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Demostrar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to demonstrate, prove, show”.
Below are all of the conjugations for demostrar 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 demonstrate, prove, show |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | demostrar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está demostrando) and past continuous (estaba demostrando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. demonstrating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he demostrado and hubiera demostrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have demonstrated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | demostrando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | demostrado |
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 demonstrate” or “they demonstrate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | demuestro |
| Tú | demuestras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demuestra |
| Nosotros / as | demostramos |
| Vosotros / as | demostráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demuestran |
| Vos | demostrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I demonstrated” or “she demonstrated” 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 | demostré | I demonstrated |
| Tú | demostraste | You demonstrated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demostró | He / she / you demonstrated |
| Nosotros / as | demostramos | We demonstrated |
| Vosotros / as | demostrasteis | You demonstrated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demostraron | They / you demonstrated |
| Vos | demostraste | You demonstrated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was demonstrating” or “she was demonstrating” 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 | demostraba | I was demonstrating |
| Tú | demostrabas | You were demonstrating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demostraba | He was / she was / you were demonstrating |
| Nosotros / as | demostrábamos | We were demonstrating |
| Vosotros / as | demostrabais | You were demonstrating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demostraban | They / you were demonstrating |
| Vos | demostrabas | You were demonstrating |
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 demonstrated” and “she has demonstrated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he demostrado | I have demonstrated |
| Tú | has demostrado | You have demonstrated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha demostrado | He has / she has / you have demonstrated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos demostrado | We have demonstrated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis demostrado | You have demonstrated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han demostrado | They / you have demonstrated |
| Vos | has demostrado | You have demonstrated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would demonstrate” or “she would demonstrate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | demostraría | I would demonstrate |
| Tú | demostrarías | You would demonstrate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demostraría | He / she / you would demonstrate |
| Nosotros / as | demostraríamos | We would demonstrate |
| Vosotros / as | demostraríais | You would demonstrate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demostrarían | They / you would demonstrate |
| Vos | demostrarías | You would demonstrate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will demonstrate” or “they will demonstrate”.
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 demostrar” means “They are going to demonstrate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | demostraré | I will demonstrate |
| Tú | demostrarás | You will demonstrate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demostrará | He / she / you will demonstrate |
| Nosotros / as | demostraremos | We will demonstrate |
| Vosotros / as | demostraréis | You will demonstrate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demostrarán | They / you will demonstrate |
| Vos | demostrarás | You will demonstrate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | demuestre |
| Tú | demuestres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demuestre |
| Nosotros / as | demostremos |
| Vosotros / as | demostréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demuestren |
| Vos | demuestres |
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 | demostrara | demostrase |
| Tú | demostraras | demostrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demostrara | demostrase |
| Nosotros / as | demostráramos | demostrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | demostrarais | demostraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demostraran | demostrasen |
| Vos | demostraras | demostrase |
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 | demostrare |
| Tú | demostrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demostrare |
| Nosotros / as | demostráremos |
| Vosotros / as | demostrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demostraren |
| Vos | demostrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “demonstrate!” and “don’t demonstrate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | demuestra | no demuestres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demuestre | no demuestre |
| Nosotros / as | demostremos | no demostremos |
| Vosotros / as | demostrad | no demostréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demuestren | no demuestren |
| Vos | demostrá | no demuestres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya demostrado |
| Tú | hayas demostrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya demostrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos demostrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis demostrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan demostrado |
| Vos | hayas demostrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera demostrado / hubiese demostrado |
| Tú | hubieras demostrado / hubieses demostrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera demostrado / hubiese demostrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos demostrado / hubiésemos demostrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais demostrado / hubieseis demostrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran demostrado / hubiesen demostrado |
| Vos | hubieras demostrado / hubieses demostrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere demostrado |
| Tú | hubieres demostrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere demostrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos demostrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis demostrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren demostrado |
| Vos | hubieres demostrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté demostrando |
| Tú | estés demostrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté demostrando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos demostrando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis demostrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén demostrando |
| Vos | estés demostrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera demostrando / estuviese demostrando |
| Tú | estuvieras demostrando / estuvieses demostrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera demostrando / estuviese demostrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos demostrando / estuviésamos demostrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais demostrando / estuvieseis demostrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera demostrando / estuviese demostrando |
| Vos | estuvieras demostrando / estuvieses demostrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere demostrando |
| Tú | estuvieres demostrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere demostrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos demostrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis demostrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere demostrando |
| Vos | estuvieres demostrando |
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 demostrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos demostraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos demostrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos demostrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos demostrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos demuestres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos demostraras / Vos demostrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos demostrá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no demuestres |