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Ligar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to tie, bind”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ligar 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 tie, bind |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ligar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ligando) and past continuous (estaba ligando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. binding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ligado and hubiera ligado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have bound).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ligando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ligado |
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 bind” or “they bind”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ligo |
| Tú | ligas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | liga |
| Nosotros / as | ligamos |
| Vosotros / as | ligáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligan |
| Vos | ligás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I bound” or “she bound” 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 | ligué | I bound |
| Tú | ligaste | You bound |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligó | He / she / you bound |
| Nosotros / as | ligamos | We bound |
| Vosotros / as | ligasteis | You bound |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligaron | They / you bound |
| Vos | ligaste | You bound |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was binding” or “she was binding” 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 | ligaba | I was binding |
| Tú | ligabas | You were binding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligaba | He was / she was / you were binding |
| Nosotros / as | ligábamos | We were binding |
| Vosotros / as | ligabais | You were binding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligaban | They / you were binding |
| Vos | ligabas | You were binding |
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 bound” and “she has bound”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ligado | I have bound |
| Tú | has ligado | You have bound |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ligado | He has / she has / you have bound |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ligado | We have bound |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ligado | You have bound |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ligado | They / you have bound |
| Vos | has ligado | You have bound |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would bind” or “she would bind”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ligaría | I would bind |
| Tú | ligarías | You would bind |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligaría | He / she / you would bind |
| Nosotros / as | ligaríamos | We would bind |
| Vosotros / as | ligaríais | You would bind |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligarían | They / you would bind |
| Vos | ligarías | You would bind |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will bind” or “they will bind”.
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 ligar” means “They are going to bind”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ligaré | I will bind |
| Tú | ligarás | You will bind |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligará | He / she / you will bind |
| Nosotros / as | ligaremos | We will bind |
| Vosotros / as | ligaréis | You will bind |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligarán | They / you will bind |
| Vos | ligarás | You will bind |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ligue |
| Tú | ligues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligue |
| Nosotros / as | liguemos |
| Vosotros / as | liguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | liguen |
| Vos | ligues |
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 | ligara | ligase |
| Tú | ligaras | ligase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligara | ligase |
| Nosotros / as | ligáramos | ligásemos |
| Vosotros / as | ligarais | ligaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligaran | ligasen |
| Vos | ligaras | ligase |
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 | ligare |
| Tú | ligares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligare |
| Nosotros / as | ligáremos |
| Vosotros / as | ligareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ligaren |
| Vos | ligares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “bind!” and “don’t bind!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | liga | no ligues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ligue | no ligue |
| Nosotros / as | liguemos | no liguemos |
| Vosotros / as | ligad | no liguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | liguen | no liguen |
| Vos | ligá | no ligues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ligado |
| Tú | hayas ligado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ligado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ligado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ligado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ligado |
| Vos | hayas ligado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ligado / hubiese ligado |
| Tú | hubieras ligado / hubieses ligado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ligado / hubiese ligado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ligado / hubiésemos ligado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ligado / hubieseis ligado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ligado / hubiesen ligado |
| Vos | hubieras ligado / hubieses ligado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ligado |
| Tú | hubieres ligado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ligado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ligado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ligado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ligado |
| Vos | hubieres ligado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ligando |
| Tú | estés ligando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ligando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ligando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ligando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ligando |
| Vos | estés ligando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ligando / estuviese ligando |
| Tú | estuvieras ligando / estuvieses ligando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ligando / estuviese ligando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ligando / estuviésamos ligando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ligando / estuvieseis ligando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ligando / estuviese ligando |
| Vos | estuvieras ligando / estuvieses ligando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ligando |
| Tú | estuvieres ligando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ligando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ligando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ligando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ligando |
| Vos | estuvieres ligando |
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 ligás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ligaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ligabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos ligarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos ligarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ligues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ligaras / Vos ligase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ligá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ligues |