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Formar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to form”.
Below are all of the conjugations for formar 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 form |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | formar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está formando) and past continuous (estaba formando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. forming).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he formado and hubiera formado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have formed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | formando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | formado |
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 form” or “they form”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | formo |
| Tú | formas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | forma |
| Nosotros / as | formamos |
| Vosotros / as | formáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | forman |
| Vos | formás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I formed” or “she formed” 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 | formé | I formed |
| Tú | formaste | You formed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | formó | He / she / you formed |
| Nosotros / as | formamos | We formed |
| Vosotros / as | formasteis | You formed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formaron | They / you formed |
| Vos | formaste | You formed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was forming” or “she was forming” 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 | formaba | I was forming |
| Tú | formabas | You were forming |
| Él / Ella / Usted | formaba | He was / she was / you were forming |
| Nosotros / as | formábamos | We were forming |
| Vosotros / as | formabais | You were forming |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formaban | They / you were forming |
| Vos | formabas | You were forming |
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 formed” and “she has formed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he formado | I have formed |
| Tú | has formado | You have formed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha formado | He has / she has / you have formed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos formado | We have formed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis formado | You have formed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han formado | They / you have formed |
| Vos | has formado | You have formed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would form” or “she would form”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | formaría | I would form |
| Tú | formarías | You would form |
| Él / Ella / Usted | formaría | He / she / you would form |
| Nosotros / as | formaríamos | We would form |
| Vosotros / as | formaríais | You would form |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formarían | They / you would form |
| Vos | formarías | You would form |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will form” or “they will form”.
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 formar” means “They are going to form”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | formaré | I will form |
| Tú | formarás | You will form |
| Él / Ella / Usted | formará | He / she / you will form |
| Nosotros / as | formaremos | We will form |
| Vosotros / as | formaréis | You will form |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formarán | They / you will form |
| Vos | formarás | You will form |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | forme |
| Tú | formes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | forme |
| Nosotros / as | formemos |
| Vosotros / as | forméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formen |
| Vos | formes |
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 | formara | formase |
| Tú | formaras | formase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | formara | formase |
| Nosotros / as | formáramos | formásemos |
| Vosotros / as | formarais | formaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formaran | formasen |
| Vos | formaras | formase |
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 | formare |
| Tú | formares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | formare |
| Nosotros / as | formáremos |
| Vosotros / as | formareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formaren |
| Vos | formares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “form!” and “don’t form!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | forma | no formes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | forme | no forme |
| Nosotros / as | formemos | no formemos |
| Vosotros / as | formad | no forméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | formen | no formen |
| Vos | formá | no formes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya formado |
| Tú | hayas formado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya formado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos formado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis formado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan formado |
| Vos | hayas formado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera formado / hubiese formado |
| Tú | hubieras formado / hubieses formado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera formado / hubiese formado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos formado / hubiésemos formado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais formado / hubieseis formado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran formado / hubiesen formado |
| Vos | hubieras formado / hubieses formado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere formado |
| Tú | hubieres formado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere formado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos formado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis formado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren formado |
| Vos | hubieres formado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté formando |
| Tú | estés formando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté formando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos formando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis formando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén formando |
| Vos | estés formando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera formando / estuviese formando |
| Tú | estuvieras formando / estuvieses formando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera formando / estuviese formando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos formando / estuviésamos formando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais formando / estuvieseis formando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera formando / estuviese formando |
| Vos | estuvieras formando / estuvieses formando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere formando |
| Tú | estuvieres formando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere formando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos formando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis formando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere formando |
| Vos | estuvieres formando |
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 formás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos formaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos formabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos formarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos formarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos formes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos formaras / Vos formase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos formá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no formes |
