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Funcionar conjugation

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Funcionar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to function, work”.

Below are all of the conjugations for funcionar 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.

Funcionar Infinitive

English Infinitive to function, work
Spanish Infinitive funcionar

Funcionar Gerund and Past Participle

The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está funcionando) and past continuous (estaba funcionando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. functioned).

The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he functioned and hubiera functioned. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have functioning).

Gerundio / Gerund  funcionando
Participio / Past Participle  functioned

Funcionar Indicative Conjugations

The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.

Funcionar Presente / Present

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 function” or “they function”.

Pronoun Spanish
Yo funciono
funcionas
Él / Ella / Usted funciona
Nosotros / as funcionamos
Vosotros / as funcionáis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionan
Vos funcionás

Funcionar Preterite / Pretérito Indefinido

Your simple past tense, e.g. “I function” or “she function” 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 funcioné I function
funcionaste You function
Él / Ella / Usted funcionó He / she / you function
Nosotros / as funcionamos We function
Vosotros / as funcionasteis You function
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionaron They / you function
Vos funcionaste You function

Funcionar Imperfect / Pretérito Imperfecto

The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was functioned” or “she was functioned” 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 funcionaba I was functioned
funcionabas You were functioned
Él / Ella / Usted funcionaba He was / she was / you were functioned
Nosotros / as funcionábamos We were functioned
Vosotros / as funcionabais You were functioned
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionaban They / you were functioned
Vos funcionabas You were functioned

Funcionar Perfect / Perfecto

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 functioning” and “she has functioning”.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo he functioned I have functioning
has functioned You have functioning
Él / Ella / Usted ha functioned He has / she has / you have functioning
Nosotros / as hemos functioned We have functioning
Vosotros / as habéis functioned You have functioning
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes han functioned They / you have functioning
Vos has functioned You have functioning

Funcionar Conditional / Condicional

The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would function” or “she would function”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.

Pronoun Spanish Englush
Yo funcionaría I would function
funcionarías You would function
Él / Ella / Usted funcionaría He / she / you would function
Nosotros / as funcionaríamos We would function
Vosotros / as funcionaríais You would function
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionarían They / you would function
Vos funcionarías You would function

Funcionar Future / Futuro

The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will function” or “they will function”.

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 funcionar” means “They are going to function”.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo funcionaré I will function
funcionarás You will function
Él / Ella / Usted funcionará He / she / you will function
Nosotros / as funcionaremos We will function
Vosotros / as funcionaréis You will function
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionarán They / you will function
Vos funcionarás You will function

Funcionar Subjunctive Conjugations

Funcionar Present Subjunctive / Presente de Subjuntivo

Pronoun Spanish
Yo funcione
funciones
Él / Ella / Usted funcione
Nosotros / as funcionemos
Vosotros / as funcionéis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionen
Vos funciones

Funcionar Past Subjunctive / Imperfecto de Subjuntivo

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 funcionara funcionase
funcionaras funcionase
Él / Ella / Usted funcionara funcionase
Nosotros / as funcionáramos funcionásemos
Vosotros / as funcionarais funcionaseis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionaran funcionasen
Vos funcionaras funcionase

Funcionar Future Subjunctive / Futuro de Subjuntivo

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 funcionare
funcionares
Él / Ella / Usted funcionare
Nosotros / as funcionáremos
Vosotros / as funcionareis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionaren
Vos funcionares

Funcionar Imperative Conjugations

Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “function!” and “don’t function!”.

Pronoun Spanish Affirmative Spanish Negative
funciona no funciones
Él / Ella / Usted funcione no funcione
Nosotros / as funcionemos no funcionemos
Vosotros / as funcionad no funcionéis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes funcionen no funcionen
Vos funcioná no funciones

Funcionar Compound Subjunctive Tenses

Funcionar Subjunctive Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo haya functioned
hayas functioned
Él / Ella / Usted haya functioned
Nosotros / as hayamos functioned
Vosotros / as hayáis functioned
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hayan functioned
Vos hayas functioned

Funcionar Subjunctive Past Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo hubiera functioned / hubiese functioned
hubieras functioned / hubieses functioned
Él / Ella / Usted hubiera functioned / hubiese functioned
Nosotros / as hubiéramos functioned / hubiésemos functioned
Vosotros / as hubierais functioned / hubieseis functioned
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hubieran functioned / hubiesen functioned
Vos hubieras functioned / hubieses functioned

Funcionar Subjunctive Future Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo hubiere functioned
hubieres functioned
Él / Ella / Usted hubiere functioned
Nosotros / as hubiéremos functioned
Vosotros / as hubiereis functioned
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hubieren functioned
Vos hubieres functioned

Funcionar Subjective Progressive Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo esté funcionando
estés funcionando
Él / Ella / Usted esté funcionando
Nosotros / as estemos funcionando
Vosotros / as estéis funcionando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estén funcionando
Vos estés funcionando

Funcionar Subjunctive Past Progressive

Pronoun Spanish
Yo estuviera funcionando / estuviese funcionando
estuvieras funcionando / estuvieses funcionando
Él / Ella / Usted estuviera funcionando / estuviese funcionando
Nosotros / as estuviéramos funcionando / estuviésamos funcionando
Vosotros / as estuvierais funcionando / estuvieseis funcionando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estuviera funcionando / estuviese funcionando
Vos estuvieras funcionando / estuvieses funcionando

Funcionar Subjunctive Future Progressive

Pronoun Spanish
Yo estuviere funcionando
estuvieres funcionando
Él / Ella / Usted estuviere funcionando
Nosotros / as estuviéremos funcionando
Vosotros / as estuviereis funcionando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estuviere funcionando
Vos estuvieres funcionando

Funcionar Vos Conjugation

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.

TenseVos Conjugation
Present Indicative
Presente de Indicativo
Vos funcionás
Simle Past / Preterite
Preterite de Indicativo
Vos funcionaste
Imperfect Past
Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo
Vos funcionabas
Conditional
Condicional
Vos funcionarías
Future
Futuro de Indicativo
Vos funcionarás
Present Subjunctive
Presente de Subjunctivo
Vos funciones
Imperfect Subjunctive
Imperfecto de Subjunctivo
Vos funcionaras / Vos funcionase
Affirmative Imperative
Imperativo
Vos funcioná
Negative Imperative
Imperativo Negativo
Vos no funciones