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Idear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to think up, invent”.
Below are all of the conjugations for idear 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 think up, invent |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | idear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ideando) and past continuous (estaba ideando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. thought up).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he thought up and hubiera thought up. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have thinking up).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ideando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | thought up |
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 think up” or “they think up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ideo |
| Tú | ideas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | idea |
| Nosotros / as | ideamos |
| Vosotros / as | ideáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | idean |
| Vos | ideás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I think up” or “she think up” 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 | ideé | I think up |
| Tú | ideaste | You think up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ideó | He / she / you think up |
| Nosotros / as | ideamos | We think up |
| Vosotros / as | ideasteis | You think up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | idearon | They / you think up |
| Vos | ideaste | You think up |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was thought up” or “she was thought up” 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 | ideaba | I was thought up |
| Tú | ideabas | You were thought up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ideaba | He was / she was / you were thought up |
| Nosotros / as | ideábamos | We were thought up |
| Vosotros / as | ideabais | You were thought up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ideaban | They / you were thought up |
| Vos | ideabas | You were thought up |
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 thinking up” and “she has thinking up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he thought up | I have thinking up |
| Tú | has thought up | You have thinking up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha thought up | He has / she has / you have thinking up |
| Nosotros / as | hemos thought up | We have thinking up |
| Vosotros / as | habéis thought up | You have thinking up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han thought up | They / you have thinking up |
| Vos | has thought up | You have thinking up |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would think up” or “she would think up”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | idearía | I would think up |
| Tú | idearías | You would think up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | idearía | He / she / you would think up |
| Nosotros / as | idearíamos | We would think up |
| Vosotros / as | idearíais | You would think up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | idearían | They / you would think up |
| Vos | idearías | You would think up |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will think up” or “they will think up”.
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 idear” means “They are going to think up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | idearé | I will think up |
| Tú | idearás | You will think up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ideará | He / she / you will think up |
| Nosotros / as | idearemos | We will think up |
| Vosotros / as | idearéis | You will think up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | idearán | They / you will think up |
| Vos | idearás | You will think up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | idee |
| Tú | idees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | idee |
| Nosotros / as | ideemos |
| Vosotros / as | ideéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ideen |
| Vos | idees |
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 | ideara | idease |
| Tú | idearas | idease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ideara | idease |
| Nosotros / as | ideáramos | ideásemos |
| Vosotros / as | idearais | ideaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | idearan | ideasen |
| Vos | idearas | idease |
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 | ideare |
| Tú | ideares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ideare |
| Nosotros / as | ideáremos |
| Vosotros / as | ideareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | idearen |
| Vos | ideares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “think up!” and “don’t think up!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | idea | no idees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | idee | no idee |
| Nosotros / as | ideemos | no ideemos |
| Vosotros / as | idead | no ideéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ideen | no ideen |
| Vos | ideá | no idees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya thought up |
| Tú | hayas thought up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya thought up |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos thought up |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis thought up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan thought up |
| Vos | hayas thought up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera thought up / hubiese thought up |
| Tú | hubieras thought up / hubieses thought up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera thought up / hubiese thought up |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos thought up / hubiésemos thought up |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais thought up / hubieseis thought up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran thought up / hubiesen thought up |
| Vos | hubieras thought up / hubieses thought up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere thought up |
| Tú | hubieres thought up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere thought up |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos thought up |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis thought up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren thought up |
| Vos | hubieres thought up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ideando |
| Tú | estés ideando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ideando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ideando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ideando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ideando |
| Vos | estés ideando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ideando / estuviese ideando |
| Tú | estuvieras ideando / estuvieses ideando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ideando / estuviese ideando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ideando / estuviésamos ideando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ideando / estuvieseis ideando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ideando / estuviese ideando |
| Vos | estuvieras ideando / estuvieses ideando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ideando |
| Tú | estuvieres ideando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ideando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ideando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ideando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ideando |
| Vos | estuvieres ideando |
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 ideás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ideaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ideabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos idearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos idearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos idees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos idearas / Vos idease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ideá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no idees |