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Balancear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to balance, sway, swing”.
Below are all of the conjugations for balancear 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 balance, sway, swing |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | balancear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está balanceando) and past continuous (estaba balanceando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. balancing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he balanceado and hubiera balanceado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have balanced).
| Gerundio / Gerund | balanceando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | balanceado |
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 balance” or “they balance”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | balanceo |
| Tú | balanceas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balancea |
| Nosotros / as | balanceamos |
| Vosotros / as | balanceáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balancean |
| Vos | balanceás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I balanced” or “she balanced” 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 | balanceé | I balanced |
| Tú | balanceaste | You balanced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balanceó | He / she / you balanced |
| Nosotros / as | balanceamos | We balanced |
| Vosotros / as | balanceasteis | You balanced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balancearon | They / you balanced |
| Vos | balanceaste | You balanced |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was balancing” or “she was balancing” 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 | balanceaba | I was balancing |
| Tú | balanceabas | You were balancing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balanceaba | He was / she was / you were balancing |
| Nosotros / as | balanceábamos | We were balancing |
| Vosotros / as | balanceabais | You were balancing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balanceaban | They / you were balancing |
| Vos | balanceabas | You were balancing |
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 balanced” and “she has balanced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he balanceado | I have balanced |
| Tú | has balanceado | You have balanced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha balanceado | He has / she has / you have balanced |
| Nosotros / as | hemos balanceado | We have balanced |
| Vosotros / as | habéis balanceado | You have balanced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han balanceado | They / you have balanced |
| Vos | has balanceado | You have balanced |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would balance” or “she would balance”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | balancearía | I would balance |
| Tú | balancearías | You would balance |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balancearía | He / she / you would balance |
| Nosotros / as | balancearíamos | We would balance |
| Vosotros / as | balancearíais | You would balance |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balancearían | They / you would balance |
| Vos | balancearías | You would balance |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will balance” or “they will balance”.
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 balancear” means “They are going to balance”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | balancearé | I will balance |
| Tú | balancearás | You will balance |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balanceará | He / she / you will balance |
| Nosotros / as | balancearemos | We will balance |
| Vosotros / as | balancearéis | You will balance |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balancearán | They / you will balance |
| Vos | balancearás | You will balance |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | balancee |
| Tú | balancees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balancee |
| Nosotros / as | balanceemos |
| Vosotros / as | balanceéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balanceen |
| Vos | balancees |
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 | balanceara | balancease |
| Tú | balancearas | balancease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balanceara | balancease |
| Nosotros / as | balanceáramos | balanceásemos |
| Vosotros / as | balancearais | balanceaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balancearan | balanceasen |
| Vos | balancearas | balancease |
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 | balanceare |
| Tú | balanceares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balanceare |
| Nosotros / as | balanceáremos |
| Vosotros / as | balanceareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balancearen |
| Vos | balanceares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “balance!” and “don’t balance!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | balancea | no balancees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balancee | no balancee |
| Nosotros / as | balanceemos | no balanceemos |
| Vosotros / as | balancead | no balanceéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balanceen | no balanceen |
| Vos | balanceá | no balancees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya balanceado |
| Tú | hayas balanceado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya balanceado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos balanceado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis balanceado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan balanceado |
| Vos | hayas balanceado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera balanceado / hubiese balanceado |
| Tú | hubieras balanceado / hubieses balanceado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera balanceado / hubiese balanceado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos balanceado / hubiésemos balanceado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais balanceado / hubieseis balanceado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran balanceado / hubiesen balanceado |
| Vos | hubieras balanceado / hubieses balanceado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere balanceado |
| Tú | hubieres balanceado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere balanceado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos balanceado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis balanceado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren balanceado |
| Vos | hubieres balanceado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté balanceando |
| Tú | estés balanceando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté balanceando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos balanceando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis balanceando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén balanceando |
| Vos | estés balanceando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera balanceando / estuviese balanceando |
| Tú | estuvieras balanceando / estuvieses balanceando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera balanceando / estuviese balanceando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos balanceando / estuviésamos balanceando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais balanceando / estuvieseis balanceando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera balanceando / estuviese balanceando |
| Vos | estuvieras balanceando / estuvieses balanceando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere balanceando |
| Tú | estuvieres balanceando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere balanceando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos balanceando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis balanceando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere balanceando |
| Vos | estuvieres balanceando |
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 balanceás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos balanceaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos balanceabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos balancearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos balancearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos balancees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos balancearas / Vos balancease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos balanceá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no balancees |