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Constituir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to constitute, form, make up”.
Below are all of the conjugations for constituir 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 constitute, form, make up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | constituir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está constituyendo) and past continuous (estaba constituyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. constituting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he constituido and hubiera constituido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have constituted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | constituyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | constituido |
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 constitute” or “they constitute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | constituyo |
| Tú | constituyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituye |
| Nosotros / as | constituimos |
| Vosotros / as | constituís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituyen |
| Vos | constituís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I constituted” or “she constituted” 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 | constituí | I constituted |
| Tú | constituiste | You constituted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituyó | He / she / you constituted |
| Nosotros / as | constituimos | We constituted |
| Vosotros / as | constituisteis | You constituted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituyeron | They / you constituted |
| Vos | constituiste | You constituted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was constituting” or “she was constituting” 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 | constituía | I was constituting |
| Tú | constituías | You were constituting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituía | He was / she was / you were constituting |
| Nosotros / as | constituíamos | We were constituting |
| Vosotros / as | constituíais | You were constituting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituían | They / you were constituting |
| Vos | constituías | You were constituting |
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 constituted” and “she has constituted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he constituido | I have constituted |
| Tú | has constituido | You have constituted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha constituido | He has / she has / you have constituted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos constituido | We have constituted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis constituido | You have constituted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han constituido | They / you have constituted |
| Vos | has constituido | You have constituted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would constitute” or “she would constitute”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | constituiría | I would constitute |
| Tú | constituirías | You would constitute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituiría | He / she / you would constitute |
| Nosotros / as | constituiríamos | We would constitute |
| Vosotros / as | constituiríais | You would constitute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituirían | They / you would constitute |
| Vos | constituirías | You would constitute |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will constitute” or “they will constitute”.
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 constituir” means “They are going to constitute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | constituiré | I will constitute |
| Tú | constituirás | You will constitute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituirá | He / she / you will constitute |
| Nosotros / as | constituiremos | We will constitute |
| Vosotros / as | constituiréis | You will constitute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituirán | They / you will constitute |
| Vos | constituirás | You will constitute |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | constituya |
| Tú | constituyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituya |
| Nosotros / as | constituyamos |
| Vosotros / as | constituyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituyan |
| Vos | constituyas |
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 | constituyera | constituyese |
| Tú | constituyeras | constituyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituyera | constituyese |
| Nosotros / as | constituyéramos | constituyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | constituyerais | constituyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituyeran | constituyesen |
| Vos | constituyeras | constituyese |
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 | constituyere |
| Tú | constituyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituyera |
| Nosotros / as | constituyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | constituyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituyeren |
| Vos | constituyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “constitute!” and “don’t constitute!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | constituye | no constituyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constituya | no constituya |
| Nosotros / as | constituyamos | no constituyamos |
| Vosotros / as | constituid | no constituyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constituyan | no constituyan |
| Vos | constituí | no constituyas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya constituido |
| Tú | hayas constituido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya constituido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos constituido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis constituido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan constituido |
| Vos | hayas constituido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera constituido / hubiese constituido |
| Tú | hubieras constituido / hubieses constituido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera constituido / hubiese constituido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos constituido / hubiésemos constituido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais constituido / hubieseis constituido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran constituido / hubiesen constituido |
| Vos | hubieras constituido / hubieses constituido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere constituido |
| Tú | hubieres constituido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere constituido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos constituido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis constituido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren constituido |
| Vos | hubieres constituido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté constituyendo |
| Tú | estés constituyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté constituyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos constituyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis constituyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén constituyendo |
| Vos | estés constituyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera constituyendo / estuviese constituyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras constituyendo / estuvieses constituyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera constituyendo / estuviese constituyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos constituyendo / estuviésamos constituyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais constituyendo / estuvieseis constituyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera constituyendo / estuviese constituyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras constituyendo / estuvieses constituyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere constituyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres constituyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere constituyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos constituyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis constituyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere constituyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres constituyendo |
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 constituís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos constituiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos constituías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos constituirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos constituirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos constituyas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos constituyeras / Vos constituyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos constituí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no constituyas |