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Embalar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to pack, put on speed (race)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for embalar 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 pack, put on speed (race) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | embalar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está embalando) and past continuous (estaba embalando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. packing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he embalado and hubiera embalado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have packed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | embalando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | embalado |
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 pack” or “they pack”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | embalo |
| Tú | embalas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embala |
| Nosotros / as | embalamos |
| Vosotros / as | embaláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalan |
| Vos | embalás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I packed” or “she packed” 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 | embalé | I packed |
| Tú | embalaste | You packed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embaló | He / she / you packed |
| Nosotros / as | embalamos | We packed |
| Vosotros / as | embalasteis | You packed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalaron | They / you packed |
| Vos | embalaste | You packed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was packing” or “she was packing” 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 | embalaba | I was packing |
| Tú | embalabas | You were packing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embalaba | He was / she was / you were packing |
| Nosotros / as | embalábamos | We were packing |
| Vosotros / as | embalabais | You were packing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalaban | They / you were packing |
| Vos | embalabas | You were packing |
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 packed” and “she has packed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he embalado | I have packed |
| Tú | has embalado | You have packed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha embalado | He has / she has / you have packed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos embalado | We have packed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis embalado | You have packed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han embalado | They / you have packed |
| Vos | has embalado | You have packed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would pack” or “she would pack”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | embalaría | I would pack |
| Tú | embalarías | You would pack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embalaría | He / she / you would pack |
| Nosotros / as | embalaríamos | We would pack |
| Vosotros / as | embalaríais | You would pack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalarían | They / you would pack |
| Vos | embalarías | You would pack |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will pack” or “they will pack”.
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 embalar” means “They are going to pack”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | embalaré | I will pack |
| Tú | embalarás | You will pack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embalará | He / she / you will pack |
| Nosotros / as | embalaremos | We will pack |
| Vosotros / as | embalaréis | You will pack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalarán | They / you will pack |
| Vos | embalarás | You will pack |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | embale |
| Tú | embales |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embale |
| Nosotros / as | embalemos |
| Vosotros / as | embaléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalen |
| Vos | embales |
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 | embalara | embalase |
| Tú | embalaras | embalase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embalara | embalase |
| Nosotros / as | embaláramos | embalásemos |
| Vosotros / as | embalarais | embalaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalaran | embalasen |
| Vos | embalaras | embalase |
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 | embalare |
| Tú | embalares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embalare |
| Nosotros / as | embaláremos |
| Vosotros / as | embalareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalaren |
| Vos | embalares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “pack!” and “don’t pack!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | embala | no embales |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embale | no embale |
| Nosotros / as | embalemos | no embalemos |
| Vosotros / as | embalad | no embaléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embalen | no embalen |
| Vos | embalá | no embales |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya embalado |
| Tú | hayas embalado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya embalado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos embalado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis embalado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan embalado |
| Vos | hayas embalado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera embalado / hubiese embalado |
| Tú | hubieras embalado / hubieses embalado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera embalado / hubiese embalado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos embalado / hubiésemos embalado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais embalado / hubieseis embalado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran embalado / hubiesen embalado |
| Vos | hubieras embalado / hubieses embalado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere embalado |
| Tú | hubieres embalado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere embalado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos embalado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis embalado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren embalado |
| Vos | hubieres embalado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté embalando |
| Tú | estés embalando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté embalando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos embalando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis embalando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén embalando |
| Vos | estés embalando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera embalando / estuviese embalando |
| Tú | estuvieras embalando / estuvieses embalando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera embalando / estuviese embalando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos embalando / estuviésamos embalando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais embalando / estuvieseis embalando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera embalando / estuviese embalando |
| Vos | estuvieras embalando / estuvieses embalando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere embalando |
| Tú | estuvieres embalando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere embalando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos embalando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis embalando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere embalando |
| Vos | estuvieres embalando |
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 embalás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos embalaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos embalabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos embalarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos embalarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos embales |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos embalaras / Vos embalase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos embalá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no embales |