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Cancelar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to cancel, annul, pay off”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cancelar 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 cancel, annul, pay off |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cancelar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cancelando) and past continuous (estaba cancelando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. cancelling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cancelado and hubiera cancelado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have cancelled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cancelando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cancelado |
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 cancel” or “they cancel”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cancelo |
| Tú | cancelas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancela |
| Nosotros / as | cancelamos |
| Vosotros / as | canceláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelan |
| Vos | cancelás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I cancelled” or “she cancelled” 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 | cancelé | I cancelled |
| Tú | cancelaste | You cancelled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | canceló | He / she / you cancelled |
| Nosotros / as | cancelamos | We cancelled |
| Vosotros / as | cancelasteis | You cancelled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelaron | They / you cancelled |
| Vos | cancelaste | You cancelled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was cancelling” or “she was cancelling” 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 | cancelaba | I was cancelling |
| Tú | cancelabas | You were cancelling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancelaba | He was / she was / you were cancelling |
| Nosotros / as | cancelábamos | We were cancelling |
| Vosotros / as | cancelabais | You were cancelling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelaban | They / you were cancelling |
| Vos | cancelabas | You were cancelling |
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 cancelled” and “she has cancelled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cancelado | I have cancelled |
| Tú | has cancelado | You have cancelled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cancelado | He has / she has / you have cancelled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cancelado | We have cancelled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cancelado | You have cancelled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cancelado | They / you have cancelled |
| Vos | has cancelado | You have cancelled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would cancel” or “she would cancel”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cancelaría | I would cancel |
| Tú | cancelarías | You would cancel |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancelaría | He / she / you would cancel |
| Nosotros / as | cancelaríamos | We would cancel |
| Vosotros / as | cancelaríais | You would cancel |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelarían | They / you would cancel |
| Vos | cancelarías | You would cancel |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will cancel” or “they will cancel”.
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 cancelar” means “They are going to cancel”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cancelaré | I will cancel |
| Tú | cancelarás | You will cancel |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancelará | He / she / you will cancel |
| Nosotros / as | cancelaremos | We will cancel |
| Vosotros / as | cancelaréis | You will cancel |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelarán | They / you will cancel |
| Vos | cancelarás | You will cancel |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cancele |
| Tú | canceles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancele |
| Nosotros / as | cancelemos |
| Vosotros / as | canceléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelen |
| Vos | canceles |
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 | cancelara | cancelase |
| Tú | cancelaras | cancelase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancelara | cancelase |
| Nosotros / as | canceláramos | cancelásemos |
| Vosotros / as | cancelarais | cancelaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelaran | cancelasen |
| Vos | cancelaras | cancelase |
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 | cancelare |
| Tú | cancelares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancelare |
| Nosotros / as | canceláremos |
| Vosotros / as | cancelareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelaren |
| Vos | cancelares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “cancel!” and “don’t cancel!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cancela | no canceles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cancele | no cancele |
| Nosotros / as | cancelemos | no cancelemos |
| Vosotros / as | cancelad | no canceléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cancelen | no cancelen |
| Vos | cancelá | no canceles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cancelado |
| Tú | hayas cancelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cancelado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cancelado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cancelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cancelado |
| Vos | hayas cancelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cancelado / hubiese cancelado |
| Tú | hubieras cancelado / hubieses cancelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cancelado / hubiese cancelado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cancelado / hubiésemos cancelado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cancelado / hubieseis cancelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cancelado / hubiesen cancelado |
| Vos | hubieras cancelado / hubieses cancelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cancelado |
| Tú | hubieres cancelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cancelado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cancelado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cancelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cancelado |
| Vos | hubieres cancelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cancelando |
| Tú | estés cancelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cancelando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cancelando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cancelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cancelando |
| Vos | estés cancelando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cancelando / estuviese cancelando |
| Tú | estuvieras cancelando / estuvieses cancelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cancelando / estuviese cancelando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cancelando / estuviésamos cancelando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cancelando / estuvieseis cancelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cancelando / estuviese cancelando |
| Vos | estuvieras cancelando / estuvieses cancelando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cancelando |
| Tú | estuvieres cancelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cancelando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cancelando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cancelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cancelando |
| Vos | estuvieres cancelando |
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 cancelás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cancelaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cancelabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cancelarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cancelarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos canceles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cancelaras / Vos cancelase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cancelá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no canceles |