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Basar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to base, support, be based, rely on”.
Below are all of the conjugations for basar 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 base, support, be based, rely on |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | basar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está basando) and past continuous (estaba basando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. basing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he basado and hubiera basado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have based).
| Gerundio / Gerund | basando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | basado |
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 base” or “they base”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | baso |
| Tú | basas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basa |
| Nosotros / as | basamos |
| Vosotros / as | basáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basan |
| Vos | basás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I based” or “she based” 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 | basé | I based |
| Tú | basaste | You based |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basó | He / she / you based |
| Nosotros / as | basamos | We based |
| Vosotros / as | basasteis | You based |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basaron | They / you based |
| Vos | basaste | You based |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was basing” or “she was basing” 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 | basaba | I was basing |
| Tú | basabas | You were basing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basaba | He was / she was / you were basing |
| Nosotros / as | basábamos | We were basing |
| Vosotros / as | basabais | You were basing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basaban | They / you were basing |
| Vos | basabas | You were basing |
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 based” and “she has based”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he basado | I have based |
| Tú | has basado | You have based |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha basado | He has / she has / you have based |
| Nosotros / as | hemos basado | We have based |
| Vosotros / as | habéis basado | You have based |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han basado | They / you have based |
| Vos | has basado | You have based |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would base” or “she would base”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | basaría | I would base |
| Tú | basarías | You would base |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basaría | He / she / you would base |
| Nosotros / as | basaríamos | We would base |
| Vosotros / as | basaríais | You would base |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basarían | They / you would base |
| Vos | basarías | You would base |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will base” or “they will base”.
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 basar” means “They are going to base”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | basaré | I will base |
| Tú | basarás | You will base |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basará | He / she / you will base |
| Nosotros / as | basaremos | We will base |
| Vosotros / as | basaréis | You will base |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basarán | They / you will base |
| Vos | basarás | You will base |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | base |
| Tú | bases |
| Él / Ella / Usted | base |
| Nosotros / as | basemos |
| Vosotros / as | baséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basen |
| Vos | bases |
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 | basara | basase |
| Tú | basaras | basase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basara | basase |
| Nosotros / as | basáramos | basásemos |
| Vosotros / as | basarais | basaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basaran | basasen |
| Vos | basaras | basase |
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 | basare |
| Tú | basares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | basare |
| Nosotros / as | basáremos |
| Vosotros / as | basareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basaren |
| Vos | basares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “base!” and “don’t base!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | basa | no bases |
| Él / Ella / Usted | base | no base |
| Nosotros / as | basemos | no basemos |
| Vosotros / as | basad | no baséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | basen | no basen |
| Vos | basá | no bases |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya basado |
| Tú | hayas basado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya basado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos basado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis basado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan basado |
| Vos | hayas basado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera basado / hubiese basado |
| Tú | hubieras basado / hubieses basado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera basado / hubiese basado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos basado / hubiésemos basado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais basado / hubieseis basado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran basado / hubiesen basado |
| Vos | hubieras basado / hubieses basado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere basado |
| Tú | hubieres basado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere basado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos basado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis basado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren basado |
| Vos | hubieres basado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté basando |
| Tú | estés basando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté basando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos basando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis basando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén basando |
| Vos | estés basando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera basando / estuviese basando |
| Tú | estuvieras basando / estuvieses basando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera basando / estuviese basando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos basando / estuviésamos basando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais basando / estuvieseis basando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera basando / estuviese basando |
| Vos | estuvieras basando / estuvieses basando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere basando |
| Tú | estuvieres basando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere basando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos basando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis basando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere basando |
| Vos | estuvieres basando |
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 basás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos basaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos basabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos basarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos basarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos bases |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos basaras / Vos basase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos basá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no bases |