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Atar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to tie, fasten, bind”.
Below are all of the conjugations for atar 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 tie, fasten, bind |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atando) and past continuous (estaba atando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. tying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atado and hubiera atado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have tied).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atado |
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 tie” or “they tie”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ato |
| Tú | atas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ata |
| Nosotros / as | atamos |
| Vosotros / as | atáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atan |
| Vos | atás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I tied” or “she tied” 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 | até | I tied |
| Tú | ataste | You tied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ató | He / she / you tied |
| Nosotros / as | atamos | We tied |
| Vosotros / as | atasteis | You tied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ataron | They / you tied |
| Vos | ataste | You tied |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was tying” or “she was tying” 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 | ataba | I was tying |
| Tú | atabas | You were tying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ataba | He was / she was / you were tying |
| Nosotros / as | atábamos | We were tying |
| Vosotros / as | atabais | You were tying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ataban | They / you were tying |
| Vos | atabas | You were tying |
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 tied” and “she has tied”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he atado | I have tied |
| Tú | has atado | You have tied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha atado | He has / she has / you have tied |
| Nosotros / as | hemos atado | We have tied |
| Vosotros / as | habéis atado | You have tied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han atado | They / you have tied |
| Vos | has atado | You have tied |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would tie” or “she would tie”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ataría | I would tie |
| Tú | atarías | You would tie |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ataría | He / she / you would tie |
| Nosotros / as | ataríamos | We would tie |
| Vosotros / as | ataríais | You would tie |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atarían | They / you would tie |
| Vos | atarías | You would tie |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will tie” or “they will tie”.
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 atar” means “They are going to tie”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ataré | I will tie |
| Tú | atarás | You will tie |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atará | He / she / you will tie |
| Nosotros / as | ataremos | We will tie |
| Vosotros / as | ataréis | You will tie |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atarán | They / you will tie |
| Vos | atarás | You will tie |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ate |
| Tú | ates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ate |
| Nosotros / as | atemos |
| Vosotros / as | atéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aten |
| Vos | ates |
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 | atara | atase |
| Tú | ataras | atase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atara | atase |
| Nosotros / as | atáramos | atásemos |
| Vosotros / as | atarais | ataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ataran | atasen |
| Vos | ataras | atase |
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 | atare |
| Tú | atares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atare |
| Nosotros / as | atáremos |
| Vosotros / as | atareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ataren |
| Vos | atares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “tie!” and “don’t tie!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | ata | no ates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ate | no ate |
| Nosotros / as | atemos | no atemos |
| Vosotros / as | atad | no atéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aten | no aten |
| Vos | atá | no ates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atado |
| Tú | hayas atado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atado |
| Vos | hayas atado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atado / hubiese atado |
| Tú | hubieras atado / hubieses atado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atado / hubiese atado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atado / hubiésemos atado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atado / hubieseis atado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atado / hubiesen atado |
| Vos | hubieras atado / hubieses atado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atado |
| Tú | hubieres atado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atado |
| Vos | hubieres atado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atando |
| Tú | estés atando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atando |
| Vos | estés atando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atando / estuviese atando |
| Tú | estuvieras atando / estuvieses atando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atando / estuviese atando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atando / estuviésamos atando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atando / estuvieseis atando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atando / estuviese atando |
| Vos | estuvieras atando / estuvieses atando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atando |
| Tú | estuvieres atando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atando |
| Vos | estuvieres atando |
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 atás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos atabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos atarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos atarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ataras / Vos atase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ates |