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Contratar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to hire, contract”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contratar 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 hire, contract |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contratar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contratando) and past continuous (estaba contratando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. hiring).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contratado and hubiera contratado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have hired).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contratando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contratado |
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 hire” or “they hire”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contrato |
| Tú | contratas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrata |
| Nosotros / as | contratamos |
| Vosotros / as | contratáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contratan |
| Vos | contratás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I hired” or “she hired” 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 | contraté | I hired |
| Tú | contrataste | You hired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrató | He / she / you hired |
| Nosotros / as | contratamos | We hired |
| Vosotros / as | contratasteis | You hired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrataron | They / you hired |
| Vos | contrataste | You hired |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was hiring” or “she was hiring” 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 | contrataba | I was hiring |
| Tú | contratabas | You were hiring |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrataba | He was / she was / you were hiring |
| Nosotros / as | contratábamos | We were hiring |
| Vosotros / as | contratabais | You were hiring |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrataban | They / you were hiring |
| Vos | contratabas | You were hiring |
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 hired” and “she has hired”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contratado | I have hired |
| Tú | has contratado | You have hired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contratado | He has / she has / you have hired |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contratado | We have hired |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contratado | You have hired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contratado | They / you have hired |
| Vos | has contratado | You have hired |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would hire” or “she would hire”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contrataría | I would hire |
| Tú | contratarías | You would hire |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrataría | He / she / you would hire |
| Nosotros / as | contrataríamos | We would hire |
| Vosotros / as | contrataríais | You would hire |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contratarían | They / you would hire |
| Vos | contratarías | You would hire |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will hire” or “they will hire”.
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 contratar” means “They are going to hire”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contrataré | I will hire |
| Tú | contratarás | You will hire |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contratará | He / she / you will hire |
| Nosotros / as | contrataremos | We will hire |
| Vosotros / as | contrataréis | You will hire |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contratarán | They / you will hire |
| Vos | contratarás | You will hire |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contrate |
| Tú | contrates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrate |
| Nosotros / as | contratemos |
| Vosotros / as | contratéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraten |
| Vos | contrates |
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 | contratara | contratase |
| Tú | contrataras | contratase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contratara | contratase |
| Nosotros / as | contratáramos | contratásemos |
| Vosotros / as | contratarais | contrataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrataran | contratasen |
| Vos | contrataras | contratase |
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 | contratare |
| Tú | contratares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contratare |
| Nosotros / as | contratáremos |
| Vosotros / as | contratareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrataren |
| Vos | contratares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “hire!” and “don’t hire!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contrata | no contrates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrate | no contrate |
| Nosotros / as | contratemos | no contratemos |
| Vosotros / as | contratad | no contratéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraten | no contraten |
| Vos | contratá | no contrates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contratado |
| Tú | hayas contratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contratado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contratado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contratado |
| Vos | hayas contratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contratado / hubiese contratado |
| Tú | hubieras contratado / hubieses contratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contratado / hubiese contratado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contratado / hubiésemos contratado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contratado / hubieseis contratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contratado / hubiesen contratado |
| Vos | hubieras contratado / hubieses contratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contratado |
| Tú | hubieres contratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contratado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contratado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contratado |
| Vos | hubieres contratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contratando |
| Tú | estés contratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contratando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contratando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contratando |
| Vos | estés contratando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contratando / estuviese contratando |
| Tú | estuvieras contratando / estuvieses contratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contratando / estuviese contratando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contratando / estuviésamos contratando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contratando / estuvieseis contratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contratando / estuviese contratando |
| Vos | estuvieras contratando / estuvieses contratando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contratando |
| Tú | estuvieres contratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contratando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contratando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contratando |
| Vos | estuvieres contratando |
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 contratás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contrataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contratabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contratarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contratarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contrates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contrataras / Vos contratase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contratá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contrates |