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Dirigir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to direct”.
Below are all of the conjugations for dirigir 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 direct |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | dirigir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está dirigiendo) and past continuous (estaba dirigiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. directing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dirigido and hubiera dirigido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have directed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | dirigiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dirigido |
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 direct” or “they direct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | dirijo |
| Tú | diriges |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirige |
| Nosotros / as | dirigimos |
| Vosotros / as | dirigís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigen |
| Vos | dirigís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I directed” or “she directed” 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 | dirigí | I directed |
| Tú | dirigiste | You directed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirigió | He / she / you directed |
| Nosotros / as | dirigimos | We directed |
| Vosotros / as | dirigisteis | You directed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigieron | They / you directed |
| Vos | dirigiste | You directed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was directing” or “she was directing” 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 | dirigía | I was directing |
| Tú | dirigías | You were directing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirigía | He was / she was / you were directing |
| Nosotros / as | dirigíamos | We were directing |
| Vosotros / as | dirigíais | You were directing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigían | They / you were directing |
| Vos | dirigías | You were directing |
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 directed” and “she has directed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he dirigido | I have directed |
| Tú | has dirigido | You have directed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha dirigido | He has / she has / you have directed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos dirigido | We have directed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis dirigido | You have directed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han dirigido | They / you have directed |
| Vos | has dirigido | You have directed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would direct” or “she would direct”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dirigiría | I would direct |
| Tú | dirigirías | You would direct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirigiría | He / she / you would direct |
| Nosotros / as | dirigiríamos | We would direct |
| Vosotros / as | dirigiríais | You would direct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigirían | They / you would direct |
| Vos | dirigirías | You would direct |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will direct” or “they will direct”.
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 dirigir” means “They are going to direct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dirigiré | I will direct |
| Tú | dirigirás | You will direct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirigirá | He / she / you will direct |
| Nosotros / as | dirigiremos | We will direct |
| Vosotros / as | dirigiréis | You will direct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigirán | They / you will direct |
| Vos | dirigirás | You will direct |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | dirija |
| Tú | dirijas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirija |
| Nosotros / as | dirijamos |
| Vosotros / as | dirijáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirijan |
| Vos | dirijas |
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 | dirigiera | dirigiese |
| Tú | dirigieras | dirigiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirigiera | dirigiese |
| Nosotros / as | dirigiéramos | dirigiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | dirigierais | dirigieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigieran | dirigiesen |
| Vos | dirigieras | dirigiese |
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 | dirigiere |
| Tú | dirigieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirigiera |
| Nosotros / as | dirigiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | dirigiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirigieren |
| Vos | dirigieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “direct!” and “don’t direct!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | dirige | no dirijas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirija | no dirija |
| Nosotros / as | dirijamos | no dirijamos |
| Vosotros / as | dirigid | no dirijáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirijan | no dirijan |
| Vos | dirigí | no dirijas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dirigido |
| Tú | hayas dirigido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dirigido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dirigido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dirigido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dirigido |
| Vos | hayas dirigido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dirigido / hubiese dirigido |
| Tú | hubieras dirigido / hubieses dirigido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dirigido / hubiese dirigido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dirigido / hubiésemos dirigido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dirigido / hubieseis dirigido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dirigido / hubiesen dirigido |
| Vos | hubieras dirigido / hubieses dirigido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dirigido |
| Tú | hubieres dirigido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dirigido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dirigido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dirigido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dirigido |
| Vos | hubieres dirigido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté dirigiendo |
| Tú | estés dirigiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté dirigiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos dirigiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis dirigiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén dirigiendo |
| Vos | estés dirigiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera dirigiendo / estuviese dirigiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras dirigiendo / estuvieses dirigiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera dirigiendo / estuviese dirigiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos dirigiendo / estuviésamos dirigiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais dirigiendo / estuvieseis dirigiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera dirigiendo / estuviese dirigiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras dirigiendo / estuvieses dirigiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere dirigiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres dirigiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere dirigiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos dirigiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis dirigiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere dirigiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres dirigiendo |
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 dirigís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos dirigiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos dirigías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos dirigirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos dirigirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos dirijas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos dirigieras / Vos dirigiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos dirigí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no dirijas |
