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Complicar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to complicate, involve”.
Below are all of the conjugations for complicar 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 complicate, involve |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | complicar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está complicando) and past continuous (estaba complicando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. complicating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he complicado and hubiera complicado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have complicated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | complicando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | complicado |
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 complicate” or “they complicate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | complico |
| Tú | complicas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complica |
| Nosotros / as | complicamos |
| Vosotros / as | complicáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complican |
| Vos | complicás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I complicated” or “she complicated” 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 | compliqué | I complicated |
| Tú | complicaste | You complicated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complicó | He / she / you complicated |
| Nosotros / as | complicamos | We complicated |
| Vosotros / as | complicasteis | You complicated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complicaron | They / you complicated |
| Vos | complicaste | You complicated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was complicating” or “she was complicating” 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 | complicaba | I was complicating |
| Tú | complicabas | You were complicating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complicaba | He was / she was / you were complicating |
| Nosotros / as | complicábamos | We were complicating |
| Vosotros / as | complicabais | You were complicating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complicaban | They / you were complicating |
| Vos | complicabas | You were complicating |
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 complicated” and “she has complicated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he complicado | I have complicated |
| Tú | has complicado | You have complicated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha complicado | He has / she has / you have complicated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos complicado | We have complicated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis complicado | You have complicated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han complicado | They / you have complicated |
| Vos | has complicado | You have complicated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would complicate” or “she would complicate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | complicaría | I would complicate |
| Tú | complicarías | You would complicate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complicaría | He / she / you would complicate |
| Nosotros / as | complicaríamos | We would complicate |
| Vosotros / as | complicaríais | You would complicate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complicarían | They / you would complicate |
| Vos | complicarías | You would complicate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will complicate” or “they will complicate”.
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 complicar” means “They are going to complicate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | complicaré | I will complicate |
| Tú | complicarás | You will complicate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complicará | He / she / you will complicate |
| Nosotros / as | complicaremos | We will complicate |
| Vosotros / as | complicaréis | You will complicate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complicarán | They / you will complicate |
| Vos | complicarás | You will complicate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | complique |
| Tú | compliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complique |
| Nosotros / as | compliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | compliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compliquen |
| Vos | compliques |
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 | complicara | complicase |
| Tú | complicaras | complicase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complicara | complicase |
| Nosotros / as | complicáramos | complicásemos |
| Vosotros / as | complicarais | complicaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complicaran | complicasen |
| Vos | complicaras | complicase |
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 | complicare |
| Tú | complicares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complicare |
| Nosotros / as | complicáremos |
| Vosotros / as | complicareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | complicaren |
| Vos | complicares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “complicate!” and “don’t complicate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | complica | no compliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | complique | no complique |
| Nosotros / as | compliquemos | no compliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | complicad | no compliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compliquen | no compliquen |
| Vos | complicá | no compliques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya complicado |
| Tú | hayas complicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya complicado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos complicado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis complicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan complicado |
| Vos | hayas complicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera complicado / hubiese complicado |
| Tú | hubieras complicado / hubieses complicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera complicado / hubiese complicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos complicado / hubiésemos complicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais complicado / hubieseis complicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran complicado / hubiesen complicado |
| Vos | hubieras complicado / hubieses complicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere complicado |
| Tú | hubieres complicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere complicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos complicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis complicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren complicado |
| Vos | hubieres complicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté complicando |
| Tú | estés complicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté complicando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos complicando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis complicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén complicando |
| Vos | estés complicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera complicando / estuviese complicando |
| Tú | estuvieras complicando / estuvieses complicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera complicando / estuviese complicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos complicando / estuviésamos complicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais complicando / estuvieseis complicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera complicando / estuviese complicando |
| Vos | estuvieras complicando / estuvieses complicando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere complicando |
| Tú | estuvieres complicando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere complicando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos complicando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis complicando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere complicando |
| Vos | estuvieres complicando |
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 complicás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos complicaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos complicabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos complicarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos complicarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos compliques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos complicaras / Vos complicase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos complicá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no compliques |