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Borrar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to erase, rub out, scratch out, delete”.
Below are all of the conjugations for borrar 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 erase, rub out, scratch out, delete |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | borrar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está borrando) and past continuous (estaba borrando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. erasing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he borrado and hubiera borrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have erased).
| Gerundio / Gerund | borrando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | borrado |
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 erase” or “they erase”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | borro |
| Tú | borras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borra |
| Nosotros / as | borramos |
| Vosotros / as | borráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borran |
| Vos | borrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I erased” or “she erased” 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 | borré | I erased |
| Tú | borraste | You erased |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borró | He / she / you erased |
| Nosotros / as | borramos | We erased |
| Vosotros / as | borrasteis | You erased |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borraron | They / you erased |
| Vos | borraste | You erased |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was erasing” or “she was erasing” 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 | borraba | I was erasing |
| Tú | borrabas | You were erasing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borraba | He was / she was / you were erasing |
| Nosotros / as | borrábamos | We were erasing |
| Vosotros / as | borrabais | You were erasing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borraban | They / you were erasing |
| Vos | borrabas | You were erasing |
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 erased” and “she has erased”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he borrado | I have erased |
| Tú | has borrado | You have erased |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha borrado | He has / she has / you have erased |
| Nosotros / as | hemos borrado | We have erased |
| Vosotros / as | habéis borrado | You have erased |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han borrado | They / you have erased |
| Vos | has borrado | You have erased |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would erase” or “she would erase”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | borraría | I would erase |
| Tú | borrarías | You would erase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borraría | He / she / you would erase |
| Nosotros / as | borraríamos | We would erase |
| Vosotros / as | borraríais | You would erase |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borrarían | They / you would erase |
| Vos | borrarías | You would erase |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will erase” or “they will erase”.
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 borrar” means “They are going to erase”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | borraré | I will erase |
| Tú | borrarás | You will erase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borrará | He / she / you will erase |
| Nosotros / as | borraremos | We will erase |
| Vosotros / as | borraréis | You will erase |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borrarán | They / you will erase |
| Vos | borrarás | You will erase |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | borre |
| Tú | borres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borre |
| Nosotros / as | borremos |
| Vosotros / as | borréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borren |
| Vos | borres |
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 | borrara | borrase |
| Tú | borraras | borrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borrara | borrase |
| Nosotros / as | borráramos | borrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | borrarais | borraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borraran | borrasen |
| Vos | borraras | borrase |
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 | borrare |
| Tú | borrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borrare |
| Nosotros / as | borráremos |
| Vosotros / as | borrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borraren |
| Vos | borrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “erase!” and “don’t erase!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | borra | no borres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | borre | no borre |
| Nosotros / as | borremos | no borremos |
| Vosotros / as | borrad | no borréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | borren | no borren |
| Vos | borrá | no borres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya borrado |
| Tú | hayas borrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya borrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos borrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis borrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan borrado |
| Vos | hayas borrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera borrado / hubiese borrado |
| Tú | hubieras borrado / hubieses borrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera borrado / hubiese borrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos borrado / hubiésemos borrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais borrado / hubieseis borrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran borrado / hubiesen borrado |
| Vos | hubieras borrado / hubieses borrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere borrado |
| Tú | hubieres borrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere borrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos borrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis borrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren borrado |
| Vos | hubieres borrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté borrando |
| Tú | estés borrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté borrando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos borrando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis borrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén borrando |
| Vos | estés borrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera borrando / estuviese borrando |
| Tú | estuvieras borrando / estuvieses borrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera borrando / estuviese borrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos borrando / estuviésamos borrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais borrando / estuvieseis borrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera borrando / estuviese borrando |
| Vos | estuvieras borrando / estuvieses borrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere borrando |
| Tú | estuvieres borrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere borrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos borrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis borrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere borrando |
| Vos | estuvieres borrando |
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 borrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos borraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos borrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos borrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos borrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos borres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos borraras / Vos borrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos borrá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no borres |