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Colectar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to collect (money)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for colectar 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 collect (money) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | colectar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está colectando) and past continuous (estaba colectando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. collecting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he colectado and hubiera colectado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have collected).
| Gerundio / Gerund | colectando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | colectado |
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 collect” or “they collect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | colecto |
| Tú | colectas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colecta |
| Nosotros / as | colectamos |
| Vosotros / as | colectáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectan |
| Vos | colectás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I collected” or “she collected” 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 | colecté | I collected |
| Tú | colectaste | You collected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colectó | He / she / you collected |
| Nosotros / as | colectamos | We collected |
| Vosotros / as | colectasteis | You collected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectaron | They / you collected |
| Vos | colectaste | You collected |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was collecting” or “she was collecting” 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 | colectaba | I was collecting |
| Tú | colectabas | You were collecting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colectaba | He was / she was / you were collecting |
| Nosotros / as | colectábamos | We were collecting |
| Vosotros / as | colectabais | You were collecting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectaban | They / you were collecting |
| Vos | colectabas | You were collecting |
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 collected” and “she has collected”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he colectado | I have collected |
| Tú | has colectado | You have collected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha colectado | He has / she has / you have collected |
| Nosotros / as | hemos colectado | We have collected |
| Vosotros / as | habéis colectado | You have collected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han colectado | They / you have collected |
| Vos | has colectado | You have collected |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would collect” or “she would collect”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | colectaría | I would collect |
| Tú | colectarías | You would collect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colectaría | He / she / you would collect |
| Nosotros / as | colectaríamos | We would collect |
| Vosotros / as | colectaríais | You would collect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectarían | They / you would collect |
| Vos | colectarías | You would collect |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will collect” or “they will collect”.
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 colectar” means “They are going to collect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | colectaré | I will collect |
| Tú | colectarás | You will collect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colectará | He / she / you will collect |
| Nosotros / as | colectaremos | We will collect |
| Vosotros / as | colectaréis | You will collect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectarán | They / you will collect |
| Vos | colectarás | You will collect |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | colecte |
| Tú | colectes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colecte |
| Nosotros / as | colectemos |
| Vosotros / as | colectéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colecten |
| Vos | colectes |
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 | colectara | colectase |
| Tú | colectaras | colectase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colectara | colectase |
| Nosotros / as | colectáramos | colectásemos |
| Vosotros / as | colectarais | colectaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectaran | colectasen |
| Vos | colectaras | colectase |
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 | colectare |
| Tú | colectares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colectare |
| Nosotros / as | colectáremos |
| Vosotros / as | colectareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colectaren |
| Vos | colectares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “collect!” and “don’t collect!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | colecta | no colectes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colecte | no colecte |
| Nosotros / as | colectemos | no colectemos |
| Vosotros / as | colectad | no colectéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colecten | no colecten |
| Vos | colectá | no colectes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya colectado |
| Tú | hayas colectado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya colectado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos colectado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis colectado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan colectado |
| Vos | hayas colectado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera colectado / hubiese colectado |
| Tú | hubieras colectado / hubieses colectado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera colectado / hubiese colectado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos colectado / hubiésemos colectado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais colectado / hubieseis colectado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran colectado / hubiesen colectado |
| Vos | hubieras colectado / hubieses colectado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere colectado |
| Tú | hubieres colectado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere colectado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos colectado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis colectado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren colectado |
| Vos | hubieres colectado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté colectando |
| Tú | estés colectando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté colectando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos colectando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis colectando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén colectando |
| Vos | estés colectando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera colectando / estuviese colectando |
| Tú | estuvieras colectando / estuvieses colectando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera colectando / estuviese colectando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos colectando / estuviésamos colectando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais colectando / estuvieseis colectando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera colectando / estuviese colectando |
| Vos | estuvieras colectando / estuvieses colectando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere colectando |
| Tú | estuvieres colectando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere colectando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos colectando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis colectando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere colectando |
| Vos | estuvieres colectando |
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 colectás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos colectaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos colectabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos colectarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos colectarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos colectes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos colectaras / Vos colectase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos colectá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no colectes |