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Criticar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to criticize, blame, find fault”.
Below are all of the conjugations for criticar 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 criticize, blame, find fault |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | criticar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está criticando) and past continuous (estaba criticando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. criticizing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he criticado and hubiera criticado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have criticized).
| Gerundio / Gerund | criticando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | criticado |
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 criticize” or “they criticize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | critico |
| Tú | criticas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | critica |
| Nosotros / as | criticamos |
| Vosotros / as | criticáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | critican |
| Vos | criticás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I criticized” or “she criticized” 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 | critiqué | I criticized |
| Tú | criticaste | You criticized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | criticó | He / she / you criticized |
| Nosotros / as | criticamos | We criticized |
| Vosotros / as | criticasteis | You criticized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | criticaron | They / you criticized |
| Vos | criticaste | You criticized |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was criticizing” or “she was criticizing” 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 | criticaba | I was criticizing |
| Tú | criticabas | You were criticizing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | criticaba | He was / she was / you were criticizing |
| Nosotros / as | criticábamos | We were criticizing |
| Vosotros / as | criticabais | You were criticizing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | criticaban | They / you were criticizing |
| Vos | criticabas | You were criticizing |
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 criticized” and “she has criticized”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he criticado | I have criticized |
| Tú | has criticado | You have criticized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha criticado | He has / she has / you have criticized |
| Nosotros / as | hemos criticado | We have criticized |
| Vosotros / as | habéis criticado | You have criticized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han criticado | They / you have criticized |
| Vos | has criticado | You have criticized |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would criticize” or “she would criticize”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | criticaría | I would criticize |
| Tú | criticarías | You would criticize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | criticaría | He / she / you would criticize |
| Nosotros / as | criticaríamos | We would criticize |
| Vosotros / as | criticaríais | You would criticize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | criticarían | They / you would criticize |
| Vos | criticarías | You would criticize |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will criticize” or “they will criticize”.
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 criticar” means “They are going to criticize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | criticaré | I will criticize |
| Tú | criticarás | You will criticize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | criticará | He / she / you will criticize |
| Nosotros / as | criticaremos | We will criticize |
| Vosotros / as | criticaréis | You will criticize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | criticarán | They / you will criticize |
| Vos | criticarás | You will criticize |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | critique |
| Tú | critiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | critique |
| Nosotros / as | critiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | critiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | critiquen |
| Vos | critiques |
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 | criticara | criticase |
| Tú | criticaras | criticase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | criticara | criticase |
| Nosotros / as | criticáramos | criticásemos |
| Vosotros / as | criticarais | criticaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | criticaran | criticasen |
| Vos | criticaras | criticase |
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 | criticare |
| Tú | criticares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | criticare |
| Nosotros / as | criticáremos |
| Vosotros / as | criticareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | criticaren |
| Vos | criticares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “criticize!” and “don’t criticize!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | critica | no critiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | critique | no critique |
| Nosotros / as | critiquemos | no critiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | criticad | no critiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | critiquen | no critiquen |
| Vos | criticá | no critiques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya criticado |
| Tú | hayas criticado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya criticado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos criticado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis criticado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan criticado |
| Vos | hayas criticado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera criticado / hubiese criticado |
| Tú | hubieras criticado / hubieses criticado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera criticado / hubiese criticado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos criticado / hubiésemos criticado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais criticado / hubieseis criticado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran criticado / hubiesen criticado |
| Vos | hubieras criticado / hubieses criticado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere criticado |
| Tú | hubieres criticado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere criticado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos criticado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis criticado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren criticado |
| Vos | hubieres criticado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté criticando |
| Tú | estés criticando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté criticando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos criticando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis criticando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén criticando |
| Vos | estés criticando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera criticando / estuviese criticando |
| Tú | estuvieras criticando / estuvieses criticando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera criticando / estuviese criticando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos criticando / estuviésamos criticando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais criticando / estuvieseis criticando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera criticando / estuviese criticando |
| Vos | estuvieras criticando / estuvieses criticando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere criticando |
| Tú | estuvieres criticando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere criticando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos criticando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis criticando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere criticando |
| Vos | estuvieres criticando |
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 criticás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos criticaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos criticabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos criticarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos criticarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos critiques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos criticaras / Vos criticase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos criticá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no critiques |