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Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Inventar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to invent”.
Below are all of the conjugations for inventar 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 invent |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | inventar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está inventando) and past continuous (estaba inventando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. inventing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he inventado and hubiera inventado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have invented).
| Gerundio / Gerund | inventando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | inventado |
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 invent” or “they invent”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | invento |
| Tú | inventas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventa |
| Nosotros / as | inventamos |
| Vosotros / as | inventáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventan |
| Vos | inventás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I invented” or “she invented” 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 | inventé | I invented |
| Tú | inventaste | You invented |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventó | He / she / you invented |
| Nosotros / as | inventamos | We invented |
| Vosotros / as | inventasteis | You invented |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventaron | They / you invented |
| Vos | inventaste | You invented |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was inventing” or “she was inventing” 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 | inventaba | I was inventing |
| Tú | inventabas | You were inventing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventaba | He was / she was / you were inventing |
| Nosotros / as | inventábamos | We were inventing |
| Vosotros / as | inventabais | You were inventing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventaban | They / you were inventing |
| Vos | inventabas | You were inventing |
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 invented” and “she has invented”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he inventado | I have invented |
| Tú | has inventado | You have invented |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha inventado | He has / she has / you have invented |
| Nosotros / as | hemos inventado | We have invented |
| Vosotros / as | habéis inventado | You have invented |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han inventado | They / you have invented |
| Vos | has inventado | You have invented |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would invent” or “she would invent”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | inventaría | I would invent |
| Tú | inventarías | You would invent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventaría | He / she / you would invent |
| Nosotros / as | inventaríamos | We would invent |
| Vosotros / as | inventaríais | You would invent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventarían | They / you would invent |
| Vos | inventarías | You would invent |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will invent” or “they will invent”.
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 inventar” means “They are going to invent”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | inventaré | I will invent |
| Tú | inventarás | You will invent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventará | He / she / you will invent |
| Nosotros / as | inventaremos | We will invent |
| Vosotros / as | inventaréis | You will invent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventarán | They / you will invent |
| Vos | inventarás | You will invent |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | invente |
| Tú | inventes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | invente |
| Nosotros / as | inventemos |
| Vosotros / as | inventéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventen |
| Vos | inventes |
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 | inventara | inventase |
| Tú | inventaras | inventase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventara | inventase |
| Nosotros / as | inventáramos | inventásemos |
| Vosotros / as | inventarais | inventaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventaran | inventasen |
| Vos | inventaras | inventase |
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 | inventare |
| Tú | inventares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | inventare |
| Nosotros / as | inventáremos |
| Vosotros / as | inventareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventaren |
| Vos | inventares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “invent!” and “don’t invent!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | inventa | no inventes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | invente | no invente |
| Nosotros / as | inventemos | no inventemos |
| Vosotros / as | inventad | no inventéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | inventen | no inventen |
| Vos | inventá | no inventes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya inventado |
| Tú | hayas inventado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya inventado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos inventado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis inventado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan inventado |
| Vos | hayas inventado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera inventado / hubiese inventado |
| Tú | hubieras inventado / hubieses inventado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera inventado / hubiese inventado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos inventado / hubiésemos inventado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais inventado / hubieseis inventado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran inventado / hubiesen inventado |
| Vos | hubieras inventado / hubieses inventado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere inventado |
| Tú | hubieres inventado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere inventado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos inventado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis inventado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren inventado |
| Vos | hubieres inventado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté inventando |
| Tú | estés inventando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté inventando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos inventando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis inventando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén inventando |
| Vos | estés inventando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera inventando / estuviese inventando |
| Tú | estuvieras inventando / estuvieses inventando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera inventando / estuviese inventando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos inventando / estuviésamos inventando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais inventando / estuvieseis inventando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera inventando / estuviese inventando |
| Vos | estuvieras inventando / estuvieses inventando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere inventando |
| Tú | estuvieres inventando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere inventando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos inventando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis inventando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere inventando |
| Vos | estuvieres inventando |
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 inventás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos inventaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos inventabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos inventarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos inventarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos inventes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos inventaras / Vos inventase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos inventá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no inventes |