Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Dictar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to dictate, command, give a lecture”.
Below are all of the conjugations for dictar 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 dictate, command, give a lecture |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | dictar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está dictando) and past continuous (estaba dictando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. dictating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dictado and hubiera dictado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have dictated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | dictando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dictado |
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 dictate” or “they dictate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | dicto |
| Tú | dictas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dicta |
| Nosotros / as | dictamos |
| Vosotros / as | dictáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictan |
| Vos | dictás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I dictated” or “she dictated” 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 | dicté | I dictated |
| Tú | dictaste | You dictated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dictó | He / she / you dictated |
| Nosotros / as | dictamos | We dictated |
| Vosotros / as | dictasteis | You dictated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictaron | They / you dictated |
| Vos | dictaste | You dictated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was dictating” or “she was dictating” 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 | dictaba | I was dictating |
| Tú | dictabas | You were dictating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dictaba | He was / she was / you were dictating |
| Nosotros / as | dictábamos | We were dictating |
| Vosotros / as | dictabais | You were dictating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictaban | They / you were dictating |
| Vos | dictabas | You were dictating |
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 dictated” and “she has dictated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he dictado | I have dictated |
| Tú | has dictado | You have dictated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha dictado | He has / she has / you have dictated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos dictado | We have dictated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis dictado | You have dictated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han dictado | They / you have dictated |
| Vos | has dictado | You have dictated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would dictate” or “she would dictate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dictaría | I would dictate |
| Tú | dictarías | You would dictate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dictaría | He / she / you would dictate |
| Nosotros / as | dictaríamos | We would dictate |
| Vosotros / as | dictaríais | You would dictate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictarían | They / you would dictate |
| Vos | dictarías | You would dictate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will dictate” or “they will dictate”.
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 dictar” means “They are going to dictate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dictaré | I will dictate |
| Tú | dictarás | You will dictate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dictará | He / she / you will dictate |
| Nosotros / as | dictaremos | We will dictate |
| Vosotros / as | dictaréis | You will dictate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictarán | They / you will dictate |
| Vos | dictarás | You will dictate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | dicte |
| Tú | dictes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dicte |
| Nosotros / as | dictemos |
| Vosotros / as | dictéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dicten |
| Vos | dictes |
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 | dictara | dictase |
| Tú | dictaras | dictase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dictara | dictase |
| Nosotros / as | dictáramos | dictásemos |
| Vosotros / as | dictarais | dictaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictaran | dictasen |
| Vos | dictaras | dictase |
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 | dictare |
| Tú | dictares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dictare |
| Nosotros / as | dictáremos |
| Vosotros / as | dictareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dictaren |
| Vos | dictares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “dictate!” and “don’t dictate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | dicta | no dictes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dicte | no dicte |
| Nosotros / as | dictemos | no dictemos |
| Vosotros / as | dictad | no dictéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dicten | no dicten |
| Vos | dictá | no dictes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dictado |
| Tú | hayas dictado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dictado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dictado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dictado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dictado |
| Vos | hayas dictado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dictado / hubiese dictado |
| Tú | hubieras dictado / hubieses dictado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dictado / hubiese dictado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dictado / hubiésemos dictado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dictado / hubieseis dictado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dictado / hubiesen dictado |
| Vos | hubieras dictado / hubieses dictado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dictado |
| Tú | hubieres dictado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dictado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dictado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dictado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dictado |
| Vos | hubieres dictado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté dictando |
| Tú | estés dictando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté dictando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos dictando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis dictando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén dictando |
| Vos | estés dictando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera dictando / estuviese dictando |
| Tú | estuvieras dictando / estuvieses dictando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera dictando / estuviese dictando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos dictando / estuviésamos dictando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais dictando / estuvieseis dictando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera dictando / estuviese dictando |
| Vos | estuvieras dictando / estuvieses dictando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere dictando |
| Tú | estuvieres dictando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere dictando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos dictando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis dictando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere dictando |
| Vos | estuvieres dictando |
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 dictás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos dictaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos dictabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos dictarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos dictarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos dictes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos dictaras / Vos dictase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos dictá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no dictes |