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Ensayar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to test, try, rehearse”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ensayar 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 test, try, rehearse |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ensayar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ensayando) and past continuous (estaba ensayando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. rehearsing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ensayado and hubiera ensayado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have rehearsed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ensayando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ensayado |
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 rehearse” or “they rehearse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ensayo |
| Tú | ensayas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensaya |
| Nosotros / as | ensayamos |
| Vosotros / as | ensayáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayan |
| Vos | ensayás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I rehearsed” or “she rehearsed” 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 | ensayé | I rehearsed |
| Tú | ensayaste | You rehearsed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensayó | He / she / you rehearsed |
| Nosotros / as | ensayamos | We rehearsed |
| Vosotros / as | ensayasteis | You rehearsed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayaron | They / you rehearsed |
| Vos | ensayaste | You rehearsed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was rehearsing” or “she was rehearsing” 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 | ensayaba | I was rehearsing |
| Tú | ensayabas | You were rehearsing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensayaba | He was / she was / you were rehearsing |
| Nosotros / as | ensayábamos | We were rehearsing |
| Vosotros / as | ensayabais | You were rehearsing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayaban | They / you were rehearsing |
| Vos | ensayabas | You were rehearsing |
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 rehearsed” and “she has rehearsed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ensayado | I have rehearsed |
| Tú | has ensayado | You have rehearsed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ensayado | He has / she has / you have rehearsed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ensayado | We have rehearsed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ensayado | You have rehearsed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ensayado | They / you have rehearsed |
| Vos | has ensayado | You have rehearsed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would rehearse” or “she would rehearse”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ensayaría | I would rehearse |
| Tú | ensayarías | You would rehearse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensayaría | He / she / you would rehearse |
| Nosotros / as | ensayaríamos | We would rehearse |
| Vosotros / as | ensayaríais | You would rehearse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayarían | They / you would rehearse |
| Vos | ensayarías | You would rehearse |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will rehearse” or “they will rehearse”.
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 ensayar” means “They are going to rehearse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ensayaré | I will rehearse |
| Tú | ensayarás | You will rehearse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensayará | He / she / you will rehearse |
| Nosotros / as | ensayaremos | We will rehearse |
| Vosotros / as | ensayaréis | You will rehearse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayarán | They / you will rehearse |
| Vos | ensayarás | You will rehearse |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ensaye |
| Tú | ensayes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensaye |
| Nosotros / as | ensayemos |
| Vosotros / as | ensayéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayen |
| Vos | ensayes |
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 | ensayara | ensayase |
| Tú | ensayaras | ensayase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensayara | ensayase |
| Nosotros / as | ensayáramos | ensayásemos |
| Vosotros / as | ensayarais | ensayaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayaran | ensayasen |
| Vos | ensayaras | ensayase |
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 | ensayare |
| Tú | ensayares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensayare |
| Nosotros / as | ensayáremos |
| Vosotros / as | ensayareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayaren |
| Vos | ensayares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “rehearse!” and “don’t rehearse!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | ensaya | no ensayes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ensaye | no ensaye |
| Nosotros / as | ensayemos | no ensayemos |
| Vosotros / as | ensayad | no ensayéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ensayen | no ensayen |
| Vos | ensayá | no ensayes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ensayado |
| Tú | hayas ensayado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ensayado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ensayado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ensayado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ensayado |
| Vos | hayas ensayado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ensayado / hubiese ensayado |
| Tú | hubieras ensayado / hubieses ensayado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ensayado / hubiese ensayado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ensayado / hubiésemos ensayado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ensayado / hubieseis ensayado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ensayado / hubiesen ensayado |
| Vos | hubieras ensayado / hubieses ensayado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ensayado |
| Tú | hubieres ensayado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ensayado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ensayado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ensayado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ensayado |
| Vos | hubieres ensayado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ensayando |
| Tú | estés ensayando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ensayando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ensayando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ensayando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ensayando |
| Vos | estés ensayando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ensayando / estuviese ensayando |
| Tú | estuvieras ensayando / estuvieses ensayando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ensayando / estuviese ensayando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ensayando / estuviésamos ensayando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ensayando / estuvieseis ensayando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ensayando / estuviese ensayando |
| Vos | estuvieras ensayando / estuvieses ensayando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ensayando |
| Tú | estuvieres ensayando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ensayando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ensayando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ensayando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ensayando |
| Vos | estuvieres ensayando |
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 ensayás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ensayaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ensayabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos ensayarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos ensayarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ensayes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ensayaras / Vos ensayase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ensayá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ensayes |