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Ejercer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to practice a profession or trade, exert”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ejercer 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 practice a profession or trade, exert |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ejercer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ejerciendo) and past continuous (estaba ejerciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. practicing a profession or trade).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ejercido and hubiera ejercido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have practiced a profession or trade).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ejerciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ejercido |
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 practice a profession or trade” or “they practice a profession or trade”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ejerzo |
| Tú | ejerces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejerce |
| Nosotros / as | ejercemos |
| Vosotros / as | ejercéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercen |
| Vos | ejercés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I practiced a profession or trade” or “she practiced a profession or trade” 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 | ejercí | I practiced a profession or trade |
| Tú | ejerciste | You practiced a profession or trade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejerció | He / she / you practiced a profession or trade |
| Nosotros / as | ejercimos | We practiced a profession or trade |
| Vosotros / as | ejercisteis | You practiced a profession or trade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercieron | They / you practiced a profession or trade |
| Vos | ejerciste | You practiced a profession or trade |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was practicing a profession or trade” or “she was practicing a profession or trade” 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 | ejercía | I was practicing a profession or trade |
| Tú | ejercías | You were practicing a profession or trade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejercía | He was / she was / you were practicing a profession or trade |
| Nosotros / as | ejercíamos | We were practicing a profession or trade |
| Vosotros / as | ejercíais | You were practicing a profession or trade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercían | They / you were practicing a profession or trade |
| Vos | ejercías | You were practicing a profession or trade |
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 practiced a profession or trade” and “she has practiced a profession or trade”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ejercido | I have practiced a profession or trade |
| Tú | has ejercido | You have practiced a profession or trade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ejercido | He has / she has / you have practiced a profession or trade |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ejercido | We have practiced a profession or trade |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ejercido | You have practiced a profession or trade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ejercido | They / you have practiced a profession or trade |
| Vos | has ejercido | You have practiced a profession or trade |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would practice a profession or trade” or “she would practice a profession or trade”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ejercería | I would practice a profession or trade |
| Tú | ejercerías | You would practice a profession or trade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejercería | He / she / you would practice a profession or trade |
| Nosotros / as | ejerceríamos | We would practice a profession or trade |
| Vosotros / as | ejerceríais | You would practice a profession or trade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercerían | They / you would practice a profession or trade |
| Vos | ejercerías | You would practice a profession or trade |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will practice a profession or trade” or “they will practice a profession or trade”.
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 ejercer” means “They are going to practice a profession or trade”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ejerceré | I will practice a profession or trade |
| Tú | ejercerás | You will practice a profession or trade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejercerá | He / she / you will practice a profession or trade |
| Nosotros / as | ejerceremos | We will practice a profession or trade |
| Vosotros / as | ejerceréis | You will practice a profession or trade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercerán | They / you will practice a profession or trade |
| Vos | ejercerás | You will practice a profession or trade |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ejerza |
| Tú | ejerzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejerza |
| Nosotros / as | ejerzamos |
| Vosotros / as | ejerzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejerzan |
| Vos | ejerzas |
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 | ejerciera | ejerciese |
| Tú | ejercieras | ejerciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejerciera | ejerciese |
| Nosotros / as | ejerciéramos | ejerciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | ejercierais | ejercieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercieran | ejerciesen |
| Vos | ejercieras | ejerciese |
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 | ejerciere |
| Tú | ejercieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejerciere |
| Nosotros / as | ejerciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | ejerciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejercieren |
| Vos | ejercieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “practice a profession or trade!” and “don’t practice a profession or trade!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | ejerce | no ejerzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ejerza | no ejerza |
| Nosotros / as | ejerzamos | no ejerzamos |
| Vosotros / as | ejerced | no ejerzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ejerzan | no ejerzan |
| Vos | ejercé | no ejerzas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ejercido |
| Tú | hayas ejercido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ejercido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ejercido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ejercido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ejercido |
| Vos | hayas ejercido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ejercido / hubiese ejercido |
| Tú | hubieras ejercido / hubieses ejercido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ejercido / hubiese ejercido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ejercido / hubiésemos ejercido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ejercido / hubieseis ejercido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ejercido / hubiesen ejercido |
| Vos | hubieras ejercido / hubieses ejercido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ejercido |
| Tú | hubieres ejercido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ejercido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ejercido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ejercido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ejercido |
| Vos | hubieres ejercido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ejerciendo |
| Tú | estés ejerciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ejerciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ejerciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ejerciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ejerciendo |
| Vos | estés ejerciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ejerciendo / estuviese ejerciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras ejerciendo / estuvieses ejerciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ejerciendo / estuviese ejerciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ejerciendo / estuviésamos ejerciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ejerciendo / estuvieseis ejerciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ejerciendo / estuviese ejerciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras ejerciendo / estuvieses ejerciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ejerciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres ejerciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ejerciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ejerciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ejerciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ejerciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres ejerciendo |
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 ejercés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ejerciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ejercías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos ejercerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos ejercerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ejerzas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ejercieras / Vos ejerciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ejercé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ejerzas |