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Contrariar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to oppose, go against, contradict”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contrariar 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 oppose, go against, contradict |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contrariar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contrariando) and past continuous (estaba contrariando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. opposing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contrariado and hubiera contrariado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have opposed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contrariando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contrariado |
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 oppose” or “they oppose”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contrarío |
| Tú | contrarías |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraría |
| Nosotros / as | contrariamos |
| Vosotros / as | contrariáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrarían |
| Vos | contrariás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I opposed” or “she opposed” 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 | contrarié | I opposed |
| Tú | contrariaste | You opposed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrarió | He / she / you opposed |
| Nosotros / as | contrariamos | We opposed |
| Vosotros / as | contrariasteis | You opposed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrariaron | They / you opposed |
| Vos | contrariaste | You opposed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was opposing” or “she was opposing” 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 | contrariaba | I was opposing |
| Tú | contrariabas | You were opposing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrariaba | He was / she was / you were opposing |
| Nosotros / as | contrariábamos | We were opposing |
| Vosotros / as | contrariabais | You were opposing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrariaban | They / you were opposing |
| Vos | contrariabas | You were opposing |
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 opposed” and “she has opposed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contrariado | I have opposed |
| Tú | has contrariado | You have opposed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contrariado | He has / she has / you have opposed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contrariado | We have opposed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contrariado | You have opposed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contrariado | They / you have opposed |
| Vos | has contrariado | You have opposed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would oppose” or “she would oppose”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contrariaría | I would oppose |
| Tú | contrariarías | You would oppose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrariaría | He / she / you would oppose |
| Nosotros / as | contrariaríamos | We would oppose |
| Vosotros / as | contrariaríais | You would oppose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrariarían | They / you would oppose |
| Vos | contrariarías | You would oppose |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will oppose” or “they will oppose”.
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 contrariar” means “They are going to oppose”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contrariaré | I will oppose |
| Tú | contrariarás | You will oppose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrariará | He / she / you will oppose |
| Nosotros / as | contrariaremos | We will oppose |
| Vosotros / as | contrariaréis | You will oppose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrariarán | They / you will oppose |
| Vos | contrariarás | You will oppose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contraríe |
| Tú | contraríes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraríe |
| Nosotros / as | contrariemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrariéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraríen |
| Vos | contraríes |
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 | contrariara | contrariase |
| Tú | contrariaras | contrariase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrariara | contrariase |
| Nosotros / as | contrariáramos | contrariásemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrariarais | contrariaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrariaran | contrariasen |
| Vos | contrariaras | contrariase |
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 | contrariare |
| Tú | contrariares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrariare |
| Nosotros / as | contrariáremos |
| Vosotros / as | contrariareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrariaren |
| Vos | contrariares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “oppose!” and “don’t oppose!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contraría | no contraríes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraríe | no contraríe |
| Nosotros / as | contrariemos | no contrariemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrariad | no contrariéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraríen | no contraríen |
| Vos | contrariá | no contraríes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contrariado |
| Tú | hayas contrariado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contrariado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contrariado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contrariado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contrariado |
| Vos | hayas contrariado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contrariado / hubiese contrariado |
| Tú | hubieras contrariado / hubieses contrariado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contrariado / hubiese contrariado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contrariado / hubiésemos contrariado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contrariado / hubieseis contrariado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contrariado / hubiesen contrariado |
| Vos | hubieras contrariado / hubieses contrariado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contrariado |
| Tú | hubieres contrariado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contrariado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contrariado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contrariado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contrariado |
| Vos | hubieres contrariado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contrariando |
| Tú | estés contrariando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contrariando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contrariando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contrariando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contrariando |
| Vos | estés contrariando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contrariando / estuviese contrariando |
| Tú | estuvieras contrariando / estuvieses contrariando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contrariando / estuviese contrariando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contrariando / estuviésamos contrariando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contrariando / estuvieseis contrariando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contrariando / estuviese contrariando |
| Vos | estuvieras contrariando / estuvieses contrariando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contrariando |
| Tú | estuvieres contrariando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contrariando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contrariando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contrariando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contrariando |
| Vos | estuvieres contrariando |
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 contrariás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contrariaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contrariabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contrariarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contrariarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contraríes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contrariaras / Vos contrariase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contrariá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contraríes |