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Imaginar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to imagine”.
Below are all of the conjugations for imaginar 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 imagine |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | imaginar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está imaginando) and past continuous (estaba imaginando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. imagined).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he imagined and hubiera imagined. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have imagining).
| Gerundio / Gerund | imaginando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | imagined |
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 imagine” or “they imagine”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | imagino |
| Tú | imaginas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imagina |
| Nosotros / as | imaginamos |
| Vosotros / as | imagináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginan |
| Vos | imaginás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I imagine” or “she imagine” 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 | imaginé | I imagine |
| Tú | imaginaste | You imagine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imaginó | He / she / you imagine |
| Nosotros / as | imaginamos | We imagine |
| Vosotros / as | imaginasteis | You imagine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginaron | They / you imagine |
| Vos | imaginaste | You imagine |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was imagined” or “she was imagined” 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 | imaginaba | I was imagined |
| Tú | imaginabas | You were imagined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imaginaba | He was / she was / you were imagined |
| Nosotros / as | imaginábamos | We were imagined |
| Vosotros / as | imaginabais | You were imagined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginaban | They / you were imagined |
| Vos | imaginabas | You were imagined |
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 imagining” and “she has imagining”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he imagined | I have imagining |
| Tú | has imagined | You have imagining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha imagined | He has / she has / you have imagining |
| Nosotros / as | hemos imagined | We have imagining |
| Vosotros / as | habéis imagined | You have imagining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han imagined | They / you have imagining |
| Vos | has imagined | You have imagining |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would imagine” or “she would imagine”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | imaginaría | I would imagine |
| Tú | imaginarías | You would imagine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imaginaría | He / she / you would imagine |
| Nosotros / as | imaginaríamos | We would imagine |
| Vosotros / as | imaginaríais | You would imagine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginarían | They / you would imagine |
| Vos | imaginarías | You would imagine |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will imagine” or “they will imagine”.
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 imaginar” means “They are going to imagine”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | imaginaré | I will imagine |
| Tú | imaginarás | You will imagine |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imaginará | He / she / you will imagine |
| Nosotros / as | imaginaremos | We will imagine |
| Vosotros / as | imaginaréis | You will imagine |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginarán | They / you will imagine |
| Vos | imaginarás | You will imagine |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | imagine |
| Tú | imagines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imagine |
| Nosotros / as | imaginemos |
| Vosotros / as | imaginéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginen |
| Vos | imagines |
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 | imaginara | imaginase |
| Tú | imaginaras | imaginase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imaginara | imaginase |
| Nosotros / as | imagináramos | imaginásemos |
| Vosotros / as | imaginarais | imaginaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginaran | imaginasen |
| Vos | imaginaras | imaginase |
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 | imaginare |
| Tú | imaginares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imaginare |
| Nosotros / as | imagináremos |
| Vosotros / as | imaginareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginaren |
| Vos | imaginares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “imagine!” and “don’t imagine!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | imagina | no imagines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imagine | no imagine |
| Nosotros / as | imaginemos | no imaginemos |
| Vosotros / as | imaginad | no imaginéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imaginen | no imaginen |
| Vos | imaginá | no imagines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya imagined |
| Tú | hayas imagined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya imagined |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos imagined |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis imagined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan imagined |
| Vos | hayas imagined |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera imagined / hubiese imagined |
| Tú | hubieras imagined / hubieses imagined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera imagined / hubiese imagined |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos imagined / hubiésemos imagined |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais imagined / hubieseis imagined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran imagined / hubiesen imagined |
| Vos | hubieras imagined / hubieses imagined |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere imagined |
| Tú | hubieres imagined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere imagined |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos imagined |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis imagined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren imagined |
| Vos | hubieres imagined |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté imaginando |
| Tú | estés imaginando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté imaginando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos imaginando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis imaginando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén imaginando |
| Vos | estés imaginando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera imaginando / estuviese imaginando |
| Tú | estuvieras imaginando / estuvieses imaginando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera imaginando / estuviese imaginando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos imaginando / estuviésamos imaginando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais imaginando / estuvieseis imaginando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera imaginando / estuviese imaginando |
| Vos | estuvieras imaginando / estuvieses imaginando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere imaginando |
| Tú | estuvieres imaginando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere imaginando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos imaginando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis imaginando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere imaginando |
| Vos | estuvieres imaginando |
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 imaginás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos imaginaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos imaginabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos imaginarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos imaginarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos imagines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos imaginaras / Vos imaginase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos imaginá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no imagines |