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Contagiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to give or spread (a disease, enthusiasm)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contagiar 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 give or spread (a disease, enthusiasm) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contagiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contagiando) and past continuous (estaba contagiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. spreading a disease).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contagiado and hubiera contagiado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have spread a disease).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contagiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contagiado |
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 spread a disease” or “they spread a disease”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contagio |
| Tú | contagias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagia |
| Nosotros / as | contagiamos |
| Vosotros / as | contagiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagian |
| Vos | contagás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I spread a disease” or “she spread a disease” 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 | contagié | I spread a disease |
| Tú | contagiaste | You spread a disease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagió | He / she / you spread a disease |
| Nosotros / as | contagiamos | We spread a disease |
| Vosotros / as | contagiasteis | You spread a disease |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagiaron | They / you spread a disease |
| Vos | contagiaste | You spread a disease |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was spreading a disease” or “she was spreading a disease” 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 | contagiaba | I was spreading a disease |
| Tú | contagiabas | You were spreading a disease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagiaba | He was / she was / you were spreading a disease |
| Nosotros / as | contagiábamos | We were spreading a disease |
| Vosotros / as | contagiabais | You were spreading a disease |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagiaban | They / you were spreading a disease |
| Vos | contagiabas | You were spreading a disease |
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 spread a disease” and “she has spread a disease”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contagiado | I have spread a disease |
| Tú | has contagiado | You have spread a disease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contagiado | He has / she has / you have spread a disease |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contagiado | We have spread a disease |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contagiado | You have spread a disease |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contagiado | They / you have spread a disease |
| Vos | has contagiado | You have spread a disease |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would spread a disease” or “she would spread a disease”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contagiaría | I would spread a disease |
| Tú | contagiarías | You would spread a disease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagiaría | He / she / you would spread a disease |
| Nosotros / as | contagiaríamos | We would spread a disease |
| Vosotros / as | contagiaríais | You would spread a disease |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagiarían | They / you would spread a disease |
| Vos | contagiarías | You would spread a disease |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will spread a disease” or “they will spread a disease”.
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 contagiar” means “They are going to spread a disease”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contagiaré | I will spread a disease |
| Tú | contagiarás | You will spread a disease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagiará | He / she / you will spread a disease |
| Nosotros / as | contagiaremos | We will spread a disease |
| Vosotros / as | contagiaréis | You will spread a disease |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagiarán | They / you will spread a disease |
| Vos | contagiarás | You will spread a disease |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contagie |
| Tú | contagies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagie |
| Nosotros / as | contagiemos |
| Vosotros / as | contagiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagien |
| Vos | contagies |
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 | contagiara | contagiase |
| Tú | contagiaras | contagiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagiara | contagiase |
| Nosotros / as | contagiáramos | contagiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | contagiarais | contagiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagiaran | contagiasen |
| Vos | contagiaras | contagiase |
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 | contagiare |
| Tú | contagiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagiare |
| Nosotros / as | contagiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | contagiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagiaren |
| Vos | contagiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “spread a disease!” and “don’t spread a disease!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contagia | no contagies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contagie | no contagie |
| Nosotros / as | contagiemos | no contagiemos |
| Vosotros / as | contagiad | no contagiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contagien | no contagien |
| Vos | contagá | no contagies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contagiado |
| Tú | hayas contagiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contagiado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contagiado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contagiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contagiado |
| Vos | hayas contagiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contagiado / hubiese contagiado |
| Tú | hubieras contagiado / hubieses contagiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contagiado / hubiese contagiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contagiado / hubiésemos contagiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contagiado / hubieseis contagiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contagiado / hubiesen contagiado |
| Vos | hubieras contagiado / hubieses contagiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contagiado |
| Tú | hubieres contagiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contagiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contagiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contagiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contagiado |
| Vos | hubieres contagiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contagiando |
| Tú | estés contagiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contagiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contagiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contagiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contagiando |
| Vos | estés contagiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contagiando / estuviese contagiando |
| Tú | estuvieras contagiando / estuvieses contagiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contagiando / estuviese contagiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contagiando / estuviésamos contagiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contagiando / estuvieseis contagiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contagiando / estuviese contagiando |
| Vos | estuvieras contagiando / estuvieses contagiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contagiando |
| Tú | estuvieres contagiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contagiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contagiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contagiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contagiando |
| Vos | estuvieres contagiando |
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 contagás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contagiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contagiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contagiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contagiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contagies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contagiaras / Vos contagiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contagá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contagies |