Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Manipular is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to manipulate, handle”.
Below are all of the conjugations for manipular 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 manipulate, handle |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | manipular |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está manipulando) and past continuous (estaba manipulando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. manipulating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he manipulado and hubiera manipulado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have manipulated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | manipulando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | manipulado |
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 manipulate” or “they manipulate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | manipulo |
| Tú | manipulas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipula |
| Nosotros / as | manipulamos |
| Vosotros / as | manipuláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipulan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I manipulated” or “she manipulated” 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 | manipulé | I manipulated |
| Tú | manipulaste | You manipulated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipuló | He / she / you manipulated |
| Nosotros / as | manipulamos | We manipulated |
| Vosotros / as | manipulasteis | You manipulated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipularon | They / you manipulated |
| Vos | manipulaste | You manipulated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was manipulating” or “she was manipulating” 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 | manipulaba | I was manipulating |
| Tú | manipulabas | You were manipulating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipulaba | He was / she was / you were manipulating |
| Nosotros / as | manipulábamos | We were manipulating |
| Vosotros / as | manipulabais | You were manipulating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipulaban | They / you were manipulating |
| Vos | manipulabas | You were manipulating |
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 manipulated” and “she has manipulated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he manipulado | I have manipulated |
| Tú | has manipulado | You have manipulated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha manipulado | He has / she has / you have manipulated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos manipulado | We have manipulated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis manipulado | You have manipulated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han manipulado | They / you have manipulated |
| Vos | has manipulado | You have manipulated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would manipulate” or “she would manipulate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | manipularía | I would manipulate |
| Tú | manipularías | You would manipulate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipularía | He / she / you would manipulate |
| Nosotros / as | manipularíamos | We would manipulate |
| Vosotros / as | manipularíais | You would manipulate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipularían | They / you would manipulate |
| Vos | manipularías | You would manipulate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will manipulate” or “they will manipulate”.
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 manipular” means “They are going to manipulate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | manipularé | I will manipulate |
| Tú | manipularás | You will manipulate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipulará | He / she / you will manipulate |
| Nosotros / as | manipularemos | We will manipulate |
| Vosotros / as | manipularéis | You will manipulate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipularán | They / you will manipulate |
| Vos | manipularás | You will manipulate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | manipule |
| Tú | manipules |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipule |
| Nosotros / as | manipulemos |
| Vosotros / as | manipuléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipulen |
| Vos | manipules |
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 | manipulara | manipulase |
| Tú | manipularas | manipulase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipulara | manipulase |
| Nosotros / as | manipuláramos | manipulásemos |
| Vosotros / as | manipularais | manipulaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipularan | manipulasen |
| Vos | manipularas | manipulase |
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 | manipulare |
| Tú | manipulares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipulare |
| Nosotros / as | manipuláremos |
| Vosotros / as | manipulareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipularen |
| Vos | manipulares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “manipulate!” and “don’t manipulate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | manipula | no manipules |
| Él / Ella / Usted | manipule | no manipule |
| Nosotros / as | manipulemos | no manipulemos |
| Vosotros / as | manipulad | no manipuléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | manipulen | no manipulen |
| Vos | no manipules |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya manipulado |
| Tú | hayas manipulado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya manipulado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos manipulado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis manipulado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan manipulado |
| Vos | hayas manipulado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera manipulado / hubiese manipulado |
| Tú | hubieras manipulado / hubieses manipulado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera manipulado / hubiese manipulado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos manipulado / hubiésemos manipulado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais manipulado / hubieseis manipulado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran manipulado / hubiesen manipulado |
| Vos | hubieras manipulado / hubieses manipulado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere manipulado |
| Tú | hubieres manipulado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere manipulado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos manipulado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis manipulado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren manipulado |
| Vos | hubieres manipulado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté manipulando |
| Tú | estés manipulando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté manipulando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos manipulando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis manipulando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén manipulando |
| Vos | estés manipulando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera manipulando / estuviese manipulando |
| Tú | estuvieras manipulando / estuvieses manipulando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera manipulando / estuviese manipulando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos manipulando / estuviésamos manipulando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais manipulando / estuvieseis manipulando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera manipulando / estuviese manipulando |
| Vos | estuvieras manipulando / estuvieses manipulando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere manipulando |
| Tú | estuvieres manipulando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere manipulando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos manipulando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis manipulando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere manipulando |
| Vos | estuvieres manipulando |
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 manipulaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos manipulabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos manipularías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos manipularás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos manipules |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos manipularas / Vos manipulase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no manipules |