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Chispear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to spark, sparkle”.
Below are all of the conjugations for chispear 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 spark, sparkle |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | chispear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está chispeando) and past continuous (estaba chispeando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. sparking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he chispeado and hubiera chispeado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have sparked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | chispeando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | chispeado |
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 spark” or “they spark”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | chispeo |
| Tú | chispeas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispea |
| Nosotros / as | chispeamos |
| Vosotros / as | chispeáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispean |
| Vos | chispeás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I sparked” or “she sparked” 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 | chispeé | I sparked |
| Tú | chispeaste | You sparked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispeó | He / she / you sparked |
| Nosotros / as | chispeamos | We sparked |
| Vosotros / as | chispeasteis | You sparked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispearon | They / you sparked |
| Vos | chispeaste | You sparked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was sparking” or “she was sparking” 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 | chispeaba | I was sparking |
| Tú | chispeabas | You were sparking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispeaba | He was / she was / you were sparking |
| Nosotros / as | chispeábamos | We were sparking |
| Vosotros / as | chispeabais | You were sparking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispeaban | They / you were sparking |
| Vos | chispeabas | You were sparking |
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 sparked” and “she has sparked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he chispeado | I have sparked |
| Tú | has chispeado | You have sparked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha chispeado | He has / she has / you have sparked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos chispeado | We have sparked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis chispeado | You have sparked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han chispeado | They / you have sparked |
| Vos | has chispeado | You have sparked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would spark” or “she would spark”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | chispearía | I would spark |
| Tú | chispearías | You would spark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispearía | He / she / you would spark |
| Nosotros / as | chispearíamos | We would spark |
| Vosotros / as | chispearíais | You would spark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispearían | They / you would spark |
| Vos | chispearías | You would spark |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will spark” or “they will spark”.
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 chispear” means “They are going to spark”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | chispearé | I will spark |
| Tú | chispearás | You will spark |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispeará | He / she / you will spark |
| Nosotros / as | chispearemos | We will spark |
| Vosotros / as | chispearéis | You will spark |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispearán | They / you will spark |
| Vos | chispearás | You will spark |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | chispee |
| Tú | chispees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispee |
| Nosotros / as | chispeemos |
| Vosotros / as | chispeéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispeen |
| Vos | chispees |
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 | chispeara | chispease |
| Tú | chispearas | chispease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispeara | chispease |
| Nosotros / as | chispeáramos | chispeásemos |
| Vosotros / as | chispearais | chispeaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispearan | chispeasen |
| Vos | chispearas | chispease |
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 | chispeare |
| Tú | chispeares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispeare |
| Nosotros / as | chispeáremos |
| Vosotros / as | chispeareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispearen |
| Vos | chispeares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “spark!” and “don’t spark!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | chispea | no chispees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | chispee | no chispee |
| Nosotros / as | chispeemos | no chispeemos |
| Vosotros / as | chispead | no chispeéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | chispeen | no chispeen |
| Vos | chispeá | no chispees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya chispeado |
| Tú | hayas chispeado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya chispeado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos chispeado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis chispeado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan chispeado |
| Vos | hayas chispeado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera chispeado / hubiese chispeado |
| Tú | hubieras chispeado / hubieses chispeado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera chispeado / hubiese chispeado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos chispeado / hubiésemos chispeado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais chispeado / hubieseis chispeado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran chispeado / hubiesen chispeado |
| Vos | hubieras chispeado / hubieses chispeado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere chispeado |
| Tú | hubieres chispeado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere chispeado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos chispeado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis chispeado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren chispeado |
| Vos | hubieres chispeado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté chispeando |
| Tú | estés chispeando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté chispeando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos chispeando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis chispeando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén chispeando |
| Vos | estés chispeando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera chispeando / estuviese chispeando |
| Tú | estuvieras chispeando / estuvieses chispeando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera chispeando / estuviese chispeando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos chispeando / estuviésamos chispeando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais chispeando / estuvieseis chispeando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera chispeando / estuviese chispeando |
| Vos | estuvieras chispeando / estuvieses chispeando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere chispeando |
| Tú | estuvieres chispeando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere chispeando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos chispeando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis chispeando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere chispeando |
| Vos | estuvieres chispeando |
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 chispeás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos chispeaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos chispeabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos chispearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos chispearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos chispees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos chispearas / Vos chispease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos chispeá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no chispees |