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Comparar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to compare”.
Below are all of the conjugations for comparar 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 compare |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | comparar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está comparando) and past continuous (estaba comparando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. comparing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he comparado and hubiera comparado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have compared).
| Gerundio / Gerund | comparando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | comparado |
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 compare” or “they compare”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | comparo |
| Tú | comparas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compara |
| Nosotros / as | comparamos |
| Vosotros / as | comparáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comparan |
| Vos | comparás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I compared” or “she compared” 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 | comparé | I compared |
| Tú | comparaste | You compared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comparó | He / she / you compared |
| Nosotros / as | comparamos | We compared |
| Vosotros / as | comparasteis | You compared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compararon | They / you compared |
| Vos | comparaste | You compared |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was comparing” or “she was comparing” 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 | comparaba | I was comparing |
| Tú | comparabas | You were comparing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comparaba | He was / she was / you were comparing |
| Nosotros / as | comparábamos | We were comparing |
| Vosotros / as | comparabais | You were comparing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comparaban | They / you were comparing |
| Vos | comparabas | You were comparing |
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 compared” and “she has compared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he comparado | I have compared |
| Tú | has comparado | You have compared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha comparado | He has / she has / you have compared |
| Nosotros / as | hemos comparado | We have compared |
| Vosotros / as | habéis comparado | You have compared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han comparado | They / you have compared |
| Vos | has comparado | You have compared |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would compare” or “she would compare”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | compararía | I would compare |
| Tú | compararías | You would compare |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compararía | He / she / you would compare |
| Nosotros / as | compararíamos | We would compare |
| Vosotros / as | compararíais | You would compare |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compararían | They / you would compare |
| Vos | compararías | You would compare |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will compare” or “they will compare”.
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 comparar” means “They are going to compare”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | compararé | I will compare |
| Tú | compararás | You will compare |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comparará | He / she / you will compare |
| Nosotros / as | compararemos | We will compare |
| Vosotros / as | compararéis | You will compare |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compararán | They / you will compare |
| Vos | compararás | You will compare |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compare |
| Tú | compares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compare |
| Nosotros / as | comparemos |
| Vosotros / as | comparéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comparen |
| Vos | compares |
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 | comparara | comparase |
| Tú | compararas | comparase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comparara | comparase |
| Nosotros / as | comparáramos | comparásemos |
| Vosotros / as | compararais | comparaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compararan | comparasen |
| Vos | compararas | comparase |
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 | comparare |
| Tú | comparares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comparare |
| Nosotros / as | comparáremos |
| Vosotros / as | comparareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compararen |
| Vos | comparares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “compare!” and “don’t compare!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | compara | no compares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compare | no compare |
| Nosotros / as | comparemos | no comparemos |
| Vosotros / as | comparad | no comparéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comparen | no comparen |
| Vos | compará | no compares |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya comparado |
| Tú | hayas comparado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya comparado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos comparado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis comparado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan comparado |
| Vos | hayas comparado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera comparado / hubiese comparado |
| Tú | hubieras comparado / hubieses comparado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera comparado / hubiese comparado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos comparado / hubiésemos comparado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais comparado / hubieseis comparado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran comparado / hubiesen comparado |
| Vos | hubieras comparado / hubieses comparado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere comparado |
| Tú | hubieres comparado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere comparado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos comparado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis comparado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren comparado |
| Vos | hubieres comparado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté comparando |
| Tú | estés comparando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté comparando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos comparando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis comparando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén comparando |
| Vos | estés comparando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera comparando / estuviese comparando |
| Tú | estuvieras comparando / estuvieses comparando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera comparando / estuviese comparando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos comparando / estuviésamos comparando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais comparando / estuvieseis comparando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera comparando / estuviese comparando |
| Vos | estuvieras comparando / estuvieses comparando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere comparando |
| Tú | estuvieres comparando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere comparando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos comparando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis comparando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere comparando |
| Vos | estuvieres comparando |
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 comparás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos comparaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos comparabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos compararías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos compararás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos compares |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos compararas / Vos comparase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos compará |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no compares |