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Contradecir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to contradict, oppose, contradict oneself”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contradecir 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 contradict, oppose, contradict oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contradecir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contradiciendo) and past continuous (estaba contradiciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. contradicting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contradicho and hubiera contradicho. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have contradicted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contradiciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contradicho |
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 contradict” or “they contradict”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contradigo |
| Tú | contradices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradice |
| Nosotros / as | contradecimos |
| Vosotros / as | contradecís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradicen |
| Vos | contradecís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I contradicted” or “she contradicted” 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 | contradije | I contradicted |
| Tú | contradijiste | You contradicted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradijo | He / she / you contradicted |
| Nosotros / as | contradijimos | We contradicted |
| Vosotros / as | contradijisteis | You contradicted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradijeron | They / you contradicted |
| Vos | contradijiste | You contradicted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was contradicting” or “she was contradicting” 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 | contradecía | I was contradicting |
| Tú | contradecías | You were contradicting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradecía | He was / she was / you were contradicting |
| Nosotros / as | contradecíamos | We were contradicting |
| Vosotros / as | contradecíais | You were contradicting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradecían | They / you were contradicting |
| Vos | contradecías | You were contradicting |
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 contradicted” and “she has contradicted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contradicho | I have contradicted |
| Tú | has contradicho | You have contradicted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contradicho | He has / she has / you have contradicted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contradicho | We have contradicted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contradicho | You have contradicted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contradicho | They / you have contradicted |
| Vos | has contradicho | You have contradicted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would contradict” or “she would contradict”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contradiría | I would contradict |
| Tú | contradirías | You would contradict |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradiría | He / she / you would contradict |
| Nosotros / as | contradiríamos | We would contradict |
| Vosotros / as | contradiríais | You would contradict |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradirían | They / you would contradict |
| Vos | contradirías | You would contradict |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will contradict” or “they will contradict”.
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 contradecir” means “They are going to contradict”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contradiré | I will contradict |
| Tú | contradirás | You will contradict |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradirá | He / she / you will contradict |
| Nosotros / as | contradiremos | We will contradict |
| Vosotros / as | contradiréis | You will contradict |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradirán | They / you will contradict |
| Vos | contradirás | You will contradict |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contradiga |
| Tú | contradigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradiga |
| Nosotros / as | contradigamos |
| Vosotros / as | contradigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradigan |
| Vos | contradigas |
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 | contradijera | contradijese |
| Tú | contradijeras | contradijese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradijera | contradijese |
| Nosotros / as | contradijéramos | contradijésemos |
| Vosotros / as | contradijerais | contradijeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradijeran | contradijesen |
| Vos | contradijeras | contradijese |
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 | contradijere |
| Tú | contradijeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradijera |
| Nosotros / as | contradijéremos |
| Vosotros / as | contradijereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradijeren |
| Vos | contradijeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “contradict!” and “don’t contradict!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contradi | no contradigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contradiga | no contradiga |
| Nosotros / as | contradigamos | no contradigamos |
| Vosotros / as | contradecid | no contradigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contradigan | no contradigan |
| Vos | contradecí | no contradigas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contradicho |
| Tú | hayas contradicho |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contradicho |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contradicho |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contradicho |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contradicho |
| Vos | hayas contradicho |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contradicho / hubiese contradicho |
| Tú | hubieras contradicho / hubieses contradicho |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contradicho / hubiese contradicho |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contradicho / hubiésemos contradicho |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contradicho / hubieseis contradicho |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contradicho / hubiesen contradicho |
| Vos | hubieras contradicho / hubieses contradicho |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contradicho |
| Tú | hubieres contradicho |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contradicho |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contradicho |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contradicho |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contradicho |
| Vos | hubieres contradicho |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contradiciendo |
| Tú | estés contradiciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contradiciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contradiciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contradiciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contradiciendo |
| Vos | estés contradiciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contradiciendo / estuviese contradiciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras contradiciendo / estuvieses contradiciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contradiciendo / estuviese contradiciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contradiciendo / estuviésamos contradiciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contradiciendo / estuvieseis contradiciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contradiciendo / estuviese contradiciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras contradiciendo / estuvieses contradiciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contradiciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres contradiciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contradiciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contradiciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contradiciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contradiciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres contradiciendo |
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 contradecís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contradijiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contradecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contradirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contradirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contradigas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contradijeras / Vos contradijese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contradecí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contradigas |