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Centrar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to center, focus”.
Below are all of the conjugations for centrar 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 center, focus |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | centrar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está centrando) and past continuous (estaba centrando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. centering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he centrado and hubiera centrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have centered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | centrando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | centrado |
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 center” or “they center”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | centro |
| Tú | centras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centra |
| Nosotros / as | centramos |
| Vosotros / as | centráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centran |
| Vos | centrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I centered” or “she centered” 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 | centré | I centered |
| Tú | centraste | You centered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centró | He / she / you centered |
| Nosotros / as | centramos | We centered |
| Vosotros / as | centrasteis | You centered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centraron | They / you centered |
| Vos | centraste | You centered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was centering” or “she was centering” 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 | centraba | I was centering |
| Tú | centrabas | You were centering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centraba | He was / she was / you were centering |
| Nosotros / as | centrábamos | We were centering |
| Vosotros / as | centrabais | You were centering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centraban | They / you were centering |
| Vos | centrabas | You were centering |
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 centered” and “she has centered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he centrado | I have centered |
| Tú | has centrado | You have centered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha centrado | He has / she has / you have centered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos centrado | We have centered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis centrado | You have centered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han centrado | They / you have centered |
| Vos | has centrado | You have centered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would center” or “she would center”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | centraría | I would center |
| Tú | centrarías | You would center |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centraría | He / she / you would center |
| Nosotros / as | centraríamos | We would center |
| Vosotros / as | centraríais | You would center |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centrarían | They / you would center |
| Vos | centrarías | You would center |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will center” or “they will center”.
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 centrar” means “They are going to center”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | centraré | I will center |
| Tú | centrarás | You will center |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centrará | He / she / you will center |
| Nosotros / as | centraremos | We will center |
| Vosotros / as | centraréis | You will center |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centrarán | They / you will center |
| Vos | centrarás | You will center |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | centre |
| Tú | centres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centre |
| Nosotros / as | centremos |
| Vosotros / as | centréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centren |
| Vos | centres |
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 | centrara | centrase |
| Tú | centraras | centrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centrara | centrase |
| Nosotros / as | centráramos | centrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | centrarais | centraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centraran | centrasen |
| Vos | centraras | centrase |
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 | centrare |
| Tú | centrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centrare |
| Nosotros / as | centráremos |
| Vosotros / as | centrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centraren |
| Vos | centrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “center!” and “don’t center!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | centra | no centres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | centre | no centre |
| Nosotros / as | centremos | no centremos |
| Vosotros / as | centrad | no centréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | centren | no centren |
| Vos | centrá | no centres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya centrado |
| Tú | hayas centrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya centrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos centrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis centrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan centrado |
| Vos | hayas centrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera centrado / hubiese centrado |
| Tú | hubieras centrado / hubieses centrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera centrado / hubiese centrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos centrado / hubiésemos centrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais centrado / hubieseis centrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran centrado / hubiesen centrado |
| Vos | hubieras centrado / hubieses centrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere centrado |
| Tú | hubieres centrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere centrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos centrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis centrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren centrado |
| Vos | hubieres centrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté centrando |
| Tú | estés centrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté centrando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos centrando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis centrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén centrando |
| Vos | estés centrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera centrando / estuviese centrando |
| Tú | estuvieras centrando / estuvieses centrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera centrando / estuviese centrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos centrando / estuviésamos centrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais centrando / estuvieseis centrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera centrando / estuviese centrando |
| Vos | estuvieras centrando / estuvieses centrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere centrando |
| Tú | estuvieres centrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere centrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos centrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis centrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere centrando |
| Vos | estuvieres centrando |
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 centrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos centraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos centrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos centrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos centrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos centres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos centraras / Vos centrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos centrá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no centres |