Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Colegir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to gather together, deduce, infer”.
Below are all of the conjugations for colegir 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 gather together, deduce, infer |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | colegir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está colegiendo) and past continuous (estaba colegiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. deducing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he colegido and hubiera colegido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have deduced).
| Gerundio / Gerund | colegiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | colegido |
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 deduce” or “they deduce”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | colejo |
| Tú | coleges |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colege |
| Nosotros / as | colegimos |
| Vosotros / as | colegís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegen |
| Vos | colegís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I deduced” or “she deduced” 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 | colegí | I deduced |
| Tú | colegiste | You deduced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colegió | He / she / you deduced |
| Nosotros / as | colegimos | We deduced |
| Vosotros / as | colegisteis | You deduced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegieron | They / you deduced |
| Vos | colegiste | You deduced |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was deducing” or “she was deducing” 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 | colegía | I was deducing |
| Tú | colegías | You were deducing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colegía | He was / she was / you were deducing |
| Nosotros / as | colegíamos | We were deducing |
| Vosotros / as | colegíais | You were deducing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegían | They / you were deducing |
| Vos | colegías | You were deducing |
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 deduced” and “she has deduced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he colegido | I have deduced |
| Tú | has colegido | You have deduced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha colegido | He has / she has / you have deduced |
| Nosotros / as | hemos colegido | We have deduced |
| Vosotros / as | habéis colegido | You have deduced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han colegido | They / you have deduced |
| Vos | has colegido | You have deduced |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would deduce” or “she would deduce”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | colegiría | I would deduce |
| Tú | colegirías | You would deduce |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colegiría | He / she / you would deduce |
| Nosotros / as | colegiríamos | We would deduce |
| Vosotros / as | colegiríais | You would deduce |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegirían | They / you would deduce |
| Vos | colegirías | You would deduce |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will deduce” or “they will deduce”.
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 colegir” means “They are going to deduce”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | colegiré | I will deduce |
| Tú | colegirás | You will deduce |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colegirá | He / she / you will deduce |
| Nosotros / as | colegiremos | We will deduce |
| Vosotros / as | colegiréis | You will deduce |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegirán | They / you will deduce |
| Vos | colegirás | You will deduce |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | coleja |
| Tú | colejas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coleja |
| Nosotros / as | colejamos |
| Vosotros / as | colejáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colejan |
| Vos | colejas |
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 | colegiera | colegiese |
| Tú | colegieras | colegiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colegiera | colegiese |
| Nosotros / as | colegiéramos | colegiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | colegierais | colegieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegieran | colegiesen |
| Vos | colegieras | colegiese |
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 | colegiere |
| Tú | colegieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | colegiera |
| Nosotros / as | colegiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | colegiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colegieren |
| Vos | colegieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “deduce!” and “don’t deduce!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | colege | no colejas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coleja | no coleja |
| Nosotros / as | colejamos | no colejamos |
| Vosotros / as | colegid | no colejáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | colejan | no colejan |
| Vos | colegí | no colejas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya colegido |
| Tú | hayas colegido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya colegido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos colegido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis colegido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan colegido |
| Vos | hayas colegido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera colegido / hubiese colegido |
| Tú | hubieras colegido / hubieses colegido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera colegido / hubiese colegido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos colegido / hubiésemos colegido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais colegido / hubieseis colegido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran colegido / hubiesen colegido |
| Vos | hubieras colegido / hubieses colegido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere colegido |
| Tú | hubieres colegido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere colegido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos colegido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis colegido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren colegido |
| Vos | hubieres colegido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté colegiendo |
| Tú | estés colegiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté colegiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos colegiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis colegiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén colegiendo |
| Vos | estés colegiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera colegiendo / estuviese colegiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras colegiendo / estuvieses colegiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera colegiendo / estuviese colegiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos colegiendo / estuviésamos colegiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais colegiendo / estuvieseis colegiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera colegiendo / estuviese colegiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras colegiendo / estuvieses colegiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere colegiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres colegiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere colegiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos colegiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis colegiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere colegiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres colegiendo |
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 colegís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos colegiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos colegías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos colegirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos colegirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos colejas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos colegieras / Vos colegiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos colegí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no colejas |