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Contaminar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to pollute, contaminate, corrupt”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contaminar 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 pollute, contaminate, corrupt |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contaminar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contaminando) and past continuous (estaba contaminando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. polluting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contaminado and hubiera contaminado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have polluted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contaminando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contaminado |
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 pollute” or “they pollute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contamino |
| Tú | contaminas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contamina |
| Nosotros / as | contaminamos |
| Vosotros / as | contamináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminan |
| Vos | contaminás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I polluted” or “she polluted” 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 | contaminé | I polluted |
| Tú | contaminaste | You polluted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaminó | He / she / you polluted |
| Nosotros / as | contaminamos | We polluted |
| Vosotros / as | contaminasteis | You polluted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminaron | They / you polluted |
| Vos | contaminaste | You polluted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was polluting” or “she was polluting” 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 | contaminaba | I was polluting |
| Tú | contaminabas | You were polluting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaminaba | He was / she was / you were polluting |
| Nosotros / as | contaminábamos | We were polluting |
| Vosotros / as | contaminabais | You were polluting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminaban | They / you were polluting |
| Vos | contaminabas | You were polluting |
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 polluted” and “she has polluted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contaminado | I have polluted |
| Tú | has contaminado | You have polluted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contaminado | He has / she has / you have polluted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contaminado | We have polluted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contaminado | You have polluted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contaminado | They / you have polluted |
| Vos | has contaminado | You have polluted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would pollute” or “she would pollute”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contaminaría | I would pollute |
| Tú | contaminarías | You would pollute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaminaría | He / she / you would pollute |
| Nosotros / as | contaminaríamos | We would pollute |
| Vosotros / as | contaminaríais | You would pollute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminarían | They / you would pollute |
| Vos | contaminarías | You would pollute |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will pollute” or “they will pollute”.
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 contaminar” means “They are going to pollute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contaminaré | I will pollute |
| Tú | contaminarás | You will pollute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaminará | He / she / you will pollute |
| Nosotros / as | contaminaremos | We will pollute |
| Vosotros / as | contaminaréis | You will pollute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminarán | They / you will pollute |
| Vos | contaminarás | You will pollute |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contamine |
| Tú | contamines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contamine |
| Nosotros / as | contaminemos |
| Vosotros / as | contaminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminen |
| Vos | contamines |
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 | contaminara | contaminase |
| Tú | contaminaras | contaminase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaminara | contaminase |
| Nosotros / as | contamináramos | contaminásemos |
| Vosotros / as | contaminarais | contaminaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminaran | contaminasen |
| Vos | contaminaras | contaminase |
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 | contaminare |
| Tú | contaminares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaminare |
| Nosotros / as | contamináremos |
| Vosotros / as | contaminareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminaren |
| Vos | contaminares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “pollute!” and “don’t pollute!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contamina | no contamines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contamine | no contamine |
| Nosotros / as | contaminemos | no contaminemos |
| Vosotros / as | contaminad | no contaminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaminen | no contaminen |
| Vos | contaminá | no contamines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contaminado |
| Tú | hayas contaminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contaminado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contaminado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contaminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contaminado |
| Vos | hayas contaminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contaminado / hubiese contaminado |
| Tú | hubieras contaminado / hubieses contaminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contaminado / hubiese contaminado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contaminado / hubiésemos contaminado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contaminado / hubieseis contaminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contaminado / hubiesen contaminado |
| Vos | hubieras contaminado / hubieses contaminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contaminado |
| Tú | hubieres contaminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contaminado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contaminado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contaminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contaminado |
| Vos | hubieres contaminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contaminando |
| Tú | estés contaminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contaminando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contaminando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contaminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contaminando |
| Vos | estés contaminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contaminando / estuviese contaminando |
| Tú | estuvieras contaminando / estuvieses contaminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contaminando / estuviese contaminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contaminando / estuviésamos contaminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contaminando / estuvieseis contaminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contaminando / estuviese contaminando |
| Vos | estuvieras contaminando / estuvieses contaminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contaminando |
| Tú | estuvieres contaminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contaminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contaminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contaminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contaminando |
| Vos | estuvieres contaminando |
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 contaminás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contaminaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contaminabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contaminarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contaminarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contamines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contaminaras / Vos contaminase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contaminá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contamines |