Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Asfixiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to asphyxiate, suffocate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for asfixiar 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 asphyxiate, suffocate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | asfixiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está asfixiando) and past continuous (estaba asfixiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. suffocating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he asfixiado and hubiera asfixiado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have suffocated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | asfixiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | asfixiado |
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 suffocate” or “they suffocate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | asfixio |
| Tú | asfixias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixia |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiamos |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixian |
| Vos | asfixiás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I suffocated” or “she suffocated” 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 | asfixié | I suffocated |
| Tú | asfixiaste | You suffocated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixió | He / she / you suffocated |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiamos | We suffocated |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiasteis | You suffocated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixiaron | They / you suffocated |
| Vos | asfixiaste | You suffocated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was suffocating” or “she was suffocating” 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 | asfixiaba | I was suffocating |
| Tú | asfixiabas | You were suffocating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixiaba | He was / she was / you were suffocating |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiábamos | We were suffocating |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiabais | You were suffocating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixiaban | They / you were suffocating |
| Vos | asfixiabas | You were suffocating |
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 suffocated” and “she has suffocated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he asfixiado | I have suffocated |
| Tú | has asfixiado | You have suffocated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha asfixiado | He has / she has / you have suffocated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos asfixiado | We have suffocated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis asfixiado | You have suffocated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han asfixiado | They / you have suffocated |
| Vos | has asfixiado | You have suffocated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would suffocate” or “she would suffocate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | asfixiaría | I would suffocate |
| Tú | asfixiarías | You would suffocate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixiaría | He / she / you would suffocate |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiaríamos | We would suffocate |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiaríais | You would suffocate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixiarían | They / you would suffocate |
| Vos | asfixiarías | You would suffocate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will suffocate” or “they will suffocate”.
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 asfixiar” means “They are going to suffocate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | asfixiaré | I will suffocate |
| Tú | asfixiarás | You will suffocate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixiará | He / she / you will suffocate |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiaremos | We will suffocate |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiaréis | You will suffocate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixiarán | They / you will suffocate |
| Vos | asfixiarás | You will suffocate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | asfixie |
| Tú | asfixies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixie |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiemos |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixien |
| Vos | asfixies |
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 | asfixiara | asfixiase |
| Tú | asfixiaras | asfixiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixiara | asfixiase |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiáramos | asfixiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiarais | asfixiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixiaran | asfixiasen |
| Vos | asfixiaras | asfixiase |
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 | asfixiare |
| Tú | asfixiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixiare |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixiaren |
| Vos | asfixiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “suffocate!” and “don’t suffocate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | asfixia | no asfixies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asfixie | no asfixie |
| Nosotros / as | asfixiemos | no asfixiemos |
| Vosotros / as | asfixiad | no asfixiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asfixien | no asfixien |
| Vos | asfixiá | no asfixies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya asfixiado |
| Tú | hayas asfixiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya asfixiado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos asfixiado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis asfixiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan asfixiado |
| Vos | hayas asfixiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera asfixiado / hubiese asfixiado |
| Tú | hubieras asfixiado / hubieses asfixiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera asfixiado / hubiese asfixiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos asfixiado / hubiésemos asfixiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais asfixiado / hubieseis asfixiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran asfixiado / hubiesen asfixiado |
| Vos | hubieras asfixiado / hubieses asfixiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere asfixiado |
| Tú | hubieres asfixiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere asfixiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos asfixiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis asfixiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren asfixiado |
| Vos | hubieres asfixiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté asfixiando |
| Tú | estés asfixiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté asfixiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos asfixiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis asfixiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén asfixiando |
| Vos | estés asfixiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera asfixiando / estuviese asfixiando |
| Tú | estuvieras asfixiando / estuvieses asfixiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera asfixiando / estuviese asfixiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos asfixiando / estuviésamos asfixiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais asfixiando / estuvieseis asfixiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera asfixiando / estuviese asfixiando |
| Vos | estuvieras asfixiando / estuvieses asfixiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere asfixiando |
| Tú | estuvieres asfixiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere asfixiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos asfixiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis asfixiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere asfixiando |
| Vos | estuvieres asfixiando |
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 asfixiás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos asfixiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos asfixiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos asfixiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos asfixiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos asfixies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos asfixiaras / Vos asfixiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos asfixiá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no asfixies |