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Balbucear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to stammer, stutter, babble”.
Below are all of the conjugations for balbucear 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 stammer, stutter, babble |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | balbucear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está balbuceando) and past continuous (estaba balbuceando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. stammering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he balbuceado and hubiera balbuceado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have stammered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | balbuceando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | balbuceado |
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 stammer” or “they stammer”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | balbuceo |
| Tú | balbuceas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbucea |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceamos |
| Vosotros / as | balbuceáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbucean |
| Vos | balbuceás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I stammered” or “she stammered” 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 | balbuceé | I stammered |
| Tú | balbuceaste | You stammered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbuceó | He / she / you stammered |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceamos | We stammered |
| Vosotros / as | balbuceasteis | You stammered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbucearon | They / you stammered |
| Vos | balbuceaste | You stammered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was stammering” or “she was stammering” 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 | balbuceaba | I was stammering |
| Tú | balbuceabas | You were stammering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbuceaba | He was / she was / you were stammering |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceábamos | We were stammering |
| Vosotros / as | balbuceabais | You were stammering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbuceaban | They / you were stammering |
| Vos | balbuceabas | You were stammering |
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 stammered” and “she has stammered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he balbuceado | I have stammered |
| Tú | has balbuceado | You have stammered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha balbuceado | He has / she has / you have stammered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos balbuceado | We have stammered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis balbuceado | You have stammered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han balbuceado | They / you have stammered |
| Vos | has balbuceado | You have stammered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would stammer” or “she would stammer”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | balbucearía | I would stammer |
| Tú | balbucearías | You would stammer |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbucearía | He / she / you would stammer |
| Nosotros / as | balbucearíamos | We would stammer |
| Vosotros / as | balbucearíais | You would stammer |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbucearían | They / you would stammer |
| Vos | balbucearías | You would stammer |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will stammer” or “they will stammer”.
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 balbucear” means “They are going to stammer”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | balbucearé | I will stammer |
| Tú | balbucearás | You will stammer |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbuceará | He / she / you will stammer |
| Nosotros / as | balbucearemos | We will stammer |
| Vosotros / as | balbucearéis | You will stammer |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbucearán | They / you will stammer |
| Vos | balbucearás | You will stammer |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | balbucee |
| Tú | balbucees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbucee |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceemos |
| Vosotros / as | balbuceéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbuceen |
| Vos | balbucees |
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 | balbuceara | balbucease |
| Tú | balbucearas | balbucease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbuceara | balbucease |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceáramos | balbuceásemos |
| Vosotros / as | balbucearais | balbuceaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbucearan | balbuceasen |
| Vos | balbucearas | balbucease |
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 | balbuceare |
| Tú | balbuceares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbuceare |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceáremos |
| Vosotros / as | balbuceareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbucearen |
| Vos | balbuceares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “stammer!” and “don’t stammer!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | balbucea | no balbucees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | balbucee | no balbucee |
| Nosotros / as | balbuceemos | no balbuceemos |
| Vosotros / as | balbucead | no balbuceéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | balbuceen | no balbuceen |
| Vos | balbuceá | no balbucees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya balbuceado |
| Tú | hayas balbuceado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya balbuceado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos balbuceado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis balbuceado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan balbuceado |
| Vos | hayas balbuceado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera balbuceado / hubiese balbuceado |
| Tú | hubieras balbuceado / hubieses balbuceado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera balbuceado / hubiese balbuceado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos balbuceado / hubiésemos balbuceado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais balbuceado / hubieseis balbuceado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran balbuceado / hubiesen balbuceado |
| Vos | hubieras balbuceado / hubieses balbuceado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere balbuceado |
| Tú | hubieres balbuceado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere balbuceado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos balbuceado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis balbuceado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren balbuceado |
| Vos | hubieres balbuceado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté balbuceando |
| Tú | estés balbuceando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté balbuceando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos balbuceando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis balbuceando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén balbuceando |
| Vos | estés balbuceando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera balbuceando / estuviese balbuceando |
| Tú | estuvieras balbuceando / estuvieses balbuceando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera balbuceando / estuviese balbuceando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos balbuceando / estuviésamos balbuceando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais balbuceando / estuvieseis balbuceando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera balbuceando / estuviese balbuceando |
| Vos | estuvieras balbuceando / estuvieses balbuceando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere balbuceando |
| Tú | estuvieres balbuceando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere balbuceando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos balbuceando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis balbuceando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere balbuceando |
| Vos | estuvieres balbuceando |
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 balbuceás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos balbuceaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos balbuceabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos balbucearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos balbucearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos balbucees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos balbucearas / Vos balbucease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos balbuceá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no balbucees |