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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.
English Infinitive | to function, work |
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Spanish Infinitive | funcionar |
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 |
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Participio / Past Participle | functioned |
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 function” or “they function”.
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | funciono |
Tú | funcionas |
Él / Ella / Usted | funciona |
Nosotros / as | funcionamos |
Vosotros / as | funcionáis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | funcionan |
Vos | funcionás |
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 |
Tú | 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 |
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 |
Tú | 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 |
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 |
Tú | 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 |
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 |
Tú | 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 |
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 |
Tú | 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 |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | funcione |
Tú | funciones |
Él / Ella / Usted | funcione |
Nosotros / as | funcionemos |
Vosotros / as | funcionéis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | funcionen |
Vos | funciones |
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 |
Tú | funcionaras | funcionase |
Él / Ella / Usted | funcionara | funcionase |
Nosotros / as | funcionáramos | funcionásemos |
Vosotros / as | funcionarais | funcionaseis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | funcionaran | funcionasen |
Vos | funcionaras | funcionase |
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 |
Tú | funcionares |
Él / Ella / Usted | funcionare |
Nosotros / as | funcionáremos |
Vosotros / as | funcionareis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | funcionaren |
Vos | funcionares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “function!” and “don’t function!”.
Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
---|---|---|
Tú | 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 |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | haya functioned |
Tú | hayas functioned |
Él / Ella / Usted | haya functioned |
Nosotros / as | hayamos functioned |
Vosotros / as | hayáis functioned |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan functioned |
Vos | hayas functioned |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | hubiera functioned / hubiese functioned |
Tú | 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 |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | hubiere functioned |
Tú | hubieres functioned |
Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere functioned |
Nosotros / as | hubiéremos functioned |
Vosotros / as | hubiereis functioned |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren functioned |
Vos | hubieres functioned |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | esté funcionando |
Tú | estés funcionando |
Él / Ella / Usted | esté funcionando |
Nosotros / as | estemos funcionando |
Vosotros / as | estéis funcionando |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén funcionando |
Vos | estés funcionando |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | estuviera funcionando / estuviese funcionando |
Tú | 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 |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | estuviere funcionando |
Tú | estuvieres funcionando |
Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere funcionando |
Nosotros / as | estuviéremos funcionando |
Vosotros / as | estuviereis funcionando |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere funcionando |
Vos | estuvieres funcionando |
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 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 |