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Estorbar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to obstruct, hinder, annoy”.
Below are all of the conjugations for estorbar 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 obstruct, hinder, annoy |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | estorbar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está estorbando) and past continuous (estaba estorbando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. obstructing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he estorbado and hubiera estorbado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have obstructed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | estorbando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | estorbado |
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 obstruct” or “they obstruct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estorbo |
| Tú | estorbas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorba |
| Nosotros / as | estorbamos |
| Vosotros / as | estorbáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorban |
| Vos | estorbás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I obstructed” or “she obstructed” 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 | estorbé | I obstructed |
| Tú | estorbaste | You obstructed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbó | He / she / you obstructed |
| Nosotros / as | estorbamos | We obstructed |
| Vosotros / as | estorbasteis | You obstructed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorbaron | They / you obstructed |
| Vos | estorbaste | You obstructed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was obstructing” or “she was obstructing” 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 | estorbaba | I was obstructing |
| Tú | estorbabas | You were obstructing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbaba | He was / she was / you were obstructing |
| Nosotros / as | estorbábamos | We were obstructing |
| Vosotros / as | estorbabais | You were obstructing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorbaban | They / you were obstructing |
| Vos | estorbabas | You were obstructing |
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 obstructed” and “she has obstructed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he estorbado | I have obstructed |
| Tú | has estorbado | You have obstructed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha estorbado | He has / she has / you have obstructed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos estorbado | We have obstructed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis estorbado | You have obstructed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han estorbado | They / you have obstructed |
| Vos | has estorbado | You have obstructed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would obstruct” or “she would obstruct”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estorbaría | I would obstruct |
| Tú | estorbarías | You would obstruct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbaría | He / she / you would obstruct |
| Nosotros / as | estorbaríamos | We would obstruct |
| Vosotros / as | estorbaríais | You would obstruct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorbarían | They / you would obstruct |
| Vos | estorbarías | You would obstruct |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will obstruct” or “they will obstruct”.
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 estorbar” means “They are going to obstruct”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estorbaré | I will obstruct |
| Tú | estorbarás | You will obstruct |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbará | He / she / you will obstruct |
| Nosotros / as | estorbaremos | We will obstruct |
| Vosotros / as | estorbaréis | You will obstruct |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorbarán | They / you will obstruct |
| Vos | estorbarás | You will obstruct |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estorbe |
| Tú | estorbes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbe |
| Nosotros / as | estorbemos |
| Vosotros / as | estorbéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorben |
| Vos | estorbes |
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 | estorbara | estorbase |
| Tú | estorbaras | estorbase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbara | estorbase |
| Nosotros / as | estorbáramos | estorbásemos |
| Vosotros / as | estorbarais | estorbaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorbaran | estorbasen |
| Vos | estorbaras | estorbase |
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 | estorbare |
| Tú | estorbares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbare |
| Nosotros / as | estorbáremos |
| Vosotros / as | estorbareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorbaren |
| Vos | estorbares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “obstruct!” and “don’t obstruct!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | estorba | no estorbes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estorbe | no estorbe |
| Nosotros / as | estorbemos | no estorbemos |
| Vosotros / as | estorbad | no estorbéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estorben | no estorben |
| Vos | estorbá | no estorbes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya estorbado |
| Tú | hayas estorbado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya estorbado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos estorbado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis estorbado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan estorbado |
| Vos | hayas estorbado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera estorbado / hubiese estorbado |
| Tú | hubieras estorbado / hubieses estorbado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera estorbado / hubiese estorbado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos estorbado / hubiésemos estorbado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais estorbado / hubieseis estorbado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran estorbado / hubiesen estorbado |
| Vos | hubieras estorbado / hubieses estorbado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere estorbado |
| Tú | hubieres estorbado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere estorbado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos estorbado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis estorbado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren estorbado |
| Vos | hubieres estorbado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté estorbando |
| Tú | estés estorbando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté estorbando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos estorbando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis estorbando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén estorbando |
| Vos | estés estorbando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera estorbando / estuviese estorbando |
| Tú | estuvieras estorbando / estuvieses estorbando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera estorbando / estuviese estorbando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos estorbando / estuviésamos estorbando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais estorbando / estuvieseis estorbando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera estorbando / estuviese estorbando |
| Vos | estuvieras estorbando / estuvieses estorbando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere estorbando |
| Tú | estuvieres estorbando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere estorbando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos estorbando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis estorbando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere estorbando |
| Vos | estuvieres estorbando |
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 estorbás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos estorbaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos estorbabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos estorbarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos estorbarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos estorbes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos estorbaras / Vos estorbase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos estorbá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no estorbes |