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Causar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to cause”.
Below are all of the conjugations for causar 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 cause |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | causar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está causando) and past continuous (estaba causando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. causing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he causado and hubiera causado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have caused).
| Gerundio / Gerund | causando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | causado |
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 cause” or “they cause”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | causo |
| Tú | causas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causa |
| Nosotros / as | causamos |
| Vosotros / as | causáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causan |
| Vos | causás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I caused” or “she caused” 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 | causé | I caused |
| Tú | causaste | You caused |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causó | He / she / you caused |
| Nosotros / as | causamos | We caused |
| Vosotros / as | causasteis | You caused |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causaron | They / you caused |
| Vos | causaste | You caused |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was causing” or “she was causing” 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 | causaba | I was causing |
| Tú | causabas | You were causing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causaba | He was / she was / you were causing |
| Nosotros / as | causábamos | We were causing |
| Vosotros / as | causabais | You were causing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causaban | They / you were causing |
| Vos | causabas | You were causing |
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 caused” and “she has caused”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he causado | I have caused |
| Tú | has causado | You have caused |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha causado | He has / she has / you have caused |
| Nosotros / as | hemos causado | We have caused |
| Vosotros / as | habéis causado | You have caused |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han causado | They / you have caused |
| Vos | has causado | You have caused |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would cause” or “she would cause”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | causaría | I would cause |
| Tú | causarías | You would cause |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causaría | He / she / you would cause |
| Nosotros / as | causaríamos | We would cause |
| Vosotros / as | causaríais | You would cause |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causarían | They / you would cause |
| Vos | causarías | You would cause |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will cause” or “they will cause”.
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 causar” means “They are going to cause”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | causaré | I will cause |
| Tú | causarás | You will cause |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causará | He / she / you will cause |
| Nosotros / as | causaremos | We will cause |
| Vosotros / as | causaréis | You will cause |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causarán | They / you will cause |
| Vos | causarás | You will cause |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cause |
| Tú | causes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cause |
| Nosotros / as | causemos |
| Vosotros / as | causéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causen |
| Vos | causes |
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 | causara | causase |
| Tú | causaras | causase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causara | causase |
| Nosotros / as | causáramos | causásemos |
| Vosotros / as | causarais | causaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causaran | causasen |
| Vos | causaras | causase |
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 | causare |
| Tú | causares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | causare |
| Nosotros / as | causáremos |
| Vosotros / as | causareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causaren |
| Vos | causares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “cause!” and “don’t cause!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | causa | no causes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cause | no cause |
| Nosotros / as | causemos | no causemos |
| Vosotros / as | causad | no causéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | causen | no causen |
| Vos | causá | no causes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya causado |
| Tú | hayas causado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya causado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos causado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis causado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan causado |
| Vos | hayas causado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera causado / hubiese causado |
| Tú | hubieras causado / hubieses causado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera causado / hubiese causado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos causado / hubiésemos causado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais causado / hubieseis causado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran causado / hubiesen causado |
| Vos | hubieras causado / hubieses causado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere causado |
| Tú | hubieres causado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere causado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos causado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis causado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren causado |
| Vos | hubieres causado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté causando |
| Tú | estés causando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté causando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos causando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis causando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén causando |
| Vos | estés causando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera causando / estuviese causando |
| Tú | estuvieras causando / estuvieses causando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera causando / estuviese causando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos causando / estuviésamos causando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais causando / estuvieseis causando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera causando / estuviese causando |
| Vos | estuvieras causando / estuvieses causando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere causando |
| Tú | estuvieres causando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere causando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos causando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis causando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere causando |
| Vos | estuvieres causando |
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 causás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos causaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos causabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos causarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos causarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos causes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos causaras / Vos causase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos causá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no causes |