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Iluminar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to light, illuminate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for iluminar 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 light, illuminate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | iluminar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está iluminando) and past continuous (estaba iluminando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. illuminated).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he illuminated and hubiera illuminated. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have illuminating).
| Gerundio / Gerund | iluminando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | illuminated |
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 illuminate” or “they illuminate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ilumino |
| Tú | iluminas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ilumina |
| Nosotros / as | iluminamos |
| Vosotros / as | ilumináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminan |
| Vos | iluminás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I illuminate” or “she illuminate” 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 | iluminé | I illuminate |
| Tú | iluminaste | You illuminate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | iluminó | He / she / you illuminate |
| Nosotros / as | iluminamos | We illuminate |
| Vosotros / as | iluminasteis | You illuminate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminaron | They / you illuminate |
| Vos | iluminaste | You illuminate |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was illuminated” or “she was illuminated” 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 | iluminaba | I was illuminated |
| Tú | iluminabas | You were illuminated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | iluminaba | He was / she was / you were illuminated |
| Nosotros / as | iluminábamos | We were illuminated |
| Vosotros / as | iluminabais | You were illuminated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminaban | They / you were illuminated |
| Vos | iluminabas | You were illuminated |
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 illuminating” and “she has illuminating”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he illuminated | I have illuminating |
| Tú | has illuminated | You have illuminating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha illuminated | He has / she has / you have illuminating |
| Nosotros / as | hemos illuminated | We have illuminating |
| Vosotros / as | habéis illuminated | You have illuminating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han illuminated | They / you have illuminating |
| Vos | has illuminated | You have illuminating |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would illuminate” or “she would illuminate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | iluminaría | I would illuminate |
| Tú | iluminarías | You would illuminate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | iluminaría | He / she / you would illuminate |
| Nosotros / as | iluminaríamos | We would illuminate |
| Vosotros / as | iluminaríais | You would illuminate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminarían | They / you would illuminate |
| Vos | iluminarías | You would illuminate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will illuminate” or “they will illuminate”.
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 iluminar” means “They are going to illuminate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | iluminaré | I will illuminate |
| Tú | iluminarás | You will illuminate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | iluminará | He / she / you will illuminate |
| Nosotros / as | iluminaremos | We will illuminate |
| Vosotros / as | iluminaréis | You will illuminate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminarán | They / you will illuminate |
| Vos | iluminarás | You will illuminate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ilumine |
| Tú | ilumines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ilumine |
| Nosotros / as | iluminemos |
| Vosotros / as | iluminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminen |
| Vos | ilumines |
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 | iluminara | iluminase |
| Tú | iluminaras | iluminase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | iluminara | iluminase |
| Nosotros / as | ilumináramos | iluminásemos |
| Vosotros / as | iluminarais | iluminaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminaran | iluminasen |
| Vos | iluminaras | iluminase |
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 | iluminare |
| Tú | iluminares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | iluminare |
| Nosotros / as | ilumináremos |
| Vosotros / as | iluminareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminaren |
| Vos | iluminares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “illuminate!” and “don’t illuminate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | ilumina | no ilumines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ilumine | no ilumine |
| Nosotros / as | iluminemos | no iluminemos |
| Vosotros / as | iluminad | no iluminéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | iluminen | no iluminen |
| Vos | iluminá | no ilumines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya illuminated |
| Tú | hayas illuminated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya illuminated |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos illuminated |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis illuminated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan illuminated |
| Vos | hayas illuminated |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera illuminated / hubiese illuminated |
| Tú | hubieras illuminated / hubieses illuminated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera illuminated / hubiese illuminated |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos illuminated / hubiésemos illuminated |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais illuminated / hubieseis illuminated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran illuminated / hubiesen illuminated |
| Vos | hubieras illuminated / hubieses illuminated |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere illuminated |
| Tú | hubieres illuminated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere illuminated |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos illuminated |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis illuminated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren illuminated |
| Vos | hubieres illuminated |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté iluminando |
| Tú | estés iluminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté iluminando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos iluminando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis iluminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén iluminando |
| Vos | estés iluminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera iluminando / estuviese iluminando |
| Tú | estuvieras iluminando / estuvieses iluminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera iluminando / estuviese iluminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos iluminando / estuviésamos iluminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais iluminando / estuvieseis iluminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera iluminando / estuviese iluminando |
| Vos | estuvieras iluminando / estuvieses iluminando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere iluminando |
| Tú | estuvieres iluminando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere iluminando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos iluminando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis iluminando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere iluminando |
| Vos | estuvieres iluminando |
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 iluminás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos iluminaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos iluminabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos iluminarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos iluminarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ilumines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos iluminaras / Vos iluminase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos iluminá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ilumines |