Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Calumniar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to slander, defame”.
Below are all of the conjugations for calumniar 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 slander, defame |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | calumniar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está calumniando) and past continuous (estaba calumniando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. slandering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he calumniado and hubiera calumniado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have slandered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | calumniando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | calumniado |
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 slander” or “they slander”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | calumnio |
| Tú | calumnias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumnia |
| Nosotros / as | calumniamos |
| Vosotros / as | calumniáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumnian |
| Vos | calumniás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I slandered” or “she slandered” 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 | calumnié | I slandered |
| Tú | calumniaste | You slandered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumnió | He / she / you slandered |
| Nosotros / as | calumniamos | We slandered |
| Vosotros / as | calumniasteis | You slandered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumniaron | They / you slandered |
| Vos | calumniaste | You slandered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was slandering” or “she was slandering” 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 | calumniaba | I was slandering |
| Tú | calumniabas | You were slandering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumniaba | He was / she was / you were slandering |
| Nosotros / as | calumniábamos | We were slandering |
| Vosotros / as | calumniabais | You were slandering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumniaban | They / you were slandering |
| Vos | calumniabas | You were slandering |
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 slandered” and “she has slandered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he calumniado | I have slandered |
| Tú | has calumniado | You have slandered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha calumniado | He has / she has / you have slandered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos calumniado | We have slandered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis calumniado | You have slandered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han calumniado | They / you have slandered |
| Vos | has calumniado | You have slandered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would slander” or “she would slander”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calumniaría | I would slander |
| Tú | calumniarías | You would slander |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumniaría | He / she / you would slander |
| Nosotros / as | calumniaríamos | We would slander |
| Vosotros / as | calumniaríais | You would slander |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumniarían | They / you would slander |
| Vos | calumniarías | You would slander |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will slander” or “they will slander”.
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 calumniar” means “They are going to slander”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | calumniaré | I will slander |
| Tú | calumniarás | You will slander |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumniará | He / she / you will slander |
| Nosotros / as | calumniaremos | We will slander |
| Vosotros / as | calumniaréis | You will slander |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumniarán | They / you will slander |
| Vos | calumniarás | You will slander |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | calumnie |
| Tú | calumnies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumnie |
| Nosotros / as | calumniemos |
| Vosotros / as | calumniéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumnien |
| Vos | calumnies |
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 | calumniara | calumniase |
| Tú | calumniaras | calumniase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumniara | calumniase |
| Nosotros / as | calumniáramos | calumniásemos |
| Vosotros / as | calumniarais | calumniaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumniaran | calumniasen |
| Vos | calumniaras | calumniase |
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 | calumniare |
| Tú | calumniares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumniare |
| Nosotros / as | calumniáremos |
| Vosotros / as | calumniareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumniaren |
| Vos | calumniares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “slander!” and “don’t slander!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | calumnia | no calumnies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | calumnie | no calumnie |
| Nosotros / as | calumniemos | no calumniemos |
| Vosotros / as | calumniad | no calumniéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | calumnien | no calumnien |
| Vos | calumniá | no calumnies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya calumniado |
| Tú | hayas calumniado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya calumniado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos calumniado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis calumniado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan calumniado |
| Vos | hayas calumniado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera calumniado / hubiese calumniado |
| Tú | hubieras calumniado / hubieses calumniado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera calumniado / hubiese calumniado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos calumniado / hubiésemos calumniado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais calumniado / hubieseis calumniado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran calumniado / hubiesen calumniado |
| Vos | hubieras calumniado / hubieses calumniado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere calumniado |
| Tú | hubieres calumniado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere calumniado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos calumniado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis calumniado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren calumniado |
| Vos | hubieres calumniado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté calumniando |
| Tú | estés calumniando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté calumniando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos calumniando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis calumniando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén calumniando |
| Vos | estés calumniando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera calumniando / estuviese calumniando |
| Tú | estuvieras calumniando / estuvieses calumniando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera calumniando / estuviese calumniando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos calumniando / estuviésamos calumniando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais calumniando / estuvieseis calumniando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera calumniando / estuviese calumniando |
| Vos | estuvieras calumniando / estuvieses calumniando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere calumniando |
| Tú | estuvieres calumniando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere calumniando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos calumniando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis calumniando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere calumniando |
| Vos | estuvieres calumniando |
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 calumniás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos calumniaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos calumniabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos calumniarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos calumniarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos calumnies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos calumniaras / Vos calumniase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos calumniá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no calumnies |