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Calificar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to qualify, grade, judge, rate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for calificar 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 qualify, grade, judge, rate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | calificar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está calificando) and past continuous (estaba calificando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. qualifying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he calificado and hubiera calificado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have qualified).
| Gerundio / Gerund | calificando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | calificado |
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 qualify” or “they qualify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | califico |
| Tú | calificas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | califica |
| Nosotros / as | calificamos |
| Vosotros / as | calificáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | califican |
| Vos | calificás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I qualified” or “she qualified” 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 | califiqué | I qualified |
| Tú | calificaste | You qualified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calificó | He / she / you qualified |
| Nosotros / as | calificamos | We qualified |
| Vosotros / as | calificasteis | You qualified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calificaron | They / you qualified |
| Vos | calificaste | You qualified |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was qualifying” or “she was qualifying” 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 | calificaba | I was qualifying |
| Tú | calificabas | You were qualifying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calificaba | He was / she was / you were qualifying |
| Nosotros / as | calificábamos | We were qualifying |
| Vosotros / as | calificabais | You were qualifying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calificaban | They / you were qualifying |
| Vos | calificabas | You were qualifying |
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 qualified” and “she has qualified”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he calificado | I have qualified |
| Tú | has calificado | You have qualified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha calificado | He has / she has / you have qualified |
| Nosotros / as | hemos calificado | We have qualified |
| Vosotros / as | habéis calificado | You have qualified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han calificado | They / you have qualified |
| Vos | has calificado | You have qualified |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would qualify” or “she would qualify”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calificaría | I would qualify |
| Tú | calificarías | You would qualify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calificaría | He / she / you would qualify |
| Nosotros / as | calificaríamos | We would qualify |
| Vosotros / as | calificaríais | You would qualify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calificarían | They / you would qualify |
| Vos | calificarías | You would qualify |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will qualify” or “they will qualify”.
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 calificar” means “They are going to qualify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calificaré | I will qualify |
| Tú | calificarás | You will qualify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calificará | He / she / you will qualify |
| Nosotros / as | calificaremos | We will qualify |
| Vosotros / as | calificaréis | You will qualify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calificarán | They / you will qualify |
| Vos | calificarás | You will qualify |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | califique |
| Tú | califiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | califique |
| Nosotros / as | califiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | califiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | califiquen |
| Vos | califiques |
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 | calificara | calificase |
| Tú | calificaras | calificase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calificara | calificase |
| Nosotros / as | calificáramos | calificásemos |
| Vosotros / as | calificarais | calificaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calificaran | calificasen |
| Vos | calificaras | calificase |
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 | calificare |
| Tú | calificares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calificare |
| Nosotros / as | calificáremos |
| Vosotros / as | calificareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calificaren |
| Vos | calificares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “qualify!” and “don’t qualify!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | califica | no califiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | califique | no califique |
| Nosotros / as | califiquemos | no califiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | calificad | no califiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | califiquen | no califiquen |
| Vos | calificá | no califiques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya calificado |
| Tú | hayas calificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya calificado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos calificado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis calificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan calificado |
| Vos | hayas calificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera calificado / hubiese calificado |
| Tú | hubieras calificado / hubieses calificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera calificado / hubiese calificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos calificado / hubiésemos calificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais calificado / hubieseis calificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran calificado / hubiesen calificado |
| Vos | hubieras calificado / hubieses calificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere calificado |
| Tú | hubieres calificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere calificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos calificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis calificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren calificado |
| Vos | hubieres calificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté calificando |
| Tú | estés calificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté calificando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos calificando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis calificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén calificando |
| Vos | estés calificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera calificando / estuviese calificando |
| Tú | estuvieras calificando / estuvieses calificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera calificando / estuviese calificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos calificando / estuviésamos calificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais calificando / estuvieseis calificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera calificando / estuviese calificando |
| Vos | estuvieras calificando / estuvieses calificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere calificando |
| Tú | estuvieres calificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere calificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos calificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis calificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere calificando |
| Vos | estuvieres calificando |
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 calificás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos calificaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos calificabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos calificarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos calificarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos califiques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos calificaras / Vos calificase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos calificá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no califiques |