Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Ganar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to win”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ganar 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 win |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ganar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ganando) and past continuous (estaba ganando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. winning).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ganado and hubiera ganado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have won).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ganando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ganado |
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 win” or “they win”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | gano |
| Tú | ganas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gana |
| Nosotros / as | ganamos |
| Vosotros / as | ganáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganan |
| Vos | ganás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I won” or “she won” 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 | gané | I won |
| Tú | ganaste | You won |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ganó | He / she / you won |
| Nosotros / as | ganamos | We won |
| Vosotros / as | ganasteis | You won |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganaron | They / you won |
| Vos | ganaste | You won |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was winning” or “she was winning” 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 | ganaba | I was winning |
| Tú | ganabas | You were winning |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ganaba | He was / she was / you were winning |
| Nosotros / as | ganábamos | We were winning |
| Vosotros / as | ganabais | You were winning |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganaban | They / you were winning |
| Vos | ganabas | You were winning |
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 won” and “she has won”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ganado | I have won |
| Tú | has ganado | You have won |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ganado | He has / she has / you have won |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ganado | We have won |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ganado | You have won |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ganado | They / you have won |
| Vos | has ganado | You have won |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would win” or “she would win”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ganaría | I would win |
| Tú | ganarías | You would win |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ganaría | He / she / you would win |
| Nosotros / as | ganaríamos | We would win |
| Vosotros / as | ganaríais | You would win |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganarían | They / you would win |
| Vos | ganarías | You would win |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will win” or “they will win”.
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 ganar” means “They are going to win”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ganaré | I will win |
| Tú | ganarás | You will win |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ganará | He / she / you will win |
| Nosotros / as | ganaremos | We will win |
| Vosotros / as | ganaréis | You will win |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganarán | They / you will win |
| Vos | ganarás | You will win |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | gane |
| Tú | ganes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gane |
| Nosotros / as | ganemos |
| Vosotros / as | ganéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganen |
| Vos | ganes |
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 | ganara | ganase |
| Tú | ganaras | ganase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ganara | ganase |
| Nosotros / as | ganáramos | ganásemos |
| Vosotros / as | ganarais | ganaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganaran | ganasen |
| Vos | ganaras | ganase |
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 | ganare |
| Tú | ganares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ganare |
| Nosotros / as | ganáremos |
| Vosotros / as | ganareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganaren |
| Vos | ganares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “win!” and “don’t win!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | gana | no ganes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gane | no gane |
| Nosotros / as | ganemos | no ganemos |
| Vosotros / as | ganad | no ganéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ganen | no ganen |
| Vos | ganá | no ganes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ganado |
| Tú | hayas ganado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ganado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ganado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ganado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ganado |
| Vos | hayas ganado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ganado / hubiese ganado |
| Tú | hubieras ganado / hubieses ganado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ganado / hubiese ganado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ganado / hubiésemos ganado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ganado / hubieseis ganado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ganado / hubiesen ganado |
| Vos | hubieras ganado / hubieses ganado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ganado |
| Tú | hubieres ganado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ganado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ganado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ganado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ganado |
| Vos | hubieres ganado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ganando |
| Tú | estés ganando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ganando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ganando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ganando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ganando |
| Vos | estés ganando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ganando / estuviese ganando |
| Tú | estuvieras ganando / estuvieses ganando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ganando / estuviese ganando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ganando / estuviésamos ganando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ganando / estuvieseis ganando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ganando / estuviese ganando |
| Vos | estuvieras ganando / estuvieses ganando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ganando |
| Tú | estuvieres ganando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ganando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ganando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ganando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ganando |
| Vos | estuvieres ganando |
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 ganás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ganaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ganabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos ganarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos ganarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ganes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ganaras / Vos ganase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ganá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ganes |
