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Fomentar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to foment, promote, stir up”.
Below are all of the conjugations for fomentar 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 foment, promote, stir up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | fomentar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está fomentando) and past continuous (estaba fomentando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. fomented).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he fomented and hubiera fomented. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have fomenting).
| Gerundio / Gerund | fomentando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | fomented |
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 foment” or “they foment”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fomento |
| Tú | fomentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomenta |
| Nosotros / as | fomentamos |
| Vosotros / as | fomentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentan |
| Vos | fomentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I foment” or “she foment” 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 | fomenté | I foment |
| Tú | fomentaste | You foment |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomentó | He / she / you foment |
| Nosotros / as | fomentamos | We foment |
| Vosotros / as | fomentasteis | You foment |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentaron | They / you foment |
| Vos | fomentaste | You foment |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was fomented” or “she was fomented” 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 | fomentaba | I was fomented |
| Tú | fomentabas | You were fomented |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomentaba | He was / she was / you were fomented |
| Nosotros / as | fomentábamos | We were fomented |
| Vosotros / as | fomentabais | You were fomented |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentaban | They / you were fomented |
| Vos | fomentabas | You were fomented |
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 fomenting” and “she has fomenting”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he fomented | I have fomenting |
| Tú | has fomented | You have fomenting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha fomented | He has / she has / you have fomenting |
| Nosotros / as | hemos fomented | We have fomenting |
| Vosotros / as | habéis fomented | You have fomenting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han fomented | They / you have fomenting |
| Vos | has fomented | You have fomenting |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would foment” or “she would foment”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fomentaría | I would foment |
| Tú | fomentarías | You would foment |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomentaría | He / she / you would foment |
| Nosotros / as | fomentaríamos | We would foment |
| Vosotros / as | fomentaríais | You would foment |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentarían | They / you would foment |
| Vos | fomentarías | You would foment |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will foment” or “they will foment”.
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 fomentar” means “They are going to foment”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fomentaré | I will foment |
| Tú | fomentarás | You will foment |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomentará | He / she / you will foment |
| Nosotros / as | fomentaremos | We will foment |
| Vosotros / as | fomentaréis | You will foment |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentarán | They / you will foment |
| Vos | fomentarás | You will foment |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fomente |
| Tú | fomentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomente |
| Nosotros / as | fomentemos |
| Vosotros / as | fomentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomenten |
| Vos | fomentes |
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 | fomentara | fomentase |
| Tú | fomentaras | fomentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomentara | fomentase |
| Nosotros / as | fomentáramos | fomentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | fomentarais | fomentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentaran | fomentasen |
| Vos | fomentaras | fomentase |
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 | fomentare |
| Tú | fomentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomentare |
| Nosotros / as | fomentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | fomentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomentaren |
| Vos | fomentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “foment!” and “don’t foment!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | fomenta | no fomentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fomente | no fomente |
| Nosotros / as | fomentemos | no fomentemos |
| Vosotros / as | fomentad | no fomentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fomenten | no fomenten |
| Vos | fomentá | no fomentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya fomented |
| Tú | hayas fomented |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya fomented |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos fomented |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis fomented |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan fomented |
| Vos | hayas fomented |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera fomented / hubiese fomented |
| Tú | hubieras fomented / hubieses fomented |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera fomented / hubiese fomented |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos fomented / hubiésemos fomented |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais fomented / hubieseis fomented |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran fomented / hubiesen fomented |
| Vos | hubieras fomented / hubieses fomented |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere fomented |
| Tú | hubieres fomented |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere fomented |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos fomented |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis fomented |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren fomented |
| Vos | hubieres fomented |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté fomentando |
| Tú | estés fomentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté fomentando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos fomentando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis fomentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén fomentando |
| Vos | estés fomentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera fomentando / estuviese fomentando |
| Tú | estuvieras fomentando / estuvieses fomentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera fomentando / estuviese fomentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos fomentando / estuviésamos fomentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais fomentando / estuvieseis fomentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera fomentando / estuviese fomentando |
| Vos | estuvieras fomentando / estuvieses fomentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere fomentando |
| Tú | estuvieres fomentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere fomentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos fomentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis fomentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere fomentando |
| Vos | estuvieres fomentando |
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 fomentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos fomentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos fomentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos fomentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos fomentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos fomentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos fomentaras / Vos fomentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos fomentá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no fomentes |