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Lamentar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be sorry, regret”.
Below are all of the conjugations for lamentar 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 be sorry, regret |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | lamentar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está lamentando) and past continuous (estaba lamentando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being sorry).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he lamentado and hubiera lamentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been sorry).
| Gerundio / Gerund | lamentando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | lamentado |
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 am sorry” or “they am sorry”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lamento |
| Tú | lamentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamenta |
| Nosotros / as | lamentamos |
| Vosotros / as | lamentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentan |
| Vos | lamentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was sorry” or “she was sorry” 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 | lamenté | I was sorry |
| Tú | lamentaste | You was sorry |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamentó | He / she / you was sorry |
| Nosotros / as | lamentamos | We was sorry |
| Vosotros / as | lamentasteis | You was sorry |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentaron | They / you was sorry |
| Vos | lamentaste | You was sorry |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being sorry” or “she was being sorry” 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 | lamentaba | I was being sorry |
| Tú | lamentabas | You were being sorry |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamentaba | He was / she was / you were being sorry |
| Nosotros / as | lamentábamos | We were being sorry |
| Vosotros / as | lamentabais | You were being sorry |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentaban | They / you were being sorry |
| Vos | lamentabas | You were being sorry |
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 been sorry” and “she has been sorry”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he lamentado | I have been sorry |
| Tú | has lamentado | You have been sorry |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha lamentado | He has / she has / you have been sorry |
| Nosotros / as | hemos lamentado | We have been sorry |
| Vosotros / as | habéis lamentado | You have been sorry |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han lamentado | They / you have been sorry |
| Vos | has lamentado | You have been sorry |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be sorry” or “she would be sorry”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lamentaría | I would am sorry |
| Tú | lamentarías | You would am sorry |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamentaría | He / she / you would am sorry |
| Nosotros / as | lamentaríamos | We would am sorry |
| Vosotros / as | lamentaríais | You would am sorry |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentarían | They / you would am sorry |
| Vos | lamentarías | You would am sorry |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be sorry” or “they will be sorry”.
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 lamentar” means “They are going to be sorry”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | lamentaré | I will am sorry |
| Tú | lamentarás | You will am sorry |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamentará | He / she / you will am sorry |
| Nosotros / as | lamentaremos | We will am sorry |
| Vosotros / as | lamentaréis | You will am sorry |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentarán | They / you will am sorry |
| Vos | lamentarás | You will am sorry |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lamente |
| Tú | lamentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamente |
| Nosotros / as | lamentemos |
| Vosotros / as | lamentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamenten |
| Vos | lamentes |
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 | lamentara | lamentase |
| Tú | lamentaras | lamentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamentara | lamentase |
| Nosotros / as | lamentáramos | lamentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | lamentarais | lamentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentaran | lamentasen |
| Vos | lamentaras | lamentase |
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 | lamentare |
| Tú | lamentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamentare |
| Nosotros / as | lamentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | lamentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamentaren |
| Vos | lamentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be sorry!” and “don’t be sorry!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | lamenta | no lamentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lamente | no lamente |
| Nosotros / as | lamentemos | no lamentemos |
| Vosotros / as | lamentad | no lamentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lamenten | no lamenten |
| Vos | lamentá | no lamentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya lamentado |
| Tú | hayas lamentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya lamentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos lamentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis lamentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan lamentado |
| Vos | hayas lamentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera lamentado / hubiese lamentado |
| Tú | hubieras lamentado / hubieses lamentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera lamentado / hubiese lamentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos lamentado / hubiésemos lamentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais lamentado / hubieseis lamentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran lamentado / hubiesen lamentado |
| Vos | hubieras lamentado / hubieses lamentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere lamentado |
| Tú | hubieres lamentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere lamentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos lamentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis lamentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren lamentado |
| Vos | hubieres lamentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté lamentando |
| Tú | estés lamentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté lamentando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos lamentando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis lamentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén lamentando |
| Vos | estés lamentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera lamentando / estuviese lamentando |
| Tú | estuvieras lamentando / estuvieses lamentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera lamentando / estuviese lamentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos lamentando / estuviésamos lamentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais lamentando / estuvieseis lamentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera lamentando / estuviese lamentando |
| Vos | estuvieras lamentando / estuvieses lamentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere lamentando |
| Tú | estuvieres lamentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere lamentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos lamentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis lamentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere lamentando |
| Vos | estuvieres lamentando |
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 lamentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos lamentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos lamentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos lamentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos lamentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos lamentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos lamentaras / Vos lamentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos lamentá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no lamentes |