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Civilizar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to civilize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for civilizar 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 civilize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | civilizar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está civilizando) and past continuous (estaba civilizando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. civilizing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he civilizado and hubiera civilizado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have civilized).
| Gerundio / Gerund | civilizando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | civilizado |
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 civilize” or “they civilize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | civilizo |
| Tú | civilizas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civiliza |
| Nosotros / as | civilizamos |
| Vosotros / as | civilizáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizan |
| Vos | civilizás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I civilized” or “she civilized” 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 | civilicé | I civilized |
| Tú | civilizaste | You civilized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilizó | He / she / you civilized |
| Nosotros / as | civilizamos | We civilized |
| Vosotros / as | civilizasteis | You civilized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizaron | They / you civilized |
| Vos | civilizaste | You civilized |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was civilizing” or “she was civilizing” 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 | civilizaba | I was civilizing |
| Tú | civilizabas | You were civilizing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilizaba | He was / she was / you were civilizing |
| Nosotros / as | civilizábamos | We were civilizing |
| Vosotros / as | civilizabais | You were civilizing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizaban | They / you were civilizing |
| Vos | civilizabas | You were civilizing |
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 civilized” and “she has civilized”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he civilizado | I have civilized |
| Tú | has civilizado | You have civilized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha civilizado | He has / she has / you have civilized |
| Nosotros / as | hemos civilizado | We have civilized |
| Vosotros / as | habéis civilizado | You have civilized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han civilizado | They / you have civilized |
| Vos | has civilizado | You have civilized |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would civilize” or “she would civilize”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | civilizaría | I would civilize |
| Tú | civilizarías | You would civilize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilizaría | He / she / you would civilize |
| Nosotros / as | civilizaríamos | We would civilize |
| Vosotros / as | civilizaríais | You would civilize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizarían | They / you would civilize |
| Vos | civilizarías | You would civilize |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will civilize” or “they will civilize”.
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 civilizar” means “They are going to civilize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | civilizaré | I will civilize |
| Tú | civilizarás | You will civilize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilizará | He / she / you will civilize |
| Nosotros / as | civilizaremos | We will civilize |
| Vosotros / as | civilizaréis | You will civilize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizarán | They / you will civilize |
| Vos | civilizarás | You will civilize |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | civilice |
| Tú | civilices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilice |
| Nosotros / as | civilicemos |
| Vosotros / as | civilicéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilicen |
| Vos | civilices |
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 | civilizara | civilizase |
| Tú | civilizaras | civilizase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilizara | civilizase |
| Nosotros / as | civilizáramos | civilizásemos |
| Vosotros / as | civilizarais | civilizaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizaran | civilizasen |
| Vos | civilizaras | civilizase |
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 | civilizare |
| Tú | civilizares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilizare |
| Nosotros / as | civilizáremos |
| Vosotros / as | civilizareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilizaren |
| Vos | civilizares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “civilize!” and “don’t civilize!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | civiliza | no civilices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | civilice | no civilice |
| Nosotros / as | civilicemos | no civilicemos |
| Vosotros / as | civilizad | no civilicéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | civilicen | no civilicen |
| Vos | civilizá | no civilices |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya civilizado |
| Tú | hayas civilizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya civilizado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos civilizado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis civilizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan civilizado |
| Vos | hayas civilizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera civilizado / hubiese civilizado |
| Tú | hubieras civilizado / hubieses civilizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera civilizado / hubiese civilizado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos civilizado / hubiésemos civilizado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais civilizado / hubieseis civilizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran civilizado / hubiesen civilizado |
| Vos | hubieras civilizado / hubieses civilizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere civilizado |
| Tú | hubieres civilizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere civilizado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos civilizado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis civilizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren civilizado |
| Vos | hubieres civilizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté civilizando |
| Tú | estés civilizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté civilizando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos civilizando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis civilizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén civilizando |
| Vos | estés civilizando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera civilizando / estuviese civilizando |
| Tú | estuvieras civilizando / estuvieses civilizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera civilizando / estuviese civilizando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos civilizando / estuviésamos civilizando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais civilizando / estuvieseis civilizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera civilizando / estuviese civilizando |
| Vos | estuvieras civilizando / estuvieses civilizando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere civilizando |
| Tú | estuvieres civilizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere civilizando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos civilizando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis civilizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere civilizando |
| Vos | estuvieres civilizando |
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 civilizás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos civilizaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos civilizabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos civilizarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos civilizarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos civilices |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos civilizaras / Vos civilizase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos civilizá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no civilices |