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Colaborar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to collaborate, contribute”.
Below are all of the conjugations for colaborar 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 collaborate, contribute |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | colaborar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está colaborando) and past continuous (estaba colaborando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. collaborating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he colaborado and hubiera colaborado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have collaborated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | colaborando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | colaborado |
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 collaborate” or “they collaborate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | colaboro |
| Tú | colaboras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colabora |
| Nosotros / as | colaboramos |
| Vosotros / as | colaboráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboran |
| Vos | colaborás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I collaborated” or “she collaborated” 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 | colaboré | I collaborated |
| Tú | colaboraste | You collaborated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colaboró | He / she / you collaborated |
| Nosotros / as | colaboramos | We collaborated |
| Vosotros / as | colaborasteis | You collaborated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboraron | They / you collaborated |
| Vos | colaboraste | You collaborated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was collaborating” or “she was collaborating” 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 | colaboraba | I was collaborating |
| Tú | colaborabas | You were collaborating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colaboraba | He was / she was / you were collaborating |
| Nosotros / as | colaborábamos | We were collaborating |
| Vosotros / as | colaborabais | You were collaborating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboraban | They / you were collaborating |
| Vos | colaborabas | You were collaborating |
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 collaborated” and “she has collaborated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he colaborado | I have collaborated |
| Tú | has colaborado | You have collaborated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha colaborado | He has / she has / you have collaborated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos colaborado | We have collaborated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis colaborado | You have collaborated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han colaborado | They / you have collaborated |
| Vos | has colaborado | You have collaborated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would collaborate” or “she would collaborate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | colaboraría | I would collaborate |
| Tú | colaborarías | You would collaborate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colaboraría | He / she / you would collaborate |
| Nosotros / as | colaboraríamos | We would collaborate |
| Vosotros / as | colaboraríais | You would collaborate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaborarían | They / you would collaborate |
| Vos | colaborarías | You would collaborate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will collaborate” or “they will collaborate”.
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 colaborar” means “They are going to collaborate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | colaboraré | I will collaborate |
| Tú | colaborarás | You will collaborate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colaborará | He / she / you will collaborate |
| Nosotros / as | colaboraremos | We will collaborate |
| Vosotros / as | colaboraréis | You will collaborate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaborarán | They / you will collaborate |
| Vos | colaborarás | You will collaborate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | colabore |
| Tú | colabores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colabore |
| Nosotros / as | colaboremos |
| Vosotros / as | colaboréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboren |
| Vos | colabores |
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 | colaborara | colaborase |
| Tú | colaboraras | colaborase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colaborara | colaborase |
| Nosotros / as | colaboráramos | colaborásemos |
| Vosotros / as | colaborarais | colaboraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboraran | colaborasen |
| Vos | colaboraras | colaborase |
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 | colaborare |
| Tú | colaborares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colaborare |
| Nosotros / as | colaboráremos |
| Vosotros / as | colaborareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboraren |
| Vos | colaborares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “collaborate!” and “don’t collaborate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | colabora | no colabores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colabore | no colabore |
| Nosotros / as | colaboremos | no colaboremos |
| Vosotros / as | colaborad | no colaboréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colaboren | no colaboren |
| Vos | colaborá | no colabores |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya colaborado |
| Tú | hayas colaborado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya colaborado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos colaborado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis colaborado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan colaborado |
| Vos | hayas colaborado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera colaborado / hubiese colaborado |
| Tú | hubieras colaborado / hubieses colaborado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera colaborado / hubiese colaborado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos colaborado / hubiésemos colaborado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais colaborado / hubieseis colaborado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran colaborado / hubiesen colaborado |
| Vos | hubieras colaborado / hubieses colaborado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere colaborado |
| Tú | hubieres colaborado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere colaborado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos colaborado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis colaborado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren colaborado |
| Vos | hubieres colaborado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté colaborando |
| Tú | estés colaborando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté colaborando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos colaborando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis colaborando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén colaborando |
| Vos | estés colaborando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera colaborando / estuviese colaborando |
| Tú | estuvieras colaborando / estuvieses colaborando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera colaborando / estuviese colaborando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos colaborando / estuviésamos colaborando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais colaborando / estuvieseis colaborando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera colaborando / estuviese colaborando |
| Vos | estuvieras colaborando / estuvieses colaborando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere colaborando |
| Tú | estuvieres colaborando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere colaborando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos colaborando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis colaborando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere colaborando |
| Vos | estuvieres colaborando |
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 colaborás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos colaboraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos colaborabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos colaborarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos colaborarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos colabores |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos colaboraras / Vos colaborase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos colaborá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no colabores |