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Estrechar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to tighten, narrow reduce”.
Below are all of the conjugations for estrechar 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 tighten, narrow reduce |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | estrechar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está estrechando) and past continuous (estaba estrechando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. tightening).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he estrechado and hubiera estrechado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have tightened).
| Gerundio / Gerund | estrechando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | estrechado |
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 tighten” or “they tighten”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estrecho |
| Tú | estrechas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrecha |
| Nosotros / as | estrechamos |
| Vosotros / as | estrecháis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrechan |
| Vos | estrechás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I tightened” or “she tightened” 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 | estreché | I tightened |
| Tú | estrechaste | You tightened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrechó | He / she / you tightened |
| Nosotros / as | estrechamos | We tightened |
| Vosotros / as | estrechasteis | You tightened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrecharon | They / you tightened |
| Vos | estrechaste | You tightened |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was tightening” or “she was tightening” 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 | estrechaba | I was tightening |
| Tú | estrechabas | You were tightening |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrechaba | He was / she was / you were tightening |
| Nosotros / as | estrechábamos | We were tightening |
| Vosotros / as | estrechabais | You were tightening |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrechaban | They / you were tightening |
| Vos | estrechabas | You were tightening |
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 tightened” and “she has tightened”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he estrechado | I have tightened |
| Tú | has estrechado | You have tightened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha estrechado | He has / she has / you have tightened |
| Nosotros / as | hemos estrechado | We have tightened |
| Vosotros / as | habéis estrechado | You have tightened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han estrechado | They / you have tightened |
| Vos | has estrechado | You have tightened |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would tighten” or “she would tighten”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estrecharía | I would tighten |
| Tú | estrecharías | You would tighten |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrecharía | He / she / you would tighten |
| Nosotros / as | estrecharíamos | We would tighten |
| Vosotros / as | estrecharíais | You would tighten |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrecharían | They / you would tighten |
| Vos | estrecharías | You would tighten |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will tighten” or “they will tighten”.
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 estrechar” means “They are going to tighten”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estrecharé | I will tighten |
| Tú | estrecharás | You will tighten |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrechará | He / she / you will tighten |
| Nosotros / as | estrecharemos | We will tighten |
| Vosotros / as | estrecharéis | You will tighten |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrecharán | They / you will tighten |
| Vos | estrecharás | You will tighten |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estreche |
| Tú | estreches |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estreche |
| Nosotros / as | estrechemos |
| Vosotros / as | estrechéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrechen |
| Vos | estreches |
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 | estrechara | estrechase |
| Tú | estrecharas | estrechase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrechara | estrechase |
| Nosotros / as | estrecháramos | estrechásemos |
| Vosotros / as | estrecharais | estrechaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrecharan | estrechasen |
| Vos | estrecharas | estrechase |
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 | estrechare |
| Tú | estrechares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estrechare |
| Nosotros / as | estrecháremos |
| Vosotros / as | estrechareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrecharen |
| Vos | estrechares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “tighten!” and “don’t tighten!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | estrecha | no estreches |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estreche | no estreche |
| Nosotros / as | estrechemos | no estrechemos |
| Vosotros / as | estrechad | no estrechéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estrechen | no estrechen |
| Vos | estrechá | no estreches |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya estrechado |
| Tú | hayas estrechado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya estrechado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos estrechado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis estrechado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan estrechado |
| Vos | hayas estrechado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera estrechado / hubiese estrechado |
| Tú | hubieras estrechado / hubieses estrechado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera estrechado / hubiese estrechado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos estrechado / hubiésemos estrechado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais estrechado / hubieseis estrechado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran estrechado / hubiesen estrechado |
| Vos | hubieras estrechado / hubieses estrechado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere estrechado |
| Tú | hubieres estrechado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere estrechado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos estrechado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis estrechado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren estrechado |
| Vos | hubieres estrechado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté estrechando |
| Tú | estés estrechando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté estrechando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos estrechando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis estrechando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén estrechando |
| Vos | estés estrechando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera estrechando / estuviese estrechando |
| Tú | estuvieras estrechando / estuvieses estrechando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera estrechando / estuviese estrechando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos estrechando / estuviésamos estrechando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais estrechando / estuvieseis estrechando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera estrechando / estuviese estrechando |
| Vos | estuvieras estrechando / estuvieses estrechando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere estrechando |
| Tú | estuvieres estrechando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere estrechando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos estrechando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis estrechando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere estrechando |
| Vos | estuvieres estrechando |
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 estrechás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos estrechaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos estrechabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos estrecharías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos estrecharás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos estreches |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos estrecharas / Vos estrechase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos estrechá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no estreches |