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Fijar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to establish, stick, set”.
Below are all of the conjugations for fijar 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 establish, stick, set |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | fijar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está fijando) and past continuous (estaba fijando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. established).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he established and hubiera established. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have establishing).
| Gerundio / Gerund | fijando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | established |
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 establish” or “they establish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fijo |
| Tú | fijas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fija |
| Nosotros / as | fijamos |
| Vosotros / as | fijáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijan |
| Vos | fijás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I establish” or “she establish” 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 | fijé | I establish |
| Tú | fijaste | You establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fijó | He / she / you establish |
| Nosotros / as | fijamos | We establish |
| Vosotros / as | fijasteis | You establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijaron | They / you establish |
| Vos | fijaste | You establish |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was established” or “she was established” 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 | fijaba | I was established |
| Tú | fijabas | You were established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fijaba | He was / she was / you were established |
| Nosotros / as | fijábamos | We were established |
| Vosotros / as | fijabais | You were established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijaban | They / you were established |
| Vos | fijabas | You were established |
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 establishing” and “she has establishing”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he established | I have establishing |
| Tú | has established | You have establishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha established | He has / she has / you have establishing |
| Nosotros / as | hemos established | We have establishing |
| Vosotros / as | habéis established | You have establishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han established | They / you have establishing |
| Vos | has established | You have establishing |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would establish” or “she would establish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fijaría | I would establish |
| Tú | fijarías | You would establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fijaría | He / she / you would establish |
| Nosotros / as | fijaríamos | We would establish |
| Vosotros / as | fijaríais | You would establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijarían | They / you would establish |
| Vos | fijarías | You would establish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will establish” or “they will establish”.
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 fijar” means “They are going to establish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fijaré | I will establish |
| Tú | fijarás | You will establish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fijará | He / she / you will establish |
| Nosotros / as | fijaremos | We will establish |
| Vosotros / as | fijaréis | You will establish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijarán | They / you will establish |
| Vos | fijarás | You will establish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fije |
| Tú | fijes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fije |
| Nosotros / as | fijemos |
| Vosotros / as | fijéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijen |
| Vos | fijes |
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 | fijara | fijase |
| Tú | fijaras | fijase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fijara | fijase |
| Nosotros / as | fijáramos | fijásemos |
| Vosotros / as | fijarais | fijaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijaran | fijasen |
| Vos | fijaras | fijase |
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 | fijare |
| Tú | fijares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fijare |
| Nosotros / as | fijáremos |
| Vosotros / as | fijareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijaren |
| Vos | fijares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “establish!” and “don’t establish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | fija | no fijes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fije | no fije |
| Nosotros / as | fijemos | no fijemos |
| Vosotros / as | fijad | no fijéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fijen | no fijen |
| Vos | fijá | no fijes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya established |
| Tú | hayas established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya established |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos established |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan established |
| Vos | hayas established |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera established / hubiese established |
| Tú | hubieras established / hubieses established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera established / hubiese established |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos established / hubiésemos established |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais established / hubieseis established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran established / hubiesen established |
| Vos | hubieras established / hubieses established |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere established |
| Tú | hubieres established |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere established |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos established |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis established |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren established |
| Vos | hubieres established |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté fijando |
| Tú | estés fijando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté fijando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos fijando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis fijando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén fijando |
| Vos | estés fijando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera fijando / estuviese fijando |
| Tú | estuvieras fijando / estuvieses fijando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera fijando / estuviese fijando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos fijando / estuviésamos fijando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais fijando / estuvieseis fijando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera fijando / estuviese fijando |
| Vos | estuvieras fijando / estuvieses fijando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere fijando |
| Tú | estuvieres fijando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere fijando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos fijando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis fijando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere fijando |
| Vos | estuvieres fijando |
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 fijás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos fijaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos fijabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos fijarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos fijarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos fijes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos fijaras / Vos fijase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos fijá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no fijes |