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Continuar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to continue”.
Below are all of the conjugations for continuar 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 continue |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | continuar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está continuando) and past continuous (estaba continuando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. continuing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he continuado and hubiera continuado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have continued).
| Gerundio / Gerund | continuando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | continuado |
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 continue” or “they continue”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | continúo |
| Tú | continúas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continúa |
| Nosotros / as | continuamos |
| Vosotros / as | continuáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continúan |
| Vos | continuás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I continued” or “she continued” 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 | continué | I continued |
| Tú | continuaste | You continued |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continuó | He / she / you continued |
| Nosotros / as | continuamos | We continued |
| Vosotros / as | continuasteis | You continued |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continuaron | They / you continued |
| Vos | continuaste | You continued |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was continuing” or “she was continuing” 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 | continuaba | I was continuing |
| Tú | continuabas | You were continuing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continuaba | He was / she was / you were continuing |
| Nosotros / as | continuábamos | We were continuing |
| Vosotros / as | continuabais | You were continuing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continuaban | They / you were continuing |
| Vos | continuabas | You were continuing |
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 continued” and “she has continued”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he continuado | I have continued |
| Tú | has continuado | You have continued |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha continuado | He has / she has / you have continued |
| Nosotros / as | hemos continuado | We have continued |
| Vosotros / as | habéis continuado | You have continued |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han continuado | They / you have continued |
| Vos | has continuado | You have continued |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would continue” or “she would continue”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | continuaría | I would continue |
| Tú | continuarías | You would continue |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continuaría | He / she / you would continue |
| Nosotros / as | continuaríamos | We would continue |
| Vosotros / as | continuaríais | You would continue |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continuarían | They / you would continue |
| Vos | continuarías | You would continue |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will continue” or “they will continue”.
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 continuar” means “They are going to continue”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | continuaré | I will continue |
| Tú | continuarás | You will continue |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continuará | He / she / you will continue |
| Nosotros / as | continuaremos | We will continue |
| Vosotros / as | continuaréis | You will continue |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continuarán | They / you will continue |
| Vos | continuarás | You will continue |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | continúe |
| Tú | continúes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continúe |
| Nosotros / as | continuemos |
| Vosotros / as | continuéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continúen |
| Vos | continúes |
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 | continuara | continuase |
| Tú | continuaras | continuase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continuara | continuase |
| Nosotros / as | continuáramos | continuásemos |
| Vosotros / as | continuarais | continuaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continuaran | continuasen |
| Vos | continuaras | continuase |
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 | continuare |
| Tú | continuares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continuare |
| Nosotros / as | continuáremos |
| Vosotros / as | continuareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continuaren |
| Vos | continuares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “continue!” and “don’t continue!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | continúa | no continúes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | continúe | no continúe |
| Nosotros / as | continuemos | no continuemos |
| Vosotros / as | continuad | no continuéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | continúen | no continúen |
| Vos | continuá | no continúes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya continuado |
| Tú | hayas continuado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya continuado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos continuado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis continuado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan continuado |
| Vos | hayas continuado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera continuado / hubiese continuado |
| Tú | hubieras continuado / hubieses continuado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera continuado / hubiese continuado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos continuado / hubiésemos continuado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais continuado / hubieseis continuado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran continuado / hubiesen continuado |
| Vos | hubieras continuado / hubieses continuado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere continuado |
| Tú | hubieres continuado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere continuado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos continuado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis continuado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren continuado |
| Vos | hubieres continuado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté continuando |
| Tú | estés continuando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté continuando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos continuando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis continuando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén continuando |
| Vos | estés continuando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera continuando / estuviese continuando |
| Tú | estuvieras continuando / estuvieses continuando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera continuando / estuviese continuando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos continuando / estuviésamos continuando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais continuando / estuvieseis continuando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera continuando / estuviese continuando |
| Vos | estuvieras continuando / estuvieses continuando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere continuando |
| Tú | estuvieres continuando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere continuando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos continuando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis continuando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere continuando |
| Vos | estuvieres continuando |
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 continuás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos continuaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos continuabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos continuarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos continuarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos continúes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos continuaras / Vos continuase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos continuá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no continúes |