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Importar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be concerned, matter”.
Below are all of the conjugations for importar 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 be concerned, matter |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | importar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está importando) and past continuous (estaba importando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being concerned).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he importado and hubiera importado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been concerned).
| Gerundio / Gerund | importando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | importado |
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 am concerned” or “they am concerned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | importo |
| Tú | importas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importa |
| Nosotros / as | importamos |
| Vosotros / as | importáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importan |
| Vos | importás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was concerned” or “she was concerned” 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 | importé | I was concerned |
| Tú | importaste | You was concerned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importó | He / she / you was concerned |
| Nosotros / as | importamos | We was concerned |
| Vosotros / as | importasteis | You was concerned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importaron | They / you was concerned |
| Vos | importaste | You was concerned |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being concerned” or “she was being concerned” 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 | importaba | I was being concerned |
| Tú | importabas | You were being concerned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importaba | He was / she was / you were being concerned |
| Nosotros / as | importábamos | We were being concerned |
| Vosotros / as | importabais | You were being concerned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importaban | They / you were being concerned |
| Vos | importabas | You were being concerned |
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 been concerned” and “she has been concerned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he importado | I have been concerned |
| Tú | has importado | You have been concerned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha importado | He has / she has / you have been concerned |
| Nosotros / as | hemos importado | We have been concerned |
| Vosotros / as | habéis importado | You have been concerned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han importado | They / you have been concerned |
| Vos | has importado | You have been concerned |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be concerned” or “she would be concerned”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | importaría | I would am concerned |
| Tú | importarías | You would am concerned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importaría | He / she / you would am concerned |
| Nosotros / as | importaríamos | We would am concerned |
| Vosotros / as | importaríais | You would am concerned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importarían | They / you would am concerned |
| Vos | importarías | You would am concerned |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be concerned” or “they will be concerned”.
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 importar” means “They are going to be concerned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | importaré | I will am concerned |
| Tú | importarás | You will am concerned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importará | He / she / you will am concerned |
| Nosotros / as | importaremos | We will am concerned |
| Vosotros / as | importaréis | You will am concerned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importarán | They / you will am concerned |
| Vos | importarás | You will am concerned |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | importe |
| Tú | importes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importe |
| Nosotros / as | importemos |
| Vosotros / as | importéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importen |
| Vos | importes |
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 | importara | importase |
| Tú | importaras | importase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importara | importase |
| Nosotros / as | importáramos | importásemos |
| Vosotros / as | importarais | importaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importaran | importasen |
| Vos | importaras | importase |
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 | importare |
| Tú | importares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importare |
| Nosotros / as | importáremos |
| Vosotros / as | importareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importaren |
| Vos | importares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be concerned!” and “don’t be concerned!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | importa | no importes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | importe | no importe |
| Nosotros / as | importemos | no importemos |
| Vosotros / as | importad | no importéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | importen | no importen |
| Vos | importá | no importes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya importado |
| Tú | hayas importado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya importado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos importado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis importado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan importado |
| Vos | hayas importado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera importado / hubiese importado |
| Tú | hubieras importado / hubieses importado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera importado / hubiese importado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos importado / hubiésemos importado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais importado / hubieseis importado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran importado / hubiesen importado |
| Vos | hubieras importado / hubieses importado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere importado |
| Tú | hubieres importado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere importado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos importado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis importado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren importado |
| Vos | hubieres importado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté importando |
| Tú | estés importando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté importando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos importando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis importando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén importando |
| Vos | estés importando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera importando / estuviese importando |
| Tú | estuvieras importando / estuvieses importando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera importando / estuviese importando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos importando / estuviésamos importando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais importando / estuvieseis importando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera importando / estuviese importando |
| Vos | estuvieras importando / estuvieses importando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere importando |
| Tú | estuvieres importando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere importando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos importando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis importando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere importando |
| Vos | estuvieres importando |
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 importás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos importaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos importabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos importarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos importarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos importes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos importaras / Vos importase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos importá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no importes |