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Especificar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to specify, itemize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for especificar 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 specify, itemize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | especificar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está especificando) and past continuous (estaba especificando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. specifying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he especificado and hubiera especificado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have specified).
| Gerundio / Gerund | especificando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | especificado |
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 specify” or “they specify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | especifico |
| Tú | especificas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especifica |
| Nosotros / as | especificamos |
| Vosotros / as | especificáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especifican |
| Vos | especificás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I specified” or “she specified” 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 | especifiqué | I specified |
| Tú | especificaste | You specified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especificó | He / she / you specified |
| Nosotros / as | especificamos | We specified |
| Vosotros / as | especificasteis | You specified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especificaron | They / you specified |
| Vos | especificaste | You specified |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was specifying” or “she was specifying” 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 | especificaba | I was specifying |
| Tú | especificabas | You were specifying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especificaba | He was / she was / you were specifying |
| Nosotros / as | especificábamos | We were specifying |
| Vosotros / as | especificabais | You were specifying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especificaban | They / you were specifying |
| Vos | especificabas | You were specifying |
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 specified” and “she has specified”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he especificado | I have specified |
| Tú | has especificado | You have specified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha especificado | He has / she has / you have specified |
| Nosotros / as | hemos especificado | We have specified |
| Vosotros / as | habéis especificado | You have specified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han especificado | They / you have specified |
| Vos | has especificado | You have specified |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would specify” or “she would specify”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | especificaría | I would specify |
| Tú | especificarías | You would specify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especificaría | He / she / you would specify |
| Nosotros / as | especificaríamos | We would specify |
| Vosotros / as | especificaríais | You would specify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especificarían | They / you would specify |
| Vos | especificarías | You would specify |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will specify” or “they will specify”.
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 especificar” means “They are going to specify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | especificaré | I will specify |
| Tú | especificarás | You will specify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especificará | He / she / you will specify |
| Nosotros / as | especificaremos | We will specify |
| Vosotros / as | especificaréis | You will specify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especificarán | They / you will specify |
| Vos | especificarás | You will specify |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | especifique |
| Tú | especifiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especifique |
| Nosotros / as | especifiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | especifiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especifiquen |
| Vos | especifiques |
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 | especificara | especificase |
| Tú | especificaras | especificase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especificara | especificase |
| Nosotros / as | especificáramos | especificásemos |
| Vosotros / as | especificarais | especificaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especificaran | especificasen |
| Vos | especificaras | especificase |
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 | especificare |
| Tú | especificares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especificare |
| Nosotros / as | especificáremos |
| Vosotros / as | especificareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especificaren |
| Vos | especificares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “specify!” and “don’t specify!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | especifica | no especifiques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | especifique | no especifique |
| Nosotros / as | especifiquemos | no especifiquemos |
| Vosotros / as | especificad | no especifiquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | especifiquen | no especifiquen |
| Vos | especificá | no especifiques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya especificado |
| Tú | hayas especificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya especificado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos especificado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis especificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan especificado |
| Vos | hayas especificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera especificado / hubiese especificado |
| Tú | hubieras especificado / hubieses especificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera especificado / hubiese especificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos especificado / hubiésemos especificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais especificado / hubieseis especificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran especificado / hubiesen especificado |
| Vos | hubieras especificado / hubieses especificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere especificado |
| Tú | hubieres especificado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere especificado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos especificado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis especificado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren especificado |
| Vos | hubieres especificado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté especificando |
| Tú | estés especificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté especificando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos especificando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis especificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén especificando |
| Vos | estés especificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera especificando / estuviese especificando |
| Tú | estuvieras especificando / estuvieses especificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera especificando / estuviese especificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos especificando / estuviésamos especificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais especificando / estuvieseis especificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera especificando / estuviese especificando |
| Vos | estuvieras especificando / estuvieses especificando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere especificando |
| Tú | estuvieres especificando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere especificando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos especificando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis especificando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere especificando |
| Vos | estuvieres especificando |
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 especificás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos especificaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos especificabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos especificarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos especificarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos especifiques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos especificaras / Vos especificase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos especificá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no especifiques |