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Decidir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to decide, settle”.
Below are all of the conjugations for decidir 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 decide, settle |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | decidir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está decidiendo) and past continuous (estaba decidiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. deciding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he decidido and hubiera decidido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have decided).
| Gerundio / Gerund | decidiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | decidido |
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 decide” or “they decide”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | decido |
| Tú | decides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decide |
| Nosotros / as | decidimos |
| Vosotros / as | decidís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deciden |
| Vos | decidís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I decided” or “she decided” 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 | decidí | I decided |
| Tú | decidiste | You decided |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decidió | He / she / you decided |
| Nosotros / as | decidimos | We decided |
| Vosotros / as | decidisteis | You decided |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidieron | They / you decided |
| Vos | decidiste | You decided |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was deciding” or “she was deciding” 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 | decidía | I was deciding |
| Tú | decidías | You were deciding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decidía | He was / she was / you were deciding |
| Nosotros / as | decidíamos | We were deciding |
| Vosotros / as | decidíais | You were deciding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidían | They / you were deciding |
| Vos | decidías | You were deciding |
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 decided” and “she has decided”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he decidido | I have decided |
| Tú | has decidido | You have decided |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha decidido | He has / she has / you have decided |
| Nosotros / as | hemos decidido | We have decided |
| Vosotros / as | habéis decidido | You have decided |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han decidido | They / you have decided |
| Vos | has decidido | You have decided |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would decide” or “she would decide”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | decidiría | I would decide |
| Tú | decidirías | You would decide |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decidiría | He / she / you would decide |
| Nosotros / as | decidiríamos | We would decide |
| Vosotros / as | decidiríais | You would decide |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidirían | They / you would decide |
| Vos | decidirías | You would decide |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will decide” or “they will decide”.
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 decidir” means “They are going to decide”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | decidiré | I will decide |
| Tú | decidirás | You will decide |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decidirá | He / she / you will decide |
| Nosotros / as | decidiremos | We will decide |
| Vosotros / as | decidiréis | You will decide |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidirán | They / you will decide |
| Vos | decidirás | You will decide |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | decida |
| Tú | decidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decida |
| Nosotros / as | decidamos |
| Vosotros / as | decidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidan |
| Vos | decidas |
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 | decidiera | decidiese |
| Tú | decidieras | decidiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decidiera | decidiese |
| Nosotros / as | decidiéramos | decidiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | decidierais | decidieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidieran | decidiesen |
| Vos | decidieras | decidiese |
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 | decidiere |
| Tú | decidieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decidiera |
| Nosotros / as | decidiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | decidiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidieren |
| Vos | decidieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “decide!” and “don’t decide!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | decide | no decidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decida | no decida |
| Nosotros / as | decidamos | no decidamos |
| Vosotros / as | decidid | no decidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decidan | no decidan |
| Vos | decidí | no decidas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya decidido |
| Tú | hayas decidido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya decidido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos decidido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis decidido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan decidido |
| Vos | hayas decidido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera decidido / hubiese decidido |
| Tú | hubieras decidido / hubieses decidido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera decidido / hubiese decidido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos decidido / hubiésemos decidido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais decidido / hubieseis decidido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran decidido / hubiesen decidido |
| Vos | hubieras decidido / hubieses decidido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere decidido |
| Tú | hubieres decidido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere decidido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos decidido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis decidido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren decidido |
| Vos | hubieres decidido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté decidiendo |
| Tú | estés decidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté decidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos decidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis decidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén decidiendo |
| Vos | estés decidiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera decidiendo / estuviese decidiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras decidiendo / estuvieses decidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera decidiendo / estuviese decidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos decidiendo / estuviésamos decidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais decidiendo / estuvieseis decidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera decidiendo / estuviese decidiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras decidiendo / estuvieses decidiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere decidiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres decidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere decidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos decidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis decidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere decidiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres decidiendo |
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 decidís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos decidiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos decidías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos decidirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos decidirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos decidas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos decidieras / Vos decidiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos decidí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no decidas |