Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Interpretar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to interpret, perform”.
Below are all of the conjugations for interpretar 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 interpret, perform |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | interpretar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está interpretando) and past continuous (estaba interpretando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. interpreting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he interpretado and hubiera interpretado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have interpreted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | interpretando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | interpretado |
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 interpret” or “they interpret”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | interpreto |
| Tú | interpretas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpreta |
| Nosotros / as | interpretamos |
| Vosotros / as | interpretáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretan |
| Vos | interpretás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I interpreted” or “she interpreted” 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 | interpreté | I interpreted |
| Tú | interpretaste | You interpreted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpretó | He / she / you interpreted |
| Nosotros / as | interpretamos | We interpreted |
| Vosotros / as | interpretasteis | You interpreted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretaron | They / you interpreted |
| Vos | interpretaste | You interpreted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was interpreting” or “she was interpreting” 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 | interpretaba | I was interpreting |
| Tú | interpretabas | You were interpreting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpretaba | He was / she was / you were interpreting |
| Nosotros / as | interpretábamos | We were interpreting |
| Vosotros / as | interpretabais | You were interpreting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretaban | They / you were interpreting |
| Vos | interpretabas | You were interpreting |
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 interpreted” and “she has interpreted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he interpretado | I have interpreted |
| Tú | has interpretado | You have interpreted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha interpretado | He has / she has / you have interpreted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos interpretado | We have interpreted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis interpretado | You have interpreted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han interpretado | They / you have interpreted |
| Vos | has interpretado | You have interpreted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would interpret” or “she would interpret”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | interpretaría | I would interpret |
| Tú | interpretarías | You would interpret |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpretaría | He / she / you would interpret |
| Nosotros / as | interpretaríamos | We would interpret |
| Vosotros / as | interpretaríais | You would interpret |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretarían | They / you would interpret |
| Vos | interpretarías | You would interpret |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will interpret” or “they will interpret”.
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 interpretar” means “They are going to interpret”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | interpretaré | I will interpret |
| Tú | interpretarás | You will interpret |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpretará | He / she / you will interpret |
| Nosotros / as | interpretaremos | We will interpret |
| Vosotros / as | interpretaréis | You will interpret |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretarán | They / you will interpret |
| Vos | interpretarás | You will interpret |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | interprete |
| Tú | interpretes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interprete |
| Nosotros / as | interpretemos |
| Vosotros / as | interpretéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpreten |
| Vos | interpretes |
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 | interpretara | interpretase |
| Tú | interpretaras | interpretase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpretara | interpretase |
| Nosotros / as | interpretáramos | interpretásemos |
| Vosotros / as | interpretarais | interpretaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretaran | interpretasen |
| Vos | interpretaras | interpretase |
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 | interpretare |
| Tú | interpretares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interpretare |
| Nosotros / as | interpretáremos |
| Vosotros / as | interpretareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpretaren |
| Vos | interpretares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “interpret!” and “don’t interpret!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | interpreta | no interpretes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | interprete | no interprete |
| Nosotros / as | interpretemos | no interpretemos |
| Vosotros / as | interpretad | no interpretéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | interpreten | no interpreten |
| Vos | interpretá | no interpretes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya interpretado |
| Tú | hayas interpretado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya interpretado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos interpretado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis interpretado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan interpretado |
| Vos | hayas interpretado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera interpretado / hubiese interpretado |
| Tú | hubieras interpretado / hubieses interpretado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera interpretado / hubiese interpretado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos interpretado / hubiésemos interpretado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais interpretado / hubieseis interpretado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran interpretado / hubiesen interpretado |
| Vos | hubieras interpretado / hubieses interpretado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere interpretado |
| Tú | hubieres interpretado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere interpretado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos interpretado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis interpretado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren interpretado |
| Vos | hubieres interpretado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté interpretando |
| Tú | estés interpretando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté interpretando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos interpretando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis interpretando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén interpretando |
| Vos | estés interpretando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera interpretando / estuviese interpretando |
| Tú | estuvieras interpretando / estuvieses interpretando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera interpretando / estuviese interpretando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos interpretando / estuviésamos interpretando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais interpretando / estuvieseis interpretando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera interpretando / estuviese interpretando |
| Vos | estuvieras interpretando / estuvieses interpretando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere interpretando |
| Tú | estuvieres interpretando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere interpretando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos interpretando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis interpretando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere interpretando |
| Vos | estuvieres interpretando |
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 interpretás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos interpretaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos interpretabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos interpretarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos interpretarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos interpretes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos interpretaras / Vos interpretase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos interpretá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no interpretes |