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Contrastar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to contrast”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contrastar 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 contrast |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contrastar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contrastando) and past continuous (estaba contrastando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. contrasting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contrastado and hubiera contrastado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have contrasted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contrastando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contrastado |
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 contrast” or “they contrast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contrasto |
| Tú | contrastas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrasta |
| Nosotros / as | contrastamos |
| Vosotros / as | contrastáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastan |
| Vos | contrastás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I contrasted” or “she contrasted” 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 | contrasté | I contrasted |
| Tú | contrastaste | You contrasted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrastó | He / she / you contrasted |
| Nosotros / as | contrastamos | We contrasted |
| Vosotros / as | contrastasteis | You contrasted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastaron | They / you contrasted |
| Vos | contrastaste | You contrasted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was contrasting” or “she was contrasting” 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 | contrastaba | I was contrasting |
| Tú | contrastabas | You were contrasting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrastaba | He was / she was / you were contrasting |
| Nosotros / as | contrastábamos | We were contrasting |
| Vosotros / as | contrastabais | You were contrasting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastaban | They / you were contrasting |
| Vos | contrastabas | You were contrasting |
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 contrasted” and “she has contrasted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contrastado | I have contrasted |
| Tú | has contrastado | You have contrasted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contrastado | He has / she has / you have contrasted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contrastado | We have contrasted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contrastado | You have contrasted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contrastado | They / you have contrasted |
| Vos | has contrastado | You have contrasted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would contrast” or “she would contrast”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contrastaría | I would contrast |
| Tú | contrastarías | You would contrast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrastaría | He / she / you would contrast |
| Nosotros / as | contrastaríamos | We would contrast |
| Vosotros / as | contrastaríais | You would contrast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastarían | They / you would contrast |
| Vos | contrastarías | You would contrast |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will contrast” or “they will contrast”.
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 contrastar” means “They are going to contrast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contrastaré | I will contrast |
| Tú | contrastarás | You will contrast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrastará | He / she / you will contrast |
| Nosotros / as | contrastaremos | We will contrast |
| Vosotros / as | contrastaréis | You will contrast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastarán | They / you will contrast |
| Vos | contrastarás | You will contrast |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contraste |
| Tú | contrastes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraste |
| Nosotros / as | contrastemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrastéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrasten |
| Vos | contrastes |
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 | contrastara | contrastase |
| Tú | contrastaras | contrastase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrastara | contrastase |
| Nosotros / as | contrastáramos | contrastásemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrastarais | contrastaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastaran | contrastasen |
| Vos | contrastaras | contrastase |
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 | contrastare |
| Tú | contrastares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrastare |
| Nosotros / as | contrastáremos |
| Vosotros / as | contrastareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrastaren |
| Vos | contrastares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “contrast!” and “don’t contrast!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contrasta | no contrastes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraste | no contraste |
| Nosotros / as | contrastemos | no contrastemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrastad | no contrastéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrasten | no contrasten |
| Vos | contrastá | no contrastes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contrastado |
| Tú | hayas contrastado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contrastado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contrastado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contrastado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contrastado |
| Vos | hayas contrastado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contrastado / hubiese contrastado |
| Tú | hubieras contrastado / hubieses contrastado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contrastado / hubiese contrastado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contrastado / hubiésemos contrastado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contrastado / hubieseis contrastado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contrastado / hubiesen contrastado |
| Vos | hubieras contrastado / hubieses contrastado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contrastado |
| Tú | hubieres contrastado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contrastado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contrastado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contrastado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contrastado |
| Vos | hubieres contrastado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contrastando |
| Tú | estés contrastando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contrastando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contrastando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contrastando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contrastando |
| Vos | estés contrastando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contrastando / estuviese contrastando |
| Tú | estuvieras contrastando / estuvieses contrastando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contrastando / estuviese contrastando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contrastando / estuviésamos contrastando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contrastando / estuvieseis contrastando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contrastando / estuviese contrastando |
| Vos | estuvieras contrastando / estuvieses contrastando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contrastando |
| Tú | estuvieres contrastando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contrastando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contrastando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contrastando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contrastando |
| Vos | estuvieres contrastando |
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 contrastás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contrastaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contrastabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contrastarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contrastarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contrastes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contrastaras / Vos contrastase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contrastá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contrastes |