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Discutir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to discuss, argue”.
Below are all of the conjugations for discutir 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 discuss, argue |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | discutir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está discutiendo) and past continuous (estaba discutiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. discussing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he discutido and hubiera discutido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have discussed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | discutiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | discutido |
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 discuss” or “they discuss”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | discuto |
| Tú | discutes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discute |
| Nosotros / as | discutimos |
| Vosotros / as | discutís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discuten |
| Vos | discutís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I discussed” or “she discussed” 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 | discutí | I discussed |
| Tú | discutiste | You discussed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discutió | He / she / you discussed |
| Nosotros / as | discutimos | We discussed |
| Vosotros / as | discutisteis | You discussed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutieron | They / you discussed |
| Vos | discutiste | You discussed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was discussing” or “she was discussing” 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 | discutía | I was discussing |
| Tú | discutías | You were discussing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discutía | He was / she was / you were discussing |
| Nosotros / as | discutíamos | We were discussing |
| Vosotros / as | discutíais | You were discussing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutían | They / you were discussing |
| Vos | discutías | You were discussing |
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 discussed” and “she has discussed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he discutido | I have discussed |
| Tú | has discutido | You have discussed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha discutido | He has / she has / you have discussed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos discutido | We have discussed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis discutido | You have discussed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han discutido | They / you have discussed |
| Vos | has discutido | You have discussed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would discuss” or “she would discuss”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | discutiría | I would discuss |
| Tú | discutirías | You would discuss |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discutiría | He / she / you would discuss |
| Nosotros / as | discutiríamos | We would discuss |
| Vosotros / as | discutiríais | You would discuss |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutirían | They / you would discuss |
| Vos | discutirías | You would discuss |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will discuss” or “they will discuss”.
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 discutir” means “They are going to discuss”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | discutiré | I will discuss |
| Tú | discutirás | You will discuss |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discutirá | He / she / you will discuss |
| Nosotros / as | discutiremos | We will discuss |
| Vosotros / as | discutiréis | You will discuss |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutirán | They / you will discuss |
| Vos | discutirás | You will discuss |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | discuta |
| Tú | discutas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discuta |
| Nosotros / as | discutamos |
| Vosotros / as | discutáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutan |
| Vos | discutas |
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 | discutiera | discutiese |
| Tú | discutieras | discutiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discutiera | discutiese |
| Nosotros / as | discutiéramos | discutiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | discutierais | discutieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutieran | discutiesen |
| Vos | discutieras | discutiese |
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 | discutiere |
| Tú | discutieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discutiera |
| Nosotros / as | discutiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | discutiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutieren |
| Vos | discutieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “discuss!” and “don’t discuss!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | discute | no discutas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | discuta | no discuta |
| Nosotros / as | discutamos | no discutamos |
| Vosotros / as | discutid | no discutáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | discutan | no discutan |
| Vos | discutí | no discutas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya discutido |
| Tú | hayas discutido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya discutido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos discutido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis discutido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan discutido |
| Vos | hayas discutido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera discutido / hubiese discutido |
| Tú | hubieras discutido / hubieses discutido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera discutido / hubiese discutido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos discutido / hubiésemos discutido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais discutido / hubieseis discutido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran discutido / hubiesen discutido |
| Vos | hubieras discutido / hubieses discutido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere discutido |
| Tú | hubieres discutido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere discutido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos discutido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis discutido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren discutido |
| Vos | hubieres discutido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté discutiendo |
| Tú | estés discutiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté discutiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos discutiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis discutiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén discutiendo |
| Vos | estés discutiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera discutiendo / estuviese discutiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras discutiendo / estuvieses discutiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera discutiendo / estuviese discutiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos discutiendo / estuviésamos discutiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais discutiendo / estuvieseis discutiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera discutiendo / estuviese discutiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras discutiendo / estuvieses discutiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere discutiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres discutiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere discutiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos discutiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis discutiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere discutiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres discutiendo |
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 discutís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos discutiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos discutías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos discutirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos discutirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos discutas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos discutieras / Vos discutiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos discutí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no discutas |