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Instar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to urge, press”.
Below are all of the conjugations for instar 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 urge, press |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | instar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está instando) and past continuous (estaba instando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. urging).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he instado and hubiera instado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have urged).
| Gerundio / Gerund | instando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | instado |
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 urge” or “they urge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | insto |
| Tú | instas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | insta |
| Nosotros / as | instamos |
| Vosotros / as | instáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instan |
| Vos | instás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I urged” or “she urged” 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 | insté | I urged |
| Tú | instaste | You urged |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instó | He / she / you urged |
| Nosotros / as | instamos | We urged |
| Vosotros / as | instasteis | You urged |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instaron | They / you urged |
| Vos | instaste | You urged |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was urging” or “she was urging” 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 | instaba | I was urging |
| Tú | instabas | You were urging |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instaba | He was / she was / you were urging |
| Nosotros / as | instábamos | We were urging |
| Vosotros / as | instabais | You were urging |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instaban | They / you were urging |
| Vos | instabas | You were urging |
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 urged” and “she has urged”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he instado | I have urged |
| Tú | has instado | You have urged |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha instado | He has / she has / you have urged |
| Nosotros / as | hemos instado | We have urged |
| Vosotros / as | habéis instado | You have urged |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han instado | They / you have urged |
| Vos | has instado | You have urged |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would urge” or “she would urge”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | instaría | I would urge |
| Tú | instarías | You would urge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instaría | He / she / you would urge |
| Nosotros / as | instaríamos | We would urge |
| Vosotros / as | instaríais | You would urge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instarían | They / you would urge |
| Vos | instarías | You would urge |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will urge” or “they will urge”.
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 instar” means “They are going to urge”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | instaré | I will urge |
| Tú | instarás | You will urge |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instará | He / she / you will urge |
| Nosotros / as | instaremos | We will urge |
| Vosotros / as | instaréis | You will urge |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instarán | They / you will urge |
| Vos | instarás | You will urge |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | inste |
| Tú | instes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inste |
| Nosotros / as | instemos |
| Vosotros / as | instéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insten |
| Vos | instes |
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 | instara | instase |
| Tú | instaras | instase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instara | instase |
| Nosotros / as | instáramos | instásemos |
| Vosotros / as | instarais | instaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instaran | instasen |
| Vos | instaras | instase |
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 | instare |
| Tú | instares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | instare |
| Nosotros / as | instáremos |
| Vosotros / as | instareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | instaren |
| Vos | instares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “urge!” and “don’t urge!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | insta | no instes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inste | no inste |
| Nosotros / as | instemos | no instemos |
| Vosotros / as | instad | no instéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | insten | no insten |
| Vos | instá | no instes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya instado |
| Tú | hayas instado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya instado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos instado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis instado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan instado |
| Vos | hayas instado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera instado / hubiese instado |
| Tú | hubieras instado / hubieses instado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera instado / hubiese instado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos instado / hubiésemos instado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais instado / hubieseis instado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran instado / hubiesen instado |
| Vos | hubieras instado / hubieses instado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere instado |
| Tú | hubieres instado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere instado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos instado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis instado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren instado |
| Vos | hubieres instado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté instando |
| Tú | estés instando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté instando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos instando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis instando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén instando |
| Vos | estés instando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera instando / estuviese instando |
| Tú | estuvieras instando / estuvieses instando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera instando / estuviese instando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos instando / estuviésamos instando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais instando / estuvieseis instando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera instando / estuviese instando |
| Vos | estuvieras instando / estuvieses instando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere instando |
| Tú | estuvieres instando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere instando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos instando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis instando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere instando |
| Vos | estuvieres instando |
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 instás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos instaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos instabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos instarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos instarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos instes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos instaras / Vos instase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos instá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no instes |