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Arribar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to arrive, reach”.
Below are all of the conjugations for arribar 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 arrive, reach |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | arribar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está arribando) and past continuous (estaba arribando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. arriving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he arribado and hubiera arribado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have arrived).
| Gerundio / Gerund | arribando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | arribado |
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 arrive” or “they arrive”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | arribo |
| Tú | arribas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arriba |
| Nosotros / as | arribamos |
| Vosotros / as | arribáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arriban |
| Vos | arribás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I arrived” or “she arrived” 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 | arribé | I arrived |
| Tú | arribaste | You arrived |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribó | He / she / you arrived |
| Nosotros / as | arribamos | We arrived |
| Vosotros / as | arribasteis | You arrived |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arribaron | They / you arrived |
| Vos | arribaste | You arrived |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was arriving” or “she was arriving” 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 | arribaba | I was arriving |
| Tú | arribabas | You were arriving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribaba | He was / she was / you were arriving |
| Nosotros / as | arribábamos | We were arriving |
| Vosotros / as | arribabais | You were arriving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arribaban | They / you were arriving |
| Vos | arribabas | You were arriving |
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 arrived” and “she has arrived”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he arribado | I have arrived |
| Tú | has arribado | You have arrived |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha arribado | He has / she has / you have arrived |
| Nosotros / as | hemos arribado | We have arrived |
| Vosotros / as | habéis arribado | You have arrived |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han arribado | They / you have arrived |
| Vos | has arribado | You have arrived |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would arrive” or “she would arrive”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | arribaría | I would arrive |
| Tú | arribarías | You would arrive |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribaría | He / she / you would arrive |
| Nosotros / as | arribaríamos | We would arrive |
| Vosotros / as | arribaríais | You would arrive |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arribarían | They / you would arrive |
| Vos | arribarías | You would arrive |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will arrive” or “they will arrive”.
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 arribar” means “They are going to arrive”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | arribaré | I will arrive |
| Tú | arribarás | You will arrive |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribará | He / she / you will arrive |
| Nosotros / as | arribaremos | We will arrive |
| Vosotros / as | arribaréis | You will arrive |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arribarán | They / you will arrive |
| Vos | arribarás | You will arrive |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | arribe |
| Tú | arribes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribe |
| Nosotros / as | arribemos |
| Vosotros / as | arribéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arriben |
| Vos | arribes |
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 | arribara | arribase |
| Tú | arribaras | arribase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribara | arribase |
| Nosotros / as | arribáramos | arribásemos |
| Vosotros / as | arribarais | arribaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arribaran | arribasen |
| Vos | arribaras | arribase |
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 | arribare |
| Tú | arribares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribare |
| Nosotros / as | arribáremos |
| Vosotros / as | arribareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arribaren |
| Vos | arribares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “arrive!” and “don’t arrive!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | arriba | no arribes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arribe | no arribe |
| Nosotros / as | arribemos | no arribemos |
| Vosotros / as | arribad | no arribéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arriben | no arriben |
| Vos | arribá | no arribes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya arribado |
| Tú | hayas arribado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya arribado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos arribado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis arribado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan arribado |
| Vos | hayas arribado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera arribado / hubiese arribado |
| Tú | hubieras arribado / hubieses arribado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera arribado / hubiese arribado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos arribado / hubiésemos arribado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais arribado / hubieseis arribado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran arribado / hubiesen arribado |
| Vos | hubieras arribado / hubieses arribado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere arribado |
| Tú | hubieres arribado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere arribado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos arribado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis arribado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren arribado |
| Vos | hubieres arribado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté arribando |
| Tú | estés arribando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté arribando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos arribando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis arribando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén arribando |
| Vos | estés arribando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera arribando / estuviese arribando |
| Tú | estuvieras arribando / estuvieses arribando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera arribando / estuviese arribando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos arribando / estuviésamos arribando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais arribando / estuvieseis arribando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera arribando / estuviese arribando |
| Vos | estuvieras arribando / estuvieses arribando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere arribando |
| Tú | estuvieres arribando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere arribando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos arribando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis arribando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere arribando |
| Vos | estuvieres arribando |
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 arribás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos arribaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos arribabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos arribarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos arribarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos arribes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos arribaras / Vos arribase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos arribá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no arribes |