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Expresar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to express, express oneself”.
Below are all of the conjugations for expresar 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 express, express oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | expresar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está expresando) and past continuous (estaba expresando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. expressing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he expresado and hubiera expresado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have expressed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | expresando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | expresado |
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 express” or “they express”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | expreso |
| Tú | expresas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresa |
| Nosotros / as | expresamos |
| Vosotros / as | expresáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresan |
| Vos | expresás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I expressed” or “she expressed” 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 | expresé | I expressed |
| Tú | expresaste | You expressed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresó | He / she / you expressed |
| Nosotros / as | expresamos | We expressed |
| Vosotros / as | expresasteis | You expressed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresaron | They / you expressed |
| Vos | expresaste | You expressed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was expressing” or “she was expressing” 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 | expresaba | I was expressing |
| Tú | expresabas | You were expressing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresaba | He was / she was / you were expressing |
| Nosotros / as | expresábamos | We were expressing |
| Vosotros / as | expresabais | You were expressing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresaban | They / you were expressing |
| Vos | expresabas | You were expressing |
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 expressed” and “she has expressed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he expresado | I have expressed |
| Tú | has expresado | You have expressed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha expresado | He has / she has / you have expressed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos expresado | We have expressed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis expresado | You have expressed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han expresado | They / you have expressed |
| Vos | has expresado | You have expressed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would express” or “she would express”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | expresaría | I would express |
| Tú | expresarías | You would express |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresaría | He / she / you would express |
| Nosotros / as | expresaríamos | We would express |
| Vosotros / as | expresaríais | You would express |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresarían | They / you would express |
| Vos | expresarías | You would express |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will express” or “they will express”.
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 expresar” means “They are going to express”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | expresaré | I will express |
| Tú | expresarás | You will express |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresará | He / she / you will express |
| Nosotros / as | expresaremos | We will express |
| Vosotros / as | expresaréis | You will express |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresarán | They / you will express |
| Vos | expresarás | You will express |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | exprese |
| Tú | expreses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | exprese |
| Nosotros / as | expresemos |
| Vosotros / as | expreséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresen |
| Vos | expreses |
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 | expresara | expresase |
| Tú | expresaras | expresase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresara | expresase |
| Nosotros / as | expresáramos | expresásemos |
| Vosotros / as | expresarais | expresaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresaran | expresasen |
| Vos | expresaras | expresase |
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 | expresare |
| Tú | expresares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | expresare |
| Nosotros / as | expresáremos |
| Vosotros / as | expresareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresaren |
| Vos | expresares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “express!” and “don’t express!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | expresa | no expreses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | exprese | no exprese |
| Nosotros / as | expresemos | no expresemos |
| Vosotros / as | expresad | no expreséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | expresen | no expresen |
| Vos | expresá | no expreses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya expresado |
| Tú | hayas expresado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya expresado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos expresado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis expresado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan expresado |
| Vos | hayas expresado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera expresado / hubiese expresado |
| Tú | hubieras expresado / hubieses expresado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera expresado / hubiese expresado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos expresado / hubiésemos expresado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais expresado / hubieseis expresado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran expresado / hubiesen expresado |
| Vos | hubieras expresado / hubieses expresado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere expresado |
| Tú | hubieres expresado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere expresado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos expresado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis expresado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren expresado |
| Vos | hubieres expresado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté expresando |
| Tú | estés expresando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté expresando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos expresando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis expresando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén expresando |
| Vos | estés expresando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera expresando / estuviese expresando |
| Tú | estuvieras expresando / estuvieses expresando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera expresando / estuviese expresando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos expresando / estuviésamos expresando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais expresando / estuvieseis expresando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera expresando / estuviese expresando |
| Vos | estuvieras expresando / estuvieses expresando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere expresando |
| Tú | estuvieres expresando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere expresando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos expresando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis expresando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere expresando |
| Vos | estuvieres expresando |
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 expresás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos expresaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos expresabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos expresarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos expresarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos expreses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos expresaras / Vos expresase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos expresá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no expreses |