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Legitimar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to legitimize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for legitimar 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 legitimize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | legitimar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está legitimando) and past continuous (estaba legitimando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. legitimizing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he legitimado and hubiera legitimado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have legitimized).
| Gerundio / Gerund | legitimando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | legitimado |
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 legitimize” or “they legitimize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | legitimo |
| Tú | legitimas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitima |
| Nosotros / as | legitimamos |
| Vosotros / as | legitimáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitiman |
| Vos | legitimás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I legitimized” or “she legitimized” 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 | legitimé | I legitimized |
| Tú | legitimaste | You legitimized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitimó | He / she / you legitimized |
| Nosotros / as | legitimamos | We legitimized |
| Vosotros / as | legitimasteis | You legitimized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimaron | They / you legitimized |
| Vos | legitimaste | You legitimized |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was legitimizing” or “she was legitimizing” 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 | legitimaba | I was legitimizing |
| Tú | legitimabas | You were legitimizing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitimaba | He was / she was / you were legitimizing |
| Nosotros / as | legitimábamos | We were legitimizing |
| Vosotros / as | legitimabais | You were legitimizing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimaban | They / you were legitimizing |
| Vos | legitimabas | You were legitimizing |
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 legitimized” and “she has legitimized”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he legitimado | I have legitimized |
| Tú | has legitimado | You have legitimized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha legitimado | He has / she has / you have legitimized |
| Nosotros / as | hemos legitimado | We have legitimized |
| Vosotros / as | habéis legitimado | You have legitimized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han legitimado | They / you have legitimized |
| Vos | has legitimado | You have legitimized |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would legitimize” or “she would legitimize”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | legitimaría | I would legitimize |
| Tú | legitimarías | You would legitimize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitimaría | He / she / you would legitimize |
| Nosotros / as | legitimaríamos | We would legitimize |
| Vosotros / as | legitimaríais | You would legitimize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimarían | They / you would legitimize |
| Vos | legitimarías | You would legitimize |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will legitimize” or “they will legitimize”.
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 legitimar” means “They are going to legitimize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | legitimaré | I will legitimize |
| Tú | legitimarás | You will legitimize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitimará | He / she / you will legitimize |
| Nosotros / as | legitimaremos | We will legitimize |
| Vosotros / as | legitimaréis | You will legitimize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimarán | They / you will legitimize |
| Vos | legitimarás | You will legitimize |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | legitime |
| Tú | legitimes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitime |
| Nosotros / as | legitimemos |
| Vosotros / as | legitiméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimen |
| Vos | legitimes |
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 | legitimara | legitimase |
| Tú | legitimaras | legitimase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitimara | legitimase |
| Nosotros / as | legitimáramos | legitimásemos |
| Vosotros / as | legitimarais | legitimaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimaran | legitimasen |
| Vos | legitimaras | legitimase |
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 | legitimare |
| Tú | legitimares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitimare |
| Nosotros / as | legitimáremos |
| Vosotros / as | legitimareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimaren |
| Vos | legitimares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “legitimize!” and “don’t legitimize!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | legitima | no legitimes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | legitime | no legitime |
| Nosotros / as | legitimemos | no legitimemos |
| Vosotros / as | legitimad | no legitiméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | legitimen | no legitimen |
| Vos | legitimá | no legitimes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya legitimado |
| Tú | hayas legitimado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya legitimado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos legitimado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis legitimado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan legitimado |
| Vos | hayas legitimado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera legitimado / hubiese legitimado |
| Tú | hubieras legitimado / hubieses legitimado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera legitimado / hubiese legitimado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos legitimado / hubiésemos legitimado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais legitimado / hubieseis legitimado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran legitimado / hubiesen legitimado |
| Vos | hubieras legitimado / hubieses legitimado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere legitimado |
| Tú | hubieres legitimado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere legitimado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos legitimado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis legitimado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren legitimado |
| Vos | hubieres legitimado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté legitimando |
| Tú | estés legitimando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté legitimando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos legitimando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis legitimando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén legitimando |
| Vos | estés legitimando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera legitimando / estuviese legitimando |
| Tú | estuvieras legitimando / estuvieses legitimando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera legitimando / estuviese legitimando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos legitimando / estuviésamos legitimando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais legitimando / estuvieseis legitimando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera legitimando / estuviese legitimando |
| Vos | estuvieras legitimando / estuvieses legitimando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere legitimando |
| Tú | estuvieres legitimando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere legitimando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos legitimando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis legitimando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere legitimando |
| Vos | estuvieres legitimando |
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 legitimás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos legitimaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos legitimabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos legitimarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos legitimarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos legitimes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos legitimaras / Vos legitimase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos legitimá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no legitimes |