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Medir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to measure”.
Below are all of the conjugations for medir 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 measure |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | medir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está midiendo) and past continuous (estaba midiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. measuring).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he medido and hubiera medido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have measured).
| Gerundio / Gerund | midiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | medido |
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 measure” or “they measure”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | mido |
| Tú | mides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mide |
| Nosotros / as | medimos |
| Vosotros / as | medís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | miden |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I measured” or “she measured” 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 | medí | I measured |
| Tú | mediste | You measured |
| Él / Ella / Usted | midió | He / she / you measured |
| Nosotros / as | medimos | We measured |
| Vosotros / as | medisteis | You measured |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | midieron | They / you measured |
| Vos | mediste | You measured |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was measuring” or “she was measuring” 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 | medía | I was measuring |
| Tú | medías | You were measuring |
| Él / Ella / Usted | medía | He was / she was / you were measuring |
| Nosotros / as | medíamos | We were measuring |
| Vosotros / as | medíais | You were measuring |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | medían | They / you were measuring |
| Vos | medías | You were measuring |
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 measured” and “she has measured”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he medido | I have measured |
| Tú | has medido | You have measured |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha medido | He has / she has / you have measured |
| Nosotros / as | hemos medido | We have measured |
| Vosotros / as | habéis medido | You have measured |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han medido | They / you have measured |
| Vos | has medido | You have measured |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would measure” or “she would measure”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | mediría | I would measure |
| Tú | medirías | You would measure |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mediría | He / she / you would measure |
| Nosotros / as | mediríamos | We would measure |
| Vosotros / as | mediríais | You would measure |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | medirían | They / you would measure |
| Vos | medirías | You would measure |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will measure” or “they will measure”.
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 medir” means “They are going to measure”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | mediré | I will measure |
| Tú | medirás | You will measure |
| Él / Ella / Usted | medirá | He / she / you will measure |
| Nosotros / as | mediremos | We will measure |
| Vosotros / as | mediréis | You will measure |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | medirán | They / you will measure |
| Vos | medirás | You will measure |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | mida |
| Tú | midas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mida |
| Nosotros / as | midamos |
| Vosotros / as | midáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | midan |
| Vos | midas |
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 | midiera | midiese |
| Tú | midieras | midiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | midiera | midiese |
| Nosotros / as | midiéramos | midiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | midierais | midieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | midieran | midiesen |
| Vos | midieras | midiese |
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 | midiere |
| Tú | midieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | midiera |
| Nosotros / as | midiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | midiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | midieren |
| Vos | midieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “measure!” and “don’t measure!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | mide | no midas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mida | no mida |
| Nosotros / as | midamos | no midamos |
| Vosotros / as | medid | no midáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | midan | no midan |
| Vos | no midas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya medido |
| Tú | hayas medido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya medido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos medido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis medido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan medido |
| Vos | hayas medido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera medido / hubiese medido |
| Tú | hubieras medido / hubieses medido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera medido / hubiese medido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos medido / hubiésemos medido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais medido / hubieseis medido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran medido / hubiesen medido |
| Vos | hubieras medido / hubieses medido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere medido |
| Tú | hubieres medido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere medido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos medido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis medido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren medido |
| Vos | hubieres medido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté midiendo |
| Tú | estés midiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté midiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos midiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis midiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén midiendo |
| Vos | estés midiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera midiendo / estuviese midiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras midiendo / estuvieses midiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera midiendo / estuviese midiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos midiendo / estuviésamos midiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais midiendo / estuvieseis midiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera midiendo / estuviese midiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras midiendo / estuvieses midiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere midiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres midiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere midiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos midiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis midiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere midiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres midiendo |
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 mediste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos medías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos medirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos medirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos midas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos midieras / Vos midiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no midas |