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Controlar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to control, inspect, govern”.
Below are all of the conjugations for controlar 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 control, inspect, govern |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | controlar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está controlando) and past continuous (estaba controlando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. controlling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he controlado and hubiera controlado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have controlled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | controlando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | controlado |
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 control” or “they control”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | controlo |
| Tú | controlas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controla |
| Nosotros / as | controlamos |
| Vosotros / as | controláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlan |
| Vos | controlás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I controlled” or “she controlled” 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 | controlé | I controlled |
| Tú | controlaste | You controlled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controló | He / she / you controlled |
| Nosotros / as | controlamos | We controlled |
| Vosotros / as | controlasteis | You controlled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlaron | They / you controlled |
| Vos | controlaste | You controlled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was controlling” or “she was controlling” 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 | controlaba | I was controlling |
| Tú | controlabas | You were controlling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controlaba | He was / she was / you were controlling |
| Nosotros / as | controlábamos | We were controlling |
| Vosotros / as | controlabais | You were controlling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlaban | They / you were controlling |
| Vos | controlabas | You were controlling |
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 controlled” and “she has controlled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he controlado | I have controlled |
| Tú | has controlado | You have controlled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha controlado | He has / she has / you have controlled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos controlado | We have controlled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis controlado | You have controlled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han controlado | They / you have controlled |
| Vos | has controlado | You have controlled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would control” or “she would control”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | controlaría | I would control |
| Tú | controlarías | You would control |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controlaría | He / she / you would control |
| Nosotros / as | controlaríamos | We would control |
| Vosotros / as | controlaríais | You would control |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlarían | They / you would control |
| Vos | controlarías | You would control |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will control” or “they will control”.
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 controlar” means “They are going to control”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | controlaré | I will control |
| Tú | controlarás | You will control |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controlará | He / she / you will control |
| Nosotros / as | controlaremos | We will control |
| Vosotros / as | controlaréis | You will control |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlarán | They / you will control |
| Vos | controlarás | You will control |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | controle |
| Tú | controles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controle |
| Nosotros / as | controlemos |
| Vosotros / as | controléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlen |
| Vos | controles |
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 | controlara | controlase |
| Tú | controlaras | controlase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controlara | controlase |
| Nosotros / as | controláramos | controlásemos |
| Vosotros / as | controlarais | controlaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlaran | controlasen |
| Vos | controlaras | controlase |
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 | controlare |
| Tú | controlares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controlare |
| Nosotros / as | controláremos |
| Vosotros / as | controlareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlaren |
| Vos | controlares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “control!” and “don’t control!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | controla | no controles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | controle | no controle |
| Nosotros / as | controlemos | no controlemos |
| Vosotros / as | controlad | no controléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | controlen | no controlen |
| Vos | controlá | no controles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya controlado |
| Tú | hayas controlado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya controlado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos controlado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis controlado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan controlado |
| Vos | hayas controlado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera controlado / hubiese controlado |
| Tú | hubieras controlado / hubieses controlado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera controlado / hubiese controlado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos controlado / hubiésemos controlado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais controlado / hubieseis controlado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran controlado / hubiesen controlado |
| Vos | hubieras controlado / hubieses controlado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere controlado |
| Tú | hubieres controlado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere controlado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos controlado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis controlado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren controlado |
| Vos | hubieres controlado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté controlando |
| Tú | estés controlando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté controlando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos controlando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis controlando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén controlando |
| Vos | estés controlando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera controlando / estuviese controlando |
| Tú | estuvieras controlando / estuvieses controlando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera controlando / estuviese controlando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos controlando / estuviésamos controlando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais controlando / estuvieseis controlando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera controlando / estuviese controlando |
| Vos | estuvieras controlando / estuvieses controlando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere controlando |
| Tú | estuvieres controlando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere controlando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos controlando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis controlando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere controlando |
| Vos | estuvieres controlando |
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 controlás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos controlaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos controlabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos controlarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos controlarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos controles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos controlaras / Vos controlase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos controlá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no controles |