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Dominar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to dominate, master, control”.
Below are all of the conjugations for dominar 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 dominate, master, control |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | dominar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está dominando) and past continuous (estaba dominando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. dominating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dominado and hubiera dominado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have dominated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | dominando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dominado |
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 dominate” or “they dominate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | domino |
| Tú | dominas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | domina |
| Nosotros / as | dominamos |
| Vosotros / as | domináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominan |
| Vos | dominás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I dominated” or “she dominated” 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 | dominé | I dominated |
| Tú | dominaste | You dominated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dominó | He / she / you dominated |
| Nosotros / as | dominamos | We dominated |
| Vosotros / as | dominasteis | You dominated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominaron | They / you dominated |
| Vos | dominaste | You dominated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was dominating” or “she was dominating” 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 | dominaba | I was dominating |
| Tú | dominabas | You were dominating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dominaba | He was / she was / you were dominating |
| Nosotros / as | dominábamos | We were dominating |
| Vosotros / as | dominabais | You were dominating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominaban | They / you were dominating |
| Vos | dominabas | You were dominating |
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 dominated” and “she has dominated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he dominado | I have dominated |
| Tú | has dominado | You have dominated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha dominado | He has / she has / you have dominated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos dominado | We have dominated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis dominado | You have dominated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han dominado | They / you have dominated |
| Vos | has dominado | You have dominated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would dominate” or “she would dominate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dominaría | I would dominate |
| Tú | dominarías | You would dominate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dominaría | He / she / you would dominate |
| Nosotros / as | dominaríamos | We would dominate |
| Vosotros / as | dominaríais | You would dominate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominarían | They / you would dominate |
| Vos | dominarías | You would dominate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will dominate” or “they will dominate”.
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 dominar” means “They are going to dominate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | dominaré | I will dominate |
| Tú | dominarás | You will dominate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dominará | He / she / you will dominate |
| Nosotros / as | dominaremos | We will dominate |
| Vosotros / as | dominaréis | You will dominate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominarán | They / you will dominate |
| Vos | dominarás | You will dominate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | domine |
| Tú | domines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | domine |
| Nosotros / as | dominemos |
| Vosotros / as | dominéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominen |
| Vos | domines |
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 | dominara | dominase |
| Tú | dominaras | dominase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dominara | dominase |
| Nosotros / as | domináramos | dominásemos |
| Vosotros / as | dominarais | dominaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominaran | dominasen |
| Vos | dominaras | dominase |
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 | dominare |
| Tú | dominares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dominare |
| Nosotros / as | domináremos |
| Vosotros / as | dominareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominaren |
| Vos | dominares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “dominate!” and “don’t dominate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | domina | no domines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | domine | no domine |
| Nosotros / as | dominemos | no dominemos |
| Vosotros / as | dominad | no dominéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dominen | no dominen |
| Vos | dominá | no domines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dominado |
| Tú | hayas dominado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dominado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dominado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dominado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dominado |
| Vos | hayas dominado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dominado / hubiese dominado |
| Tú | hubieras dominado / hubieses dominado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dominado / hubiese dominado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dominado / hubiésemos dominado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dominado / hubieseis dominado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dominado / hubiesen dominado |
| Vos | hubieras dominado / hubieses dominado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dominado |
| Tú | hubieres dominado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dominado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dominado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dominado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dominado |
| Vos | hubieres dominado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté dominando |
| Tú | estés dominando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté dominando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos dominando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis dominando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén dominando |
| Vos | estés dominando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera dominando / estuviese dominando |
| Tú | estuvieras dominando / estuvieses dominando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera dominando / estuviese dominando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos dominando / estuviésamos dominando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais dominando / estuvieseis dominando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera dominando / estuviese dominando |
| Vos | estuvieras dominando / estuvieses dominando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere dominando |
| Tú | estuvieres dominando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere dominando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos dominando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis dominando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere dominando |
| Vos | estuvieres dominando |
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 dominás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos dominaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos dominabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos dominarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos dominarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos domines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos dominaras / Vos dominase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos dominá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no domines |