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Aproximar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to approach, bring close or move near”.
Below are all of the conjugations for aproximar 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 approach, bring close or move near |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | aproximar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está aproximando) and past continuous (estaba aproximando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. approaching).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he aproximado and hubiera aproximado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have approached).
| Gerundio / Gerund | aproximando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | aproximado |
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 approach” or “they approach”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aproximo |
| Tú | aproximas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproxima |
| Nosotros / as | aproximamos |
| Vosotros / as | aproximáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximan |
| Vos | te aproximás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I approached” or “she approached” 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 | aproximé | I approached |
| Tú | aproximaste | You approached |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproximó | He / she / you approached |
| Nosotros / as | aproximamos | We approached |
| Vosotros / as | aproximasteis | You approached |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximaron | They / you approached |
| Vos | aproximaste | You approached |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was approaching” or “she was approaching” 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 | aproximaba | I was approaching |
| Tú | aproximabas | You were approaching |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproximaba | He was / she was / you were approaching |
| Nosotros / as | aproximábamos | We were approaching |
| Vosotros / as | aproximabais | You were approaching |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximaban | They / you were approaching |
| Vos | aproximabas | You were approaching |
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 approached” and “she has approached”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he aproximado | I have approached |
| Tú | has aproximado | You have approached |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha aproximado | He has / she has / you have approached |
| Nosotros / as | hemos aproximado | We have approached |
| Vosotros / as | habéis aproximado | You have approached |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han aproximado | They / you have approached |
| Vos | has aproximado | You have approached |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would approach” or “she would approach”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aproximaría | I would approach |
| Tú | aproximarías | You would approach |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproximaría | He / she / you would approach |
| Nosotros / as | aproximaríamos | We would approach |
| Vosotros / as | aproximaríais | You would approach |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximarían | They / you would approach |
| Vos | aproximarías | You would approach |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will approach” or “they will approach”.
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 aproximar” means “They are going to approach”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aproximaré | I will approach |
| Tú | aproximarás | You will approach |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproximará | He / she / you will approach |
| Nosotros / as | aproximaremos | We will approach |
| Vosotros / as | aproximaréis | You will approach |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximarán | They / you will approach |
| Vos | aproximarás | You will approach |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aproxime |
| Tú | aproximes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproxime |
| Nosotros / as | aproximemos |
| Vosotros / as | aproximéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximen |
| Vos | aproximes |
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 | aproximara | aproximase |
| Tú | aproximaras | aproximase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproximara | aproximase |
| Nosotros / as | aproximáramos | aproximásemos |
| Vosotros / as | aproximarais | aproximaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximaran | aproximasen |
| Vos | aproximaras | aproximase |
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 | aproximare |
| Tú | aproximares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproximare |
| Nosotros / as | aproximáremos |
| Vosotros / as | aproximareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximaren |
| Vos | aproximares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “approach!” and “don’t approach!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aproxima | no aproximes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aproxime | no aproxime |
| Nosotros / as | aproximemos | no aproximemos |
| Vosotros / as | aproximad | no aproximéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aproximen | no aproximen |
| Vos | aproximate | no aproximes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya aproximado |
| Tú | hayas aproximado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya aproximado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos aproximado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis aproximado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan aproximado |
| Vos | hayas aproximado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera aproximado / hubiese aproximado |
| Tú | hubieras aproximado / hubieses aproximado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera aproximado / hubiese aproximado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos aproximado / hubiésemos aproximado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais aproximado / hubieseis aproximado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran aproximado / hubiesen aproximado |
| Vos | hubieras aproximado / hubieses aproximado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere aproximado |
| Tú | hubieres aproximado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere aproximado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos aproximado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis aproximado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren aproximado |
| Vos | hubieres aproximado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté aproximando |
| Tú | estés aproximando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté aproximando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos aproximando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis aproximando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén aproximando |
| Vos | estés aproximando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera aproximando / estuviese aproximando |
| Tú | estuvieras aproximando / estuvieses aproximando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera aproximando / estuviese aproximando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos aproximando / estuviésamos aproximando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais aproximando / estuvieseis aproximando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera aproximando / estuviese aproximando |
| Vos | estuvieras aproximando / estuvieses aproximando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere aproximando |
| Tú | estuvieres aproximando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere aproximando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos aproximando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis aproximando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere aproximando |
| Vos | estuvieres aproximando |
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 te aproximás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos aproximaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos aproximabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos aproximarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos aproximarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos aproximes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos aproximaras / Vos aproximase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos aproximate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no aproximes |