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Determinar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to determine, decide, resolve to”.
Below are all of the conjugations for determinar 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 determine, decide, resolve to |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | determinar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está determinando) and past continuous (estaba determinando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. determining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he determinado and hubiera determinado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have determined).
| Gerundio / Gerund | determinando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | determinado |
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 determine” or “they determine”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | determino |
| Tú | determinas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determina |
| Nosotros / as | determinamos |
| Vosotros / as | determináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinan |
| Vos | determinás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I determined” or “she determined” 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 | determiné | I determined |
| Tú | determinaste | You determined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determinó | He / she / you determined |
| Nosotros / as | determinamos | We determined |
| Vosotros / as | determinasteis | You determined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinaron | They / you determined |
| Vos | determinaste | You determined |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was determining” or “she was determining” 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 | determinaba | I was determining |
| Tú | determinabas | You were determining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determinaba | He was / she was / you were determining |
| Nosotros / as | determinábamos | We were determining |
| Vosotros / as | determinabais | You were determining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinaban | They / you were determining |
| Vos | determinabas | You were determining |
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 determined” and “she has determined”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he determinado | I have determined |
| Tú | has determinado | You have determined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha determinado | He has / she has / you have determined |
| Nosotros / as | hemos determinado | We have determined |
| Vosotros / as | habéis determinado | You have determined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han determinado | They / you have determined |
| Vos | has determinado | You have determined |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would determine” or “she would determine”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | determinaría | I would determine |
| Tú | determinarías | You would determine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determinaría | He / she / you would determine |
| Nosotros / as | determinaríamos | We would determine |
| Vosotros / as | determinaríais | You would determine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinarían | They / you would determine |
| Vos | determinarías | You would determine |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will determine” or “they will determine”.
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 determinar” means “They are going to determine”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | determinaré | I will determine |
| Tú | determinarás | You will determine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determinará | He / she / you will determine |
| Nosotros / as | determinaremos | We will determine |
| Vosotros / as | determinaréis | You will determine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinarán | They / you will determine |
| Vos | determinarás | You will determine |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | determine |
| Tú | determines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determine |
| Nosotros / as | determinemos |
| Vosotros / as | determinéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinen |
| Vos | determines |
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 | determinara | determinase |
| Tú | determinaras | determinase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determinara | determinase |
| Nosotros / as | determináramos | determinásemos |
| Vosotros / as | determinarais | determinaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinaran | determinasen |
| Vos | determinaras | determinase |
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 | determinare |
| Tú | determinares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determinare |
| Nosotros / as | determináremos |
| Vosotros / as | determinareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinaren |
| Vos | determinares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “determine!” and “don’t determine!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | determina | no determines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | determine | no determine |
| Nosotros / as | determinemos | no determinemos |
| Vosotros / as | determinad | no determinéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | determinen | no determinen |
| Vos | determiná | no determines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya determinado |
| Tú | hayas determinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya determinado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos determinado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis determinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan determinado |
| Vos | hayas determinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera determinado / hubiese determinado |
| Tú | hubieras determinado / hubieses determinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera determinado / hubiese determinado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos determinado / hubiésemos determinado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais determinado / hubieseis determinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran determinado / hubiesen determinado |
| Vos | hubieras determinado / hubieses determinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere determinado |
| Tú | hubieres determinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere determinado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos determinado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis determinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren determinado |
| Vos | hubieres determinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté determinando |
| Tú | estés determinando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté determinando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos determinando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis determinando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén determinando |
| Vos | estés determinando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera determinando / estuviese determinando |
| Tú | estuvieras determinando / estuvieses determinando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera determinando / estuviese determinando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos determinando / estuviésamos determinando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais determinando / estuvieseis determinando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera determinando / estuviese determinando |
| Vos | estuvieras determinando / estuvieses determinando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere determinando |
| Tú | estuvieres determinando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere determinando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos determinando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis determinando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere determinando |
| Vos | estuvieres determinando |
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 determinás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos determinaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos determinabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos determinarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos determinarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos determines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos determinaras / Vos determinase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos determiná |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no determines |