
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 apretar” means “They are going to tighten”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | apretaré | I will tighten |
| Tú | apretarás | You will tighten |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apretará | He / she / you will tighten |
| Nosotros / as | apretaremos | We will tighten |
| Vosotros / as | apretaréis | You will tighten |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apretarán | They / you will tighten |
| Vos | apretarás | You will tighten |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | apriete |
| Tú | aprietes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apriete |
| Nosotros / as | apretemos |
| Vosotros / as | apretéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprieten |
| Vos | aprietes |
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 | apretara | apretase |
| Tú | apretaras | apretase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apretara | apretase |
| Nosotros / as | apretáramos | apretásemos |
| Vosotros / as | apretarais | apretaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apretaran | apretasen |
| Vos | apretaras | apretase |
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 | apretare |
| Tú | apretares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apretare |
| Nosotros / as | apretáremos |
| Vosotros / as | apretareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apretaren |
| Vos | apretares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “tighten!” and “don’t tighten!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aprieta | no aprietes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apriete | no apriete |
| Nosotros / as | apretemos | no apretemos |
| Vosotros / as | apretad | no apretéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprieten | no aprieten |
| Vos | apretá | no aprietes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya apretado |
| Tú | hayas apretado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya apretado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos apretado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis apretado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan apretado |
| Vos | hayas apretado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera apretado / hubiese apretado |
| Tú | hubieras apretado / hubieses apretado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera apretado / hubiese apretado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos apretado / hubiésemos apretado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais apretado / hubieseis apretado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran apretado / hubiesen apretado |
| Vos | hubieras apretado / hubieses apretado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere apretado |
| Tú | hubieres apretado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere apretado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos apretado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis apretado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren apretado |
| Vos | hubieres apretado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté apretando |
| Tú | estés apretando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté apretando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos apretando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis apretando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén apretando |
| Vos | estés apretando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera apretando / estuviese apretando |
| Tú | estuvieras apretando / estuvieses apretando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera apretando / estuviese apretando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos apretando / estuviésamos apretando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais apretando / estuvieseis apretando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera apretando / estuviese apretando |
| Vos | estuvieras apretando / estuvieses apretando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere apretando |
| Tú | estuvieres apretando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere apretando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos apretando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis apretando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere apretando |
| Vos | estuvieres apretando |
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 apretás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos apretaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos apretabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos apretarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos apretarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos aprietes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos apretaras / Vos apretase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos apretá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no aprietes |