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Constar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be clear, consist of”.
Below are all of the conjugations for constar 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 be clear, consist of |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | constar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está constando) and past continuous (estaba constando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being clear).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he constado and hubiera constado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been clear).
| Gerundio / Gerund | constando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | constado |
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 be clear” or “they be clear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | consto |
| Tú | constas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consta |
| Nosotros / as | constamos |
| Vosotros / as | constáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constan |
| Vos | constás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was clear” or “she was clear” 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 | consté | I was clear |
| Tú | constaste | You was clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constó | He / she / you was clear |
| Nosotros / as | constamos | We was clear |
| Vosotros / as | constasteis | You was clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constaron | They / you was clear |
| Vos | constaste | You was clear |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being clear” or “she was being clear” 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 | constaba | I was being clear |
| Tú | constabas | You were being clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constaba | He was / she was / you were being clear |
| Nosotros / as | constábamos | We were being clear |
| Vosotros / as | constabais | You were being clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constaban | They / you were being clear |
| Vos | constabas | You were being clear |
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 been clear” and “she has been clear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he constado | I have been clear |
| Tú | has constado | You have been clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha constado | He has / she has / you have been clear |
| Nosotros / as | hemos constado | We have been clear |
| Vosotros / as | habéis constado | You have been clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han constado | They / you have been clear |
| Vos | has constado | You have been clear |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be clear” or “she would be clear”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | constaría | I would be clear |
| Tú | constarías | You would be clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constaría | He / she / you would be clear |
| Nosotros / as | constaríamos | We would be clear |
| Vosotros / as | constaríais | You would be clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constarían | They / you would be clear |
| Vos | constarías | You would be clear |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be clear” or “they will be clear”.
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 constar” means “They are going to be clear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | constaré | I will be clear |
| Tú | constarás | You will be clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constará | He / she / you will be clear |
| Nosotros / as | constaremos | We will be clear |
| Vosotros / as | constaréis | You will be clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constarán | They / you will be clear |
| Vos | constarás | You will be clear |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | conste |
| Tú | constes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conste |
| Nosotros / as | constemos |
| Vosotros / as | constéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consten |
| Vos | constes |
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 | constara | constase |
| Tú | constaras | constase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constara | constase |
| Nosotros / as | constáramos | constásemos |
| Vosotros / as | constarais | constaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constaran | constasen |
| Vos | constaras | constase |
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 | constare |
| Tú | constares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constare |
| Nosotros / as | constáremos |
| Vosotros / as | constareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constaren |
| Vos | constares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be clear!” and “don’t be clear!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | consta | no constes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conste | no conste |
| Nosotros / as | constemos | no constemos |
| Vosotros / as | constad | no constéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consten | no consten |
| Vos | constá | no constes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya constado |
| Tú | hayas constado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya constado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos constado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis constado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan constado |
| Vos | hayas constado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera constado / hubiese constado |
| Tú | hubieras constado / hubieses constado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera constado / hubiese constado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos constado / hubiésemos constado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais constado / hubieseis constado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran constado / hubiesen constado |
| Vos | hubieras constado / hubieses constado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere constado |
| Tú | hubieres constado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere constado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos constado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis constado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren constado |
| Vos | hubieres constado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté constando |
| Tú | estés constando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté constando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos constando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis constando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén constando |
| Vos | estés constando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera constando / estuviese constando |
| Tú | estuvieras constando / estuvieses constando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera constando / estuviese constando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos constando / estuviésamos constando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais constando / estuvieseis constando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera constando / estuviese constando |
| Vos | estuvieras constando / estuvieses constando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere constando |
| Tú | estuvieres constando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere constando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos constando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis constando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere constando |
| Vos | estuvieres constando |
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 constás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos constaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos constabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos constarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos constarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos constes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos constaras / Vos constase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos constá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no constes |