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Ascender is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to ascend, climb”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ascender 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 ascend, climb |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ascender |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ascendiendo) and past continuous (estaba ascendiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. ascending).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ascendido and hubiera ascendido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have ascended).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ascendiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ascendido |
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 ascend” or “they ascend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | asciendo |
| Tú | asciendes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asciende |
| Nosotros / as | ascendemos |
| Vosotros / as | ascendéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascienden |
| Vos | ascendés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I ascended” or “she ascended” 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 | ascendí | I ascended |
| Tú | ascendiste | You ascended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascendió | He / she / you ascended |
| Nosotros / as | ascendimos | We ascended |
| Vosotros / as | ascendisteis | You ascended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascendieron | They / you ascended |
| Vos | ascendiste | You ascended |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was ascending” or “she was ascending” 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 | ascendía | I was ascending |
| Tú | ascendías | You were ascending |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascendía | He was / she was / you were ascending |
| Nosotros / as | ascendíamos | We were ascending |
| Vosotros / as | ascendíais | You were ascending |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascendían | They / you were ascending |
| Vos | ascendías | You were ascending |
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 ascended” and “she has ascended”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ascendido | I have ascended |
| Tú | has ascendido | You have ascended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ascendido | He has / she has / you have ascended |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ascendido | We have ascended |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ascendido | You have ascended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ascendido | They / you have ascended |
| Vos | has ascendido | You have ascended |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would ascend” or “she would ascend”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ascendería | I would ascend |
| Tú | ascenderías | You would ascend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascendería | He / she / you would ascend |
| Nosotros / as | ascenderíamos | We would ascend |
| Vosotros / as | ascenderíais | You would ascend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascenderían | They / you would ascend |
| Vos | ascenderías | You would ascend |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will ascend” or “they will ascend”.
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 ascender” means “They are going to ascend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ascenderé | I will ascend |
| Tú | ascenderás | You will ascend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascenderá | He / she / you will ascend |
| Nosotros / as | ascenderemos | We will ascend |
| Vosotros / as | ascenderéis | You will ascend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascenderán | They / you will ascend |
| Vos | ascenderás | You will ascend |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ascienda |
| Tú | asciendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascienda |
| Nosotros / as | ascendamos |
| Vosotros / as | ascendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asciendan |
| Vos | asciendas |
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 | ascendiera | ascendiese |
| Tú | ascendieras | ascendiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascendiera | ascendiese |
| Nosotros / as | ascendiéramos | ascendiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | ascendierais | ascendieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascendieran | ascendiesen |
| Vos | ascendieras | ascendiese |
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 | ascendiere |
| Tú | ascendieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascendiere |
| Nosotros / as | ascendiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | ascendiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ascendieren |
| Vos | ascendieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “ascend!” and “don’t ascend!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | asciende | no asciendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ascienda | no ascienda |
| Nosotros / as | ascendamos | no ascendamos |
| Vosotros / as | ascended | no ascendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asciendan | no asciendan |
| Vos | ascendé | no asciendas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ascendido |
| Tú | hayas ascendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ascendido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ascendido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ascendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ascendido |
| Vos | hayas ascendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ascendido / hubiese ascendido |
| Tú | hubieras ascendido / hubieses ascendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ascendido / hubiese ascendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ascendido / hubiésemos ascendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ascendido / hubieseis ascendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ascendido / hubiesen ascendido |
| Vos | hubieras ascendido / hubieses ascendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ascendido |
| Tú | hubieres ascendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ascendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ascendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ascendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ascendido |
| Vos | hubieres ascendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ascendiendo |
| Tú | estés ascendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ascendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ascendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ascendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ascendiendo |
| Vos | estés ascendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ascendiendo / estuviese ascendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras ascendiendo / estuvieses ascendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ascendiendo / estuviese ascendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ascendiendo / estuviésamos ascendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ascendiendo / estuvieseis ascendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ascendiendo / estuviese ascendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras ascendiendo / estuvieses ascendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ascendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres ascendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ascendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ascendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ascendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ascendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres ascendiendo |
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 ascendés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ascendiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ascendías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos ascenderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos ascenderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos asciendas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ascendieras / Vos ascendiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ascendé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no asciendas |