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Copiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to copy, make copies, imitate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for copiar 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 copy, make copies, imitate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | copiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está copiando) and past continuous (estaba copiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. copying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he copiado and hubiera copiado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have copied).
| Gerundio / Gerund | copiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | copiado |
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 copy” or “they copy”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | copio |
| Tú | copias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copia |
| Nosotros / as | copiamos |
| Vosotros / as | copiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copian |
| Vos | copiás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I copied” or “she copied” 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 | copié | I copied |
| Tú | copiaste | You copied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copió | He / she / you copied |
| Nosotros / as | copiamos | We copied |
| Vosotros / as | copiasteis | You copied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copiaron | They / you copied |
| Vos | copiaste | You copied |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was copying” or “she was copying” 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 | copiaba | I was copying |
| Tú | copiabas | You were copying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copiaba | He was / she was / you were copying |
| Nosotros / as | copiábamos | We were copying |
| Vosotros / as | copiabais | You were copying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copiaban | They / you were copying |
| Vos | copiabas | You were copying |
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 copied” and “she has copied”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he copiado | I have copied |
| Tú | has copiado | You have copied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha copiado | He has / she has / you have copied |
| Nosotros / as | hemos copiado | We have copied |
| Vosotros / as | habéis copiado | You have copied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han copiado | They / you have copied |
| Vos | has copiado | You have copied |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would copy” or “she would copy”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | copiaría | I would copy |
| Tú | copiarías | You would copy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copiaría | He / she / you would copy |
| Nosotros / as | copiaríamos | We would copy |
| Vosotros / as | copiaríais | You would copy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copiarían | They / you would copy |
| Vos | copiarías | You would copy |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will copy” or “they will copy”.
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 copiar” means “They are going to copy”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | copiaré | I will copy |
| Tú | copiarás | You will copy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copiará | He / she / you will copy |
| Nosotros / as | copiaremos | We will copy |
| Vosotros / as | copiaréis | You will copy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copiarán | They / you will copy |
| Vos | copiarás | You will copy |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | copie |
| Tú | copies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copie |
| Nosotros / as | copiemos |
| Vosotros / as | copiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copien |
| Vos | copies |
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 | copiara | copiase |
| Tú | copiaras | copiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copiara | copiase |
| Nosotros / as | copiáramos | copiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | copiarais | copiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copiaran | copiasen |
| Vos | copiaras | copiase |
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 | copiare |
| Tú | copiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copiare |
| Nosotros / as | copiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | copiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copiaren |
| Vos | copiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “copy!” and “don’t copy!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | copia | no copies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | copie | no copie |
| Nosotros / as | copiemos | no copiemos |
| Vosotros / as | copiad | no copiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | copien | no copien |
| Vos | copiá | no copies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya copiado |
| Tú | hayas copiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya copiado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos copiado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis copiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan copiado |
| Vos | hayas copiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera copiado / hubiese copiado |
| Tú | hubieras copiado / hubieses copiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera copiado / hubiese copiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos copiado / hubiésemos copiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais copiado / hubieseis copiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran copiado / hubiesen copiado |
| Vos | hubieras copiado / hubieses copiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere copiado |
| Tú | hubieres copiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere copiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos copiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis copiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren copiado |
| Vos | hubieres copiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté copiando |
| Tú | estés copiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté copiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos copiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis copiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén copiando |
| Vos | estés copiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera copiando / estuviese copiando |
| Tú | estuvieras copiando / estuvieses copiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera copiando / estuviese copiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos copiando / estuviésamos copiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais copiando / estuvieseis copiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera copiando / estuviese copiando |
| Vos | estuvieras copiando / estuvieses copiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere copiando |
| Tú | estuvieres copiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere copiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos copiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis copiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere copiando |
| Vos | estuvieres copiando |
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 copiás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos copiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos copiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos copiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos copiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos copies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos copiaras / Vos copiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos copiá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no copies |