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Imitar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to imitate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for imitar 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 imitate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | imitar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está imitando) and past continuous (estaba imitando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. imitated).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he imitated and hubiera imitated. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have imitating).
| Gerundio / Gerund | imitando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | imitated |
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 imitate” or “they imitate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | imito |
| Tú | imitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imita |
| Nosotros / as | imitamos |
| Vosotros / as | imitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitan |
| Vos | imitás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I imitate” or “she imitate” 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 | imité | I imitate |
| Tú | imitaste | You imitate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imitó | He / she / you imitate |
| Nosotros / as | imitamos | We imitate |
| Vosotros / as | imitasteis | You imitate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitaron | They / you imitate |
| Vos | imitaste | You imitate |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was imitated” or “she was imitated” 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 | imitaba | I was imitated |
| Tú | imitabas | You were imitated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imitaba | He was / she was / you were imitated |
| Nosotros / as | imitábamos | We were imitated |
| Vosotros / as | imitabais | You were imitated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitaban | They / you were imitated |
| Vos | imitabas | You were imitated |
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 imitating” and “she has imitating”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he imitated | I have imitating |
| Tú | has imitated | You have imitating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha imitated | He has / she has / you have imitating |
| Nosotros / as | hemos imitated | We have imitating |
| Vosotros / as | habéis imitated | You have imitating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han imitated | They / you have imitating |
| Vos | has imitated | You have imitating |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would imitate” or “she would imitate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | imitaría | I would imitate |
| Tú | imitarías | You would imitate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imitaría | He / she / you would imitate |
| Nosotros / as | imitaríamos | We would imitate |
| Vosotros / as | imitaríais | You would imitate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitarían | They / you would imitate |
| Vos | imitarías | You would imitate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will imitate” or “they will imitate”.
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 imitar” means “They are going to imitate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | imitaré | I will imitate |
| Tú | imitarás | You will imitate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imitará | He / she / you will imitate |
| Nosotros / as | imitaremos | We will imitate |
| Vosotros / as | imitaréis | You will imitate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitarán | They / you will imitate |
| Vos | imitarás | You will imitate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | imite |
| Tú | imites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imite |
| Nosotros / as | imitemos |
| Vosotros / as | imitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imiten |
| Vos | imites |
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 | imitara | imitase |
| Tú | imitaras | imitase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imitara | imitase |
| Nosotros / as | imitáramos | imitásemos |
| Vosotros / as | imitarais | imitaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitaran | imitasen |
| Vos | imitaras | imitase |
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 | imitare |
| Tú | imitares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imitare |
| Nosotros / as | imitáremos |
| Vosotros / as | imitareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imitaren |
| Vos | imitares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “imitate!” and “don’t imitate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | imita | no imites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | imite | no imite |
| Nosotros / as | imitemos | no imitemos |
| Vosotros / as | imitad | no imitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | imiten | no imiten |
| Vos | imitá | no imites |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya imitated |
| Tú | hayas imitated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya imitated |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos imitated |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis imitated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan imitated |
| Vos | hayas imitated |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera imitated / hubiese imitated |
| Tú | hubieras imitated / hubieses imitated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera imitated / hubiese imitated |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos imitated / hubiésemos imitated |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais imitated / hubieseis imitated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran imitated / hubiesen imitated |
| Vos | hubieras imitated / hubieses imitated |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere imitated |
| Tú | hubieres imitated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere imitated |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos imitated |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis imitated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren imitated |
| Vos | hubieres imitated |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté imitando |
| Tú | estés imitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté imitando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos imitando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis imitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén imitando |
| Vos | estés imitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera imitando / estuviese imitando |
| Tú | estuvieras imitando / estuvieses imitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera imitando / estuviese imitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos imitando / estuviésamos imitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais imitando / estuvieseis imitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera imitando / estuviese imitando |
| Vos | estuvieras imitando / estuvieses imitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere imitando |
| Tú | estuvieres imitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere imitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos imitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis imitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere imitando |
| Vos | estuvieres imitando |
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 imitás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos imitaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos imitabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos imitarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos imitarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos imites |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos imitaras / Vos imitase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos imitá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no imites |