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Compensar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to compensate, indemnify”.
Below are all of the conjugations for compensar 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 compensate, indemnify |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | compensar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está compensando) and past continuous (estaba compensando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. compensating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he compensado and hubiera compensado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have compensated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | compensando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | compensado |
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 compensate” or “they compensate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compenso |
| Tú | compensas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensa |
| Nosotros / as | compensamos |
| Vosotros / as | compensáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensan |
| Vos | compensás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I compensated” or “she compensated” 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 | compensé | I compensated |
| Tú | compensaste | You compensated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensó | He / she / you compensated |
| Nosotros / as | compensamos | We compensated |
| Vosotros / as | compensasteis | You compensated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensaron | They / you compensated |
| Vos | compensaste | You compensated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was compensating” or “she was compensating” 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 | compensaba | I was compensating |
| Tú | compensabas | You were compensating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensaba | He was / she was / you were compensating |
| Nosotros / as | compensábamos | We were compensating |
| Vosotros / as | compensabais | You were compensating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensaban | They / you were compensating |
| Vos | compensabas | You were compensating |
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 compensated” and “she has compensated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he compensado | I have compensated |
| Tú | has compensado | You have compensated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha compensado | He has / she has / you have compensated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos compensado | We have compensated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis compensado | You have compensated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han compensado | They / you have compensated |
| Vos | has compensado | You have compensated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would compensate” or “she would compensate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | compensaría | I would compensate |
| Tú | compensarías | You would compensate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensaría | He / she / you would compensate |
| Nosotros / as | compensaríamos | We would compensate |
| Vosotros / as | compensaríais | You would compensate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensarían | They / you would compensate |
| Vos | compensarías | You would compensate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will compensate” or “they will compensate”.
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 compensar” means “They are going to compensate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | compensaré | I will compensate |
| Tú | compensarás | You will compensate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensará | He / she / you will compensate |
| Nosotros / as | compensaremos | We will compensate |
| Vosotros / as | compensaréis | You will compensate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensarán | They / you will compensate |
| Vos | compensarás | You will compensate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compense |
| Tú | compenses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compense |
| Nosotros / as | compensemos |
| Vosotros / as | compenséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensen |
| Vos | compenses |
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 | compensara | compensase |
| Tú | compensaras | compensase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensara | compensase |
| Nosotros / as | compensáramos | compensásemos |
| Vosotros / as | compensarais | compensaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensaran | compensasen |
| Vos | compensaras | compensase |
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 | compensare |
| Tú | compensares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compensare |
| Nosotros / as | compensáremos |
| Vosotros / as | compensareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensaren |
| Vos | compensares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “compensate!” and “don’t compensate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | compensa | no compenses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compense | no compense |
| Nosotros / as | compensemos | no compensemos |
| Vosotros / as | compensad | no compenséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compensen | no compensen |
| Vos | compensá | no compenses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya compensado |
| Tú | hayas compensado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya compensado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos compensado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis compensado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan compensado |
| Vos | hayas compensado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera compensado / hubiese compensado |
| Tú | hubieras compensado / hubieses compensado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera compensado / hubiese compensado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos compensado / hubiésemos compensado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais compensado / hubieseis compensado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran compensado / hubiesen compensado |
| Vos | hubieras compensado / hubieses compensado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere compensado |
| Tú | hubieres compensado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere compensado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos compensado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis compensado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren compensado |
| Vos | hubieres compensado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté compensando |
| Tú | estés compensando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté compensando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos compensando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis compensando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén compensando |
| Vos | estés compensando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera compensando / estuviese compensando |
| Tú | estuvieras compensando / estuvieses compensando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera compensando / estuviese compensando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos compensando / estuviésamos compensando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais compensando / estuvieseis compensando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera compensando / estuviese compensando |
| Vos | estuvieras compensando / estuvieses compensando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere compensando |
| Tú | estuvieres compensando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere compensando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos compensando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis compensando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere compensando |
| Vos | estuvieres compensando |
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 compensás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos compensaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos compensabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos compensarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos compensarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos compenses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos compensaras / Vos compensase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos compensá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no compenses |