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Clavar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to nail, fasten”.
Below are all of the conjugations for clavar 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 nail, fasten |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | clavar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está clavando) and past continuous (estaba clavando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. nailing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he clavado and hubiera clavado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have nailed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | clavando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | clavado |
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 nail” or “they nail”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | clavo |
| Tú | clavas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clava |
| Nosotros / as | clavamos |
| Vosotros / as | claváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavan |
| Vos | clavás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I nailed” or “she nailed” 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 | clavé | I nailed |
| Tú | clavaste | You nailed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clavó | He / she / you nailed |
| Nosotros / as | clavamos | We nailed |
| Vosotros / as | clavasteis | You nailed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavaron | They / you nailed |
| Vos | clavaste | You nailed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was nailing” or “she was nailing” 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 | clavaba | I was nailing |
| Tú | clavabas | You were nailing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clavaba | He was / she was / you were nailing |
| Nosotros / as | clavábamos | We were nailing |
| Vosotros / as | clavabais | You were nailing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavaban | They / you were nailing |
| Vos | clavabas | You were nailing |
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 nailed” and “she has nailed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he clavado | I have nailed |
| Tú | has clavado | You have nailed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha clavado | He has / she has / you have nailed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos clavado | We have nailed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis clavado | You have nailed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han clavado | They / you have nailed |
| Vos | has clavado | You have nailed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would nail” or “she would nail”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | clavaría | I would nail |
| Tú | clavarías | You would nail |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clavaría | He / she / you would nail |
| Nosotros / as | clavaríamos | We would nail |
| Vosotros / as | clavaríais | You would nail |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavarían | They / you would nail |
| Vos | clavarías | You would nail |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will nail” or “they will nail”.
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 clavar” means “They are going to nail”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | clavaré | I will nail |
| Tú | clavarás | You will nail |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clavará | He / she / you will nail |
| Nosotros / as | clavaremos | We will nail |
| Vosotros / as | clavaréis | You will nail |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavarán | They / you will nail |
| Vos | clavarás | You will nail |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | clave |
| Tú | claves |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clave |
| Nosotros / as | clavemos |
| Vosotros / as | clavéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | claven |
| Vos | claves |
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 | clavara | clavase |
| Tú | clavaras | clavase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clavara | clavase |
| Nosotros / as | claváramos | clavásemos |
| Vosotros / as | clavarais | clavaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavaran | clavasen |
| Vos | clavaras | clavase |
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 | clavare |
| Tú | clavares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clavare |
| Nosotros / as | claváremos |
| Vosotros / as | clavareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | clavaren |
| Vos | clavares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “nail!” and “don’t nail!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | clava | no claves |
| Él / Ella / Usted | clave | no clave |
| Nosotros / as | clavemos | no clavemos |
| Vosotros / as | clavad | no clavéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | claven | no claven |
| Vos | clavá | no claves |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya clavado |
| Tú | hayas clavado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya clavado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos clavado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis clavado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan clavado |
| Vos | hayas clavado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera clavado / hubiese clavado |
| Tú | hubieras clavado / hubieses clavado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera clavado / hubiese clavado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos clavado / hubiésemos clavado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais clavado / hubieseis clavado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran clavado / hubiesen clavado |
| Vos | hubieras clavado / hubieses clavado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere clavado |
| Tú | hubieres clavado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere clavado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos clavado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis clavado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren clavado |
| Vos | hubieres clavado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté clavando |
| Tú | estés clavando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté clavando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos clavando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis clavando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén clavando |
| Vos | estés clavando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera clavando / estuviese clavando |
| Tú | estuvieras clavando / estuvieses clavando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera clavando / estuviese clavando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos clavando / estuviésamos clavando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais clavando / estuvieseis clavando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera clavando / estuviese clavando |
| Vos | estuvieras clavando / estuvieses clavando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere clavando |
| Tú | estuvieres clavando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere clavando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos clavando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis clavando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere clavando |
| Vos | estuvieres clavando |
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 clavás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos clavaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos clavabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos clavarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos clavarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos claves |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos clavaras / Vos clavase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos clavá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no claves |