Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Discriminar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to distinguish, discriminate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for discriminar 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 distinguish, discriminate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | discriminar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está discriminando) and past continuous (estaba discriminando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. distinguishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he discriminado and hubiera discriminado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have distinguished).
| Gerundio / Gerund | discriminando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | discriminado |
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 distinguish” or “they distinguish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | discrimino |
| Tú | discriminas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discrimina |
| Nosotros / as | discriminamos |
| Vosotros / as | discrimináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminan |
| Vos | discriminás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I distinguished” or “she distinguished” 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 | discriminé | I distinguished |
| Tú | discriminaste | You distinguished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discriminó | He / she / you distinguished |
| Nosotros / as | discriminamos | We distinguished |
| Vosotros / as | discriminasteis | You distinguished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminaron | They / you distinguished |
| Vos | discriminaste | You distinguished |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was distinguishing” or “she was distinguishing” 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 | discriminaba | I was distinguishing |
| Tú | discriminabas | You were distinguishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discriminaba | He was / she was / you were distinguishing |
| Nosotros / as | discriminábamos | We were distinguishing |
| Vosotros / as | discriminabais | You were distinguishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminaban | They / you were distinguishing |
| Vos | discriminabas | You were distinguishing |
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 distinguished” and “she has distinguished”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he discriminado | I have distinguished |
| Tú | has discriminado | You have distinguished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha discriminado | He has / she has / you have distinguished |
| Nosotros / as | hemos discriminado | We have distinguished |
| Vosotros / as | habéis discriminado | You have distinguished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han discriminado | They / you have distinguished |
| Vos | has discriminado | You have distinguished |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would distinguish” or “she would distinguish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | discriminaría | I would distinguish |
| Tú | discriminarías | You would distinguish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discriminaría | He / she / you would distinguish |
| Nosotros / as | discriminaríamos | We would distinguish |
| Vosotros / as | discriminaríais | You would distinguish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminarían | They / you would distinguish |
| Vos | discriminarías | You would distinguish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will distinguish” or “they will distinguish”.
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 discriminar” means “They are going to distinguish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | discriminaré | I will distinguish |
| Tú | discriminarás | You will distinguish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discriminará | He / she / you will distinguish |
| Nosotros / as | discriminaremos | We will distinguish |
| Vosotros / as | discriminaréis | You will distinguish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminarán | They / you will distinguish |
| Vos | discriminarás | You will distinguish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | discrimine |
| Tú | discrimines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discrimine |
| Nosotros / as | discriminemos |
| Vosotros / as | discriminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminen |
| Vos | discrimines |
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 | discriminara | discriminase |
| Tú | discriminaras | discriminase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discriminara | discriminase |
| Nosotros / as | discrimináramos | discriminásemos |
| Vosotros / as | discriminarais | discriminaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminaran | discriminasen |
| Vos | discriminaras | discriminase |
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 | discriminare |
| Tú | discriminares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discriminare |
| Nosotros / as | discrimináremos |
| Vosotros / as | discriminareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminaren |
| Vos | discriminares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “distinguish!” and “don’t distinguish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | discrimina | no discrimines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discrimine | no discrimine |
| Nosotros / as | discriminemos | no discriminemos |
| Vosotros / as | discriminad | no discriminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discriminen | no discriminen |
| Vos | discriminá | no discrimines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya discriminado |
| Tú | hayas discriminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya discriminado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos discriminado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis discriminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan discriminado |
| Vos | hayas discriminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera discriminado / hubiese discriminado |
| Tú | hubieras discriminado / hubieses discriminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera discriminado / hubiese discriminado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos discriminado / hubiésemos discriminado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais discriminado / hubieseis discriminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran discriminado / hubiesen discriminado |
| Vos | hubieras discriminado / hubieses discriminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere discriminado |
| Tú | hubieres discriminado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere discriminado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos discriminado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis discriminado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren discriminado |
| Vos | hubieres discriminado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté discriminando |
| Tú | estés discriminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté discriminando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos discriminando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis discriminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén discriminando |
| Vos | estés discriminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera discriminando / estuviese discriminando |
| Tú | estuvieras discriminando / estuvieses discriminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera discriminando / estuviese discriminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos discriminando / estuviésamos discriminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais discriminando / estuvieseis discriminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera discriminando / estuviese discriminando |
| Vos | estuvieras discriminando / estuvieses discriminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere discriminando |
| Tú | estuvieres discriminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere discriminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos discriminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis discriminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere discriminando |
| Vos | estuvieres discriminando |
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 discriminás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos discriminaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos discriminabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos discriminarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos discriminarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos discrimines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos discriminaras / Vos discriminase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos discriminá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no discrimines |