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Empezar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to start”.
Below are all of the conjugations for empezar 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 start |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | empezar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está empezando) and past continuous (estaba empezando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. starting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he empezado and hubiera empezado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have started).
| Gerundio / Gerund | empezando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | empezado |
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 start” or “they start”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | empiezo |
| Tú | empiezas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empieza |
| Nosotros / as | empezamos |
| Vosotros / as | empezáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empiezan |
| Vos | empezás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I started” or “she started” 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 | empecé | I started |
| Tú | empezaste | You started |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empezó | He / she / you started |
| Nosotros / as | empezamos | We started |
| Vosotros / as | empezasteis | You started |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empezaron | They / you started |
| Vos | empezaste | You started |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was starting” or “she was starting” 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 | empezaba | I was starting |
| Tú | empezabas | You were starting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empezaba | He was / she was / you were starting |
| Nosotros / as | empezábamos | We were starting |
| Vosotros / as | empezabais | You were starting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empezaban | They / you were starting |
| Vos | empezabas | You were starting |
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 started” and “she has started”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he empezado | I have started |
| Tú | has empezado | You have started |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha empezado | He has / she has / you have started |
| Nosotros / as | hemos empezado | We have started |
| Vosotros / as | habéis empezado | You have started |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han empezado | They / you have started |
| Vos | has empezado | You have started |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would start” or “she would start”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | empezaría | I would start |
| Tú | empezarías | You would start |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empezaría | He / she / you would start |
| Nosotros / as | empezaríamos | We would start |
| Vosotros / as | empezaríais | You would start |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empezarían | They / you would start |
| Vos | empezarías | You would start |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will start” or “they will start”.
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 empezar” means “They are going to start”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | empezaré | I will start |
| Tú | empezarás | You will start |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empezará | He / she / you will start |
| Nosotros / as | empezaremos | We will start |
| Vosotros / as | empezaréis | You will start |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empezarán | They / you will start |
| Vos | empezarás | You will start |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | empiece |
| Tú | empieces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empiece |
| Nosotros / as | empecemos |
| Vosotros / as | empecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empiecen |
| Vos | empieces |
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 | empezara | empezase |
| Tú | empezaras | empezase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empezara | empezase |
| Nosotros / as | empezáramos | empezásemos |
| Vosotros / as | empezarais | empezaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empezaran | empezasen |
| Vos | empezaras | empezase |
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 | empezare |
| Tú | empezares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empezare |
| Nosotros / as | empezáremos |
| Vosotros / as | empezareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empezaren |
| Vos | empezares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “start!” and “don’t start!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | empieza | no empieces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empiece | no empiece |
| Nosotros / as | empecemos | no empecemos |
| Vosotros / as | empezad | no empecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empiecen | no empiecen |
| Vos | empezá | no empieces |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya empezado |
| Tú | hayas empezado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya empezado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos empezado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis empezado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan empezado |
| Vos | hayas empezado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera empezado / hubiese empezado |
| Tú | hubieras empezado / hubieses empezado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera empezado / hubiese empezado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos empezado / hubiésemos empezado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais empezado / hubieseis empezado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran empezado / hubiesen empezado |
| Vos | hubieras empezado / hubieses empezado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere empezado |
| Tú | hubieres empezado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere empezado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos empezado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis empezado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren empezado |
| Vos | hubieres empezado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté empezando |
| Tú | estés empezando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté empezando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos empezando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis empezando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén empezando |
| Vos | estés empezando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera empezando / estuviese empezando |
| Tú | estuvieras empezando / estuvieses empezando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera empezando / estuviese empezando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos empezando / estuviésamos empezando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais empezando / estuvieseis empezando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera empezando / estuviese empezando |
| Vos | estuvieras empezando / estuvieses empezando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere empezando |
| Tú | estuvieres empezando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere empezando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos empezando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis empezando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere empezando |
| Vos | estuvieres empezando |
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 empezás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos empezaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos empezabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos empezarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos empezarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos empieces |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos empezaras / Vos empezase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos empezá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no empieces |
