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Cimentar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lay a foundation, establish”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cimentar 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 lay a foundation, establish |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cimentar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cimentando) and past continuous (estaba cimentando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. establishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cimentado and hubiera cimentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have established).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cimentando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cimentado |
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 establish” or “they establish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cimiento |
| Tú | cimientas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimienta |
| Nosotros / as | cimentamos |
| Vosotros / as | cimentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimientan |
| Vos | cimentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I established” or “she established” 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 | cimenté | I established |
| Tú | cimentaste | You established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimentó | He / she / you established |
| Nosotros / as | cimentamos | We established |
| Vosotros / as | cimentasteis | You established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimentaron | They / you established |
| Vos | cimentaste | You established |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was establishing” or “she was establishing” 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 | cimentaba | I was establishing |
| Tú | cimentabas | You were establishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimentaba | He was / she was / you were establishing |
| Nosotros / as | cimentábamos | We were establishing |
| Vosotros / as | cimentabais | You were establishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimentaban | They / you were establishing |
| Vos | cimentabas | You were establishing |
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 established” and “she has established”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cimentado | I have established |
| Tú | has cimentado | You have established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cimentado | He has / she has / you have established |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cimentado | We have established |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cimentado | You have established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cimentado | They / you have established |
| Vos | has cimentado | You have established |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would establish” or “she would establish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cimentaría | I would establish |
| Tú | cimentarías | You would establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimentaría | He / she / you would establish |
| Nosotros / as | cimentaríamos | We would establish |
| Vosotros / as | cimentaríais | You would establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimentarían | They / you would establish |
| Vos | cimentarías | You would establish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will establish” or “they will establish”.
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 cimentar” means “They are going to establish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cimentaré | I will establish |
| Tú | cimentarás | You will establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimentará | He / she / you will establish |
| Nosotros / as | cimentaremos | We will establish |
| Vosotros / as | cimentaréis | You will establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimentarán | They / you will establish |
| Vos | cimentarás | You will establish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cimiente |
| Tú | cimientes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimiente |
| Nosotros / as | cimentemos |
| Vosotros / as | cimentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimienten |
| Vos | cimientes |
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 | cimentara | cimentase |
| Tú | cimentaras | cimentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimentara | cimentase |
| Nosotros / as | cimentáramos | cimentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | cimentarais | cimentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimentaran | cimentasen |
| Vos | cimentaras | cimentase |
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 | cimentare |
| Tú | cimentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimentare |
| Nosotros / as | cimentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | cimentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimentaren |
| Vos | cimentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “establish!” and “don’t establish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cimienta | no cimientes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cimiente | no cimiente |
| Nosotros / as | cimentemos | no cimentemos |
| Vosotros / as | cimentad | no cimentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cimienten | no cimienten |
| Vos | cimentá | no cimientes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cimentado |
| Tú | hayas cimentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cimentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cimentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cimentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cimentado |
| Vos | hayas cimentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cimentado / hubiese cimentado |
| Tú | hubieras cimentado / hubieses cimentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cimentado / hubiese cimentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cimentado / hubiésemos cimentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cimentado / hubieseis cimentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cimentado / hubiesen cimentado |
| Vos | hubieras cimentado / hubieses cimentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cimentado |
| Tú | hubieres cimentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cimentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cimentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cimentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cimentado |
| Vos | hubieres cimentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cimentando |
| Tú | estés cimentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cimentando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cimentando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cimentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cimentando |
| Vos | estés cimentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cimentando / estuviese cimentando |
| Tú | estuvieras cimentando / estuvieses cimentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cimentando / estuviese cimentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cimentando / estuviésamos cimentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cimentando / estuvieseis cimentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cimentando / estuviese cimentando |
| Vos | estuvieras cimentando / estuvieses cimentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cimentando |
| Tú | estuvieres cimentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cimentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cimentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cimentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cimentando |
| Vos | estuvieres cimentando |
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 cimentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cimentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cimentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cimentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cimentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cimientes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cimentaras / Vos cimentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cimentá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cimientes |