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Brillar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to shine, sparkle, glitter”.
Below are all of the conjugations for brillar 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 shine, sparkle, glitter |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | brillar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está brillando) and past continuous (estaba brillando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. shining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he brillado and hubiera brillado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have shone).
| Gerundio / Gerund | brillando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | brillado |
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 shine” or “they shine”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | brillo |
| Tú | brillas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brilla |
| Nosotros / as | brillamos |
| Vosotros / as | brilláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillan |
| Vos | brillás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I shone” or “she shone” 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 | brillé | I shone |
| Tú | brillaste | You shone |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brilló | He / she / you shone |
| Nosotros / as | brillamos | We shone |
| Vosotros / as | brillasteis | You shone |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillaron | They / you shone |
| Vos | brillaste | You shone |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was shining” or “she was shining” 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 | brillaba | I was shining |
| Tú | brillabas | You were shining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brillaba | He was / she was / you were shining |
| Nosotros / as | brillábamos | We were shining |
| Vosotros / as | brillabais | You were shining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillaban | They / you were shining |
| Vos | brillabas | You were shining |
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 shone” and “she has shone”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he brillado | I have shone |
| Tú | has brillado | You have shone |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha brillado | He has / she has / you have shone |
| Nosotros / as | hemos brillado | We have shone |
| Vosotros / as | habéis brillado | You have shone |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han brillado | They / you have shone |
| Vos | has brillado | You have shone |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would shine” or “she would shine”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | brillaría | I would shine |
| Tú | brillarías | You would shine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brillaría | He / she / you would shine |
| Nosotros / as | brillaríamos | We would shine |
| Vosotros / as | brillaríais | You would shine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillarían | They / you would shine |
| Vos | brillarías | You would shine |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will shine” or “they will shine”.
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 brillar” means “They are going to shine”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | brillaré | I will shine |
| Tú | brillarás | You will shine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brillará | He / she / you will shine |
| Nosotros / as | brillaremos | We will shine |
| Vosotros / as | brillaréis | You will shine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillarán | They / you will shine |
| Vos | brillarás | You will shine |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | brille |
| Tú | brilles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brille |
| Nosotros / as | brillemos |
| Vosotros / as | brilléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillen |
| Vos | brilles |
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 | brillara | brillase |
| Tú | brillaras | brillase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brillara | brillase |
| Nosotros / as | brilláramos | brillásemos |
| Vosotros / as | brillarais | brillaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillaran | brillasen |
| Vos | brillaras | brillase |
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 | brillare |
| Tú | brillares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brillare |
| Nosotros / as | brilláremos |
| Vosotros / as | brillareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillaren |
| Vos | brillares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “shine!” and “don’t shine!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | brilla | no brilles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | brille | no brille |
| Nosotros / as | brillemos | no brillemos |
| Vosotros / as | brillad | no brilléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | brillen | no brillen |
| Vos | brillá | no brilles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya brillado |
| Tú | hayas brillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya brillado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos brillado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis brillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan brillado |
| Vos | hayas brillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera brillado / hubiese brillado |
| Tú | hubieras brillado / hubieses brillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera brillado / hubiese brillado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos brillado / hubiésemos brillado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais brillado / hubieseis brillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran brillado / hubiesen brillado |
| Vos | hubieras brillado / hubieses brillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere brillado |
| Tú | hubieres brillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere brillado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos brillado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis brillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren brillado |
| Vos | hubieres brillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté brillando |
| Tú | estés brillando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté brillando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos brillando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis brillando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén brillando |
| Vos | estés brillando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera brillando / estuviese brillando |
| Tú | estuvieras brillando / estuvieses brillando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera brillando / estuviese brillando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos brillando / estuviésamos brillando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais brillando / estuvieseis brillando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera brillando / estuviese brillando |
| Vos | estuvieras brillando / estuvieses brillando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere brillando |
| Tú | estuvieres brillando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere brillando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos brillando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis brillando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere brillando |
| Vos | estuvieres brillando |
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 brillás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos brillaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos brillabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos brillarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos brillarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos brilles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos brillaras / Vos brillase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos brillá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no brilles |