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Calmar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to calm, soothe, calm down”.
Below are all of the conjugations for calmar 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 calm, soothe, calm down |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | calmar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está calmando) and past continuous (estaba calmando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. calming).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he calmado and hubiera calmado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have calmed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | calmando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | calmado |
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 calm” or “they calm”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | calmo |
| Tú | calmas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calma |
| Nosotros / as | calmamos |
| Vosotros / as | calmáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calman |
| Vos | calmás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I calmed” or “she calmed” 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 | calmé | I calmed |
| Tú | calmaste | You calmed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calmó | He / she / you calmed |
| Nosotros / as | calmamos | We calmed |
| Vosotros / as | calmasteis | You calmed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmaron | They / you calmed |
| Vos | calmaste | You calmed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was calming” or “she was calming” 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 | calmaba | I was calming |
| Tú | calmabas | You were calming |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calmaba | He was / she was / you were calming |
| Nosotros / as | calmábamos | We were calming |
| Vosotros / as | calmabais | You were calming |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmaban | They / you were calming |
| Vos | calmabas | You were calming |
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 calmed” and “she has calmed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he calmado | I have calmed |
| Tú | has calmado | You have calmed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha calmado | He has / she has / you have calmed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos calmado | We have calmed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis calmado | You have calmed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han calmado | They / you have calmed |
| Vos | has calmado | You have calmed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would calm” or “she would calm”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calmaría | I would calm |
| Tú | calmarías | You would calm |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calmaría | He / she / you would calm |
| Nosotros / as | calmaríamos | We would calm |
| Vosotros / as | calmaríais | You would calm |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmarían | They / you would calm |
| Vos | calmarías | You would calm |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will calm” or “they will calm”.
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 calmar” means “They are going to calm”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calmaré | I will calm |
| Tú | calmarás | You will calm |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calmará | He / she / you will calm |
| Nosotros / as | calmaremos | We will calm |
| Vosotros / as | calmaréis | You will calm |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmarán | They / you will calm |
| Vos | calmarás | You will calm |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | calme |
| Tú | calmes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calme |
| Nosotros / as | calmemos |
| Vosotros / as | calméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmen |
| Vos | calmes |
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 | calmara | calmase |
| Tú | calmaras | calmase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calmara | calmase |
| Nosotros / as | calmáramos | calmásemos |
| Vosotros / as | calmarais | calmaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmaran | calmasen |
| Vos | calmaras | calmase |
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 | calmare |
| Tú | calmares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calmare |
| Nosotros / as | calmáremos |
| Vosotros / as | calmareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmaren |
| Vos | calmares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “calm!” and “don’t calm!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | calma | no calmes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calme | no calme |
| Nosotros / as | calmemos | no calmemos |
| Vosotros / as | calmad | no calméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calmen | no calmen |
| Vos | calmá | no calmes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya calmado |
| Tú | hayas calmado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya calmado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos calmado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis calmado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan calmado |
| Vos | hayas calmado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera calmado / hubiese calmado |
| Tú | hubieras calmado / hubieses calmado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera calmado / hubiese calmado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos calmado / hubiésemos calmado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais calmado / hubieseis calmado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran calmado / hubiesen calmado |
| Vos | hubieras calmado / hubieses calmado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere calmado |
| Tú | hubieres calmado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere calmado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos calmado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis calmado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren calmado |
| Vos | hubieres calmado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté calmando |
| Tú | estés calmando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté calmando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos calmando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis calmando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén calmando |
| Vos | estés calmando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera calmando / estuviese calmando |
| Tú | estuvieras calmando / estuvieses calmando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera calmando / estuviese calmando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos calmando / estuviésamos calmando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais calmando / estuvieseis calmando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera calmando / estuviese calmando |
| Vos | estuvieras calmando / estuvieses calmando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere calmando |
| Tú | estuvieres calmando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere calmando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos calmando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis calmando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere calmando |
| Vos | estuvieres calmando |
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 calmás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos calmaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos calmabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos calmarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos calmarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos calmes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos calmaras / Vos calmase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos calmá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no calmes |