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Lactar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to nurse, breast-feed”.
Below are all of the conjugations for lactar 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 nurse, breast-feed |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | lactar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está lactando) and past continuous (estaba lactando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. breastfeeding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he lactado and hubiera lactado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have breastfed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | lactando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | lactado |
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 breastfeed” or “they breastfeed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lacto |
| Tú | lactas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lacta |
| Nosotros / as | lactamos |
| Vosotros / as | lactáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactan |
| Vos | lactás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I breastfed” or “she breastfed” 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 | lacté | I breastfed |
| Tú | lactaste | You breastfed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lactó | He / she / you breastfed |
| Nosotros / as | lactamos | We breastfed |
| Vosotros / as | lactasteis | You breastfed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactaron | They / you breastfed |
| Vos | lactaste | You breastfed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was breastfeeding” or “she was breastfeeding” 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 | lactaba | I was breastfeeding |
| Tú | lactabas | You were breastfeeding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lactaba | He was / she was / you were breastfeeding |
| Nosotros / as | lactábamos | We were breastfeeding |
| Vosotros / as | lactabais | You were breastfeeding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactaban | They / you were breastfeeding |
| Vos | lactabas | You were breastfeeding |
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 breastfed” and “she has breastfed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he lactado | I have breastfed |
| Tú | has lactado | You have breastfed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha lactado | He has / she has / you have breastfed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos lactado | We have breastfed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis lactado | You have breastfed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han lactado | They / you have breastfed |
| Vos | has lactado | You have breastfed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would breastfeed” or “she would breastfeed”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lactaría | I would breastfeed |
| Tú | lactarías | You would breastfeed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lactaría | He / she / you would breastfeed |
| Nosotros / as | lactaríamos | We would breastfeed |
| Vosotros / as | lactaríais | You would breastfeed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactarían | They / you would breastfeed |
| Vos | lactarías | You would breastfeed |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will breastfeed” or “they will breastfeed”.
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 lactar” means “They are going to breastfeed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lactaré | I will breastfeed |
| Tú | lactarás | You will breastfeed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lactará | He / she / you will breastfeed |
| Nosotros / as | lactaremos | We will breastfeed |
| Vosotros / as | lactaréis | You will breastfeed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactarán | They / you will breastfeed |
| Vos | lactarás | You will breastfeed |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lacte |
| Tú | lactes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lacte |
| Nosotros / as | lactemos |
| Vosotros / as | lactéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lacten |
| Vos | lactes |
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 | lactara | lactase |
| Tú | lactaras | lactase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lactara | lactase |
| Nosotros / as | lactáramos | lactásemos |
| Vosotros / as | lactarais | lactaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactaran | lactasen |
| Vos | lactaras | lactase |
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 | lactare |
| Tú | lactares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lactare |
| Nosotros / as | lactáremos |
| Vosotros / as | lactareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lactaren |
| Vos | lactares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “breastfeed!” and “don’t breastfeed!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | lacta | no lactes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lacte | no lacte |
| Nosotros / as | lactemos | no lactemos |
| Vosotros / as | lactad | no lactéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lacten | no lacten |
| Vos | lactá | no lactes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya lactado |
| Tú | hayas lactado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya lactado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos lactado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis lactado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan lactado |
| Vos | hayas lactado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera lactado / hubiese lactado |
| Tú | hubieras lactado / hubieses lactado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera lactado / hubiese lactado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos lactado / hubiésemos lactado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais lactado / hubieseis lactado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran lactado / hubiesen lactado |
| Vos | hubieras lactado / hubieses lactado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere lactado |
| Tú | hubieres lactado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere lactado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos lactado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis lactado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren lactado |
| Vos | hubieres lactado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté lactando |
| Tú | estés lactando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté lactando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos lactando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis lactando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén lactando |
| Vos | estés lactando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera lactando / estuviese lactando |
| Tú | estuvieras lactando / estuvieses lactando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera lactando / estuviese lactando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos lactando / estuviésamos lactando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais lactando / estuvieseis lactando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera lactando / estuviese lactando |
| Vos | estuvieras lactando / estuvieses lactando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere lactando |
| Tú | estuvieres lactando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere lactando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos lactando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis lactando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere lactando |
| Vos | estuvieres lactando |
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 lactás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos lactaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos lactabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos lactarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos lactarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos lactes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos lactaras / Vos lactase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos lactá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no lactes |