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Especializar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to specialize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for especializar 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 specialize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | especializar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está especializando) and past continuous (estaba especializando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. specializing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he especializado and hubiera especializado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have specialized).
| Gerundio / Gerund | especializando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | especializado |
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 specialize” or “they specialize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | especializo |
| Tú | especializas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializa |
| Nosotros / as | especializamos |
| Vosotros / as | especializáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializan |
| Vos | especializás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I specialized” or “she specialized” 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 | especialicé | I specialized |
| Tú | especializaste | You specialized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializó | He / she / you specialized |
| Nosotros / as | especializamos | We specialized |
| Vosotros / as | especializasteis | You specialized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializaron | They / you specialized |
| Vos | especializaste | You specialized |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was specializing” or “she was specializing” 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 | especializaba | I was specializing |
| Tú | especializabas | You were specializing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializaba | He was / she was / you were specializing |
| Nosotros / as | especializábamos | We were specializing |
| Vosotros / as | especializabais | You were specializing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializaban | They / you were specializing |
| Vos | especializabas | You were specializing |
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 specialized” and “she has specialized”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he especializado | I have specialized |
| Tú | has especializado | You have specialized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha especializado | He has / she has / you have specialized |
| Nosotros / as | hemos especializado | We have specialized |
| Vosotros / as | habéis especializado | You have specialized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han especializado | They / you have specialized |
| Vos | has especializado | You have specialized |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would specialize” or “she would specialize”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | especializaría | I would specialize |
| Tú | especializarías | You would specialize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializaría | He / she / you would specialize |
| Nosotros / as | especializaríamos | We would specialize |
| Vosotros / as | especializaríais | You would specialize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializarían | They / you would specialize |
| Vos | especializarías | You would specialize |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will specialize” or “they will specialize”.
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 especializar” means “They are going to specialize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | especializaré | I will specialize |
| Tú | especializarás | You will specialize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializará | He / she / you will specialize |
| Nosotros / as | especializaremos | We will specialize |
| Vosotros / as | especializaréis | You will specialize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializarán | They / you will specialize |
| Vos | especializarás | You will specialize |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | especialice |
| Tú | especialices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especialice |
| Nosotros / as | especialicemos |
| Vosotros / as | especialicéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especialicen |
| Vos | especialices |
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 | especializara | especializase |
| Tú | especializaras | especializase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializara | especializase |
| Nosotros / as | especializáramos | especializásemos |
| Vosotros / as | especializarais | especializaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializaran | especializasen |
| Vos | especializaras | especializase |
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 | especializare |
| Tú | especializares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especializare |
| Nosotros / as | especializáremos |
| Vosotros / as | especializareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especializaren |
| Vos | especializares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “specialize!” and “don’t specialize!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | especializa | no especialices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especialice | no especialice |
| Nosotros / as | especialicemos | no especialicemos |
| Vosotros / as | especializad | no especialicéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especialicen | no especialicen |
| Vos | especializá | no especialices |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya especializado |
| Tú | hayas especializado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya especializado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos especializado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis especializado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan especializado |
| Vos | hayas especializado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera especializado / hubiese especializado |
| Tú | hubieras especializado / hubieses especializado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera especializado / hubiese especializado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos especializado / hubiésemos especializado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais especializado / hubieseis especializado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran especializado / hubiesen especializado |
| Vos | hubieras especializado / hubieses especializado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere especializado |
| Tú | hubieres especializado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere especializado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos especializado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis especializado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren especializado |
| Vos | hubieres especializado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté especializando |
| Tú | estés especializando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté especializando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos especializando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis especializando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén especializando |
| Vos | estés especializando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera especializando / estuviese especializando |
| Tú | estuvieras especializando / estuvieses especializando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera especializando / estuviese especializando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos especializando / estuviésamos especializando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais especializando / estuvieseis especializando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera especializando / estuviese especializando |
| Vos | estuvieras especializando / estuvieses especializando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere especializando |
| Tú | estuvieres especializando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere especializando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos especializando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis especializando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere especializando |
| Vos | estuvieres especializando |
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 especializás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos especializaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos especializabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos especializarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos especializarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos especialices |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos especializaras / Vos especializase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos especializá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no especialices |