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Labrar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to work, carve, bring about”.
Below are all of the conjugations for labrar 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 work, carve, bring about |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | labrar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está labrando) and past continuous (estaba labrando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. carving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he labrado and hubiera labrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have carved).
| Gerundio / Gerund | labrando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | labrado |
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 carve” or “they carve”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | labro |
| Tú | labras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labra |
| Nosotros / as | labramos |
| Vosotros / as | labráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labran |
| Vos | labrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I carved” or “she carved” 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 | labré | I carved |
| Tú | labraste | You carved |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labró | He / she / you carved |
| Nosotros / as | labramos | We carved |
| Vosotros / as | labrasteis | You carved |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labraron | They / you carved |
| Vos | labraste | You carved |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was carving” or “she was carving” 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 | labraba | I was carving |
| Tú | labrabas | You were carving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labraba | He was / she was / you were carving |
| Nosotros / as | labrábamos | We were carving |
| Vosotros / as | labrabais | You were carving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labraban | They / you were carving |
| Vos | labrabas | You were carving |
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 carved” and “she has carved”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he labrado | I have carved |
| Tú | has labrado | You have carved |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha labrado | He has / she has / you have carved |
| Nosotros / as | hemos labrado | We have carved |
| Vosotros / as | habéis labrado | You have carved |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han labrado | They / you have carved |
| Vos | has labrado | You have carved |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would carve” or “she would carve”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | labraría | I would carve |
| Tú | labrarías | You would carve |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labraría | He / she / you would carve |
| Nosotros / as | labraríamos | We would carve |
| Vosotros / as | labraríais | You would carve |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labrarían | They / you would carve |
| Vos | labrarías | You would carve |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will carve” or “they will carve”.
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 labrar” means “They are going to carve”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | labraré | I will carve |
| Tú | labrarás | You will carve |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labrará | He / she / you will carve |
| Nosotros / as | labraremos | We will carve |
| Vosotros / as | labraréis | You will carve |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labrarán | They / you will carve |
| Vos | labrarás | You will carve |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | labre |
| Tú | labres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labre |
| Nosotros / as | labremos |
| Vosotros / as | labréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labren |
| Vos | labres |
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 | labrara | labrase |
| Tú | labraras | labrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labrara | labrase |
| Nosotros / as | labráramos | labrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | labrarais | labraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labraran | labrasen |
| Vos | labraras | labrase |
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 | labrare |
| Tú | labrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labrare |
| Nosotros / as | labráremos |
| Vosotros / as | labrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labraren |
| Vos | labrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “carve!” and “don’t carve!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | labra | no labres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | labre | no labre |
| Nosotros / as | labremos | no labremos |
| Vosotros / as | labrad | no labréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | labren | no labren |
| Vos | labrá | no labres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya labrado |
| Tú | hayas labrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya labrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos labrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis labrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan labrado |
| Vos | hayas labrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera labrado / hubiese labrado |
| Tú | hubieras labrado / hubieses labrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera labrado / hubiese labrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos labrado / hubiésemos labrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais labrado / hubieseis labrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran labrado / hubiesen labrado |
| Vos | hubieras labrado / hubieses labrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere labrado |
| Tú | hubieres labrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere labrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos labrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis labrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren labrado |
| Vos | hubieres labrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté labrando |
| Tú | estés labrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté labrando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos labrando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis labrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén labrando |
| Vos | estés labrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera labrando / estuviese labrando |
| Tú | estuvieras labrando / estuvieses labrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera labrando / estuviese labrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos labrando / estuviésamos labrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais labrando / estuvieseis labrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera labrando / estuviese labrando |
| Vos | estuvieras labrando / estuvieses labrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere labrando |
| Tú | estuvieres labrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere labrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos labrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis labrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere labrando |
| Vos | estuvieres labrando |
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 labrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos labraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos labrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos labrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos labrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos labres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos labraras / Vos labrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos labrá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no labres |