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Atravesar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to cross, pierce, run through, block”.
Below are all of the conjugations for atravesar 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 cross, pierce, run through, block |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atravesar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atravesando) and past continuous (estaba atravesando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. piercing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atravesado and hubiera atravesado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have pierced).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atravesando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atravesado |
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 pierce” or “they pierce”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atravieso |
| Tú | atraviesas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atraviesa |
| Nosotros / as | atravesamos |
| Vosotros / as | atravesáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraviesan |
| Vos | atravesás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I pierced” or “she pierced” 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 | atravesé | I pierced |
| Tú | atravesaste | You pierced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atravesó | He / she / you pierced |
| Nosotros / as | atravesamos | We pierced |
| Vosotros / as | atravesasteis | You pierced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atravesaron | They / you pierced |
| Vos | atravesaste | You pierced |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was piercing” or “she was piercing” 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 | atravesaba | I was piercing |
| Tú | atravesabas | You were piercing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atravesaba | He was / she was / you were piercing |
| Nosotros / as | atravesábamos | We were piercing |
| Vosotros / as | atravesabais | You were piercing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atravesaban | They / you were piercing |
| Vos | atravesabas | You were piercing |
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 pierced” and “she has pierced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he atravesado | I have pierced |
| Tú | has atravesado | You have pierced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha atravesado | He has / she has / you have pierced |
| Nosotros / as | hemos atravesado | We have pierced |
| Vosotros / as | habéis atravesado | You have pierced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han atravesado | They / you have pierced |
| Vos | has atravesado | You have pierced |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would pierce” or “she would pierce”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atravesaría | I would pierce |
| Tú | atravesarías | You would pierce |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atravesaría | He / she / you would pierce |
| Nosotros / as | atravesaríamos | We would pierce |
| Vosotros / as | atravesaríais | You would pierce |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atravesarían | They / you would pierce |
| Vos | atravesarías | You would pierce |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will pierce” or “they will pierce”.
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 atravesar” means “They are going to pierce”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atravesaré | I will pierce |
| Tú | atravesarás | You will pierce |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atravesará | He / she / you will pierce |
| Nosotros / as | atravesaremos | We will pierce |
| Vosotros / as | atravesaréis | You will pierce |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atravesarán | They / you will pierce |
| Vos | atravesarás | You will pierce |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atraviese |
| Tú | atravieses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atraviese |
| Nosotros / as | atravesemos |
| Vosotros / as | atraveséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraviesen |
| Vos | atravieses |
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 | atravesara | atravesase |
| Tú | atravesaras | atravesase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atravesara | atravesase |
| Nosotros / as | atravesáramos | atravesásemos |
| Vosotros / as | atravesarais | atravesaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atravesaran | atravesasen |
| Vos | atravesaras | atravesase |
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 | atravesare |
| Tú | atravesares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atravesare |
| Nosotros / as | atravesáremos |
| Vosotros / as | atravesareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atravesaren |
| Vos | atravesares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “pierce!” and “don’t pierce!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | atraviesa | no atravieses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atraviese | no atraviese |
| Nosotros / as | atravesemos | no atravesemos |
| Vosotros / as | atravesad | no atraveséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atraviesen | no atraviesen |
| Vos | atravesá | no atravieses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atravesado |
| Tú | hayas atravesado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atravesado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atravesado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atravesado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atravesado |
| Vos | hayas atravesado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atravesado / hubiese atravesado |
| Tú | hubieras atravesado / hubieses atravesado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atravesado / hubiese atravesado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atravesado / hubiésemos atravesado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atravesado / hubieseis atravesado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atravesado / hubiesen atravesado |
| Vos | hubieras atravesado / hubieses atravesado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atravesado |
| Tú | hubieres atravesado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atravesado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atravesado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atravesado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atravesado |
| Vos | hubieres atravesado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atravesando |
| Tú | estés atravesando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atravesando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atravesando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atravesando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atravesando |
| Vos | estés atravesando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atravesando / estuviese atravesando |
| Tú | estuvieras atravesando / estuvieses atravesando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atravesando / estuviese atravesando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atravesando / estuviésamos atravesando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atravesando / estuvieseis atravesando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atravesando / estuviese atravesando |
| Vos | estuvieras atravesando / estuvieses atravesando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atravesando |
| Tú | estuvieres atravesando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atravesando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atravesando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atravesando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atravesando |
| Vos | estuvieres atravesando |
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 atravesás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos atravesaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos atravesabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos atravesarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos atravesarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos atravieses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos atravesaras / Vos atravesase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atravesá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no atravieses |