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Machacar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to pound, crush”.
Below are all of the conjugations for machacar 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 pound, crush |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | machacar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está machacando) and past continuous (estaba machacando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. pounding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he machacado and hubiera machacado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have pounded).
| Gerundio / Gerund | machacando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | machacado |
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 pound” or “they pound”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | machaco |
| Tú | machacas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machaca |
| Nosotros / as | machacamos |
| Vosotros / as | machacáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I pounded” or “she pounded” 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 | machaqué | I pounded |
| Tú | machacaste | You pounded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machacó | He / she / you pounded |
| Nosotros / as | machacamos | We pounded |
| Vosotros / as | machacasteis | You pounded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacaron | They / you pounded |
| Vos | machacaste | You pounded |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was pounding” or “she was pounding” 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 | machacaba | I was pounding |
| Tú | machacabas | You were pounding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machacaba | He was / she was / you were pounding |
| Nosotros / as | machacábamos | We were pounding |
| Vosotros / as | machacabais | You were pounding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacaban | They / you were pounding |
| Vos | machacabas | You were pounding |
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 pounded” and “she has pounded”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he machacado | I have pounded |
| Tú | has machacado | You have pounded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha machacado | He has / she has / you have pounded |
| Nosotros / as | hemos machacado | We have pounded |
| Vosotros / as | habéis machacado | You have pounded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han machacado | They / you have pounded |
| Vos | has machacado | You have pounded |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would pound” or “she would pound”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | machacaría | I would pound |
| Tú | machacarías | You would pound |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machacaría | He / she / you would pound |
| Nosotros / as | machacaríamos | We would pound |
| Vosotros / as | machacaríais | You would pound |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacarían | They / you would pound |
| Vos | machacarías | You would pound |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will pound” or “they will pound”.
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 machacar” means “They are going to pound”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | machacaré | I will pound |
| Tú | machacarás | You will pound |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machacará | He / she / you will pound |
| Nosotros / as | machacaremos | We will pound |
| Vosotros / as | machacaréis | You will pound |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacarán | They / you will pound |
| Vos | machacarás | You will pound |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | machaque |
| Tú | machaques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machaque |
| Nosotros / as | machaquemos |
| Vosotros / as | machaquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machaquen |
| Vos | machaques |
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 | machacara | machacase |
| Tú | machacaras | machacase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machacara | machacase |
| Nosotros / as | machacáramos | machacásemos |
| Vosotros / as | machacarais | machacaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacaran | machacasen |
| Vos | machacaras | machacase |
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 | machacare |
| Tú | machacares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machacare |
| Nosotros / as | machacáremos |
| Vosotros / as | machacareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machacaren |
| Vos | machacares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “pound!” and “don’t pound!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | machaca | no machaques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | machaque | no machaque |
| Nosotros / as | machaquemos | no machaquemos |
| Vosotros / as | machacad | no machaquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | machaquen | no machaquen |
| Vos | no machaques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya machacado |
| Tú | hayas machacado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya machacado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos machacado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis machacado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan machacado |
| Vos | hayas machacado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera machacado / hubiese machacado |
| Tú | hubieras machacado / hubieses machacado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera machacado / hubiese machacado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos machacado / hubiésemos machacado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais machacado / hubieseis machacado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran machacado / hubiesen machacado |
| Vos | hubieras machacado / hubieses machacado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere machacado |
| Tú | hubieres machacado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere machacado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos machacado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis machacado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren machacado |
| Vos | hubieres machacado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté machacando |
| Tú | estés machacando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté machacando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos machacando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis machacando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén machacando |
| Vos | estés machacando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera machacando / estuviese machacando |
| Tú | estuvieras machacando / estuvieses machacando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera machacando / estuviese machacando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos machacando / estuviésamos machacando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais machacando / estuvieseis machacando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera machacando / estuviese machacando |
| Vos | estuvieras machacando / estuvieses machacando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere machacando |
| Tú | estuvieres machacando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere machacando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos machacando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis machacando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere machacando |
| Vos | estuvieres machacando |
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 |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos machacaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos machacabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos machacarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos machacarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos machaques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos machacaras / Vos machacase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no machaques |