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Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Mejorar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to improve, make better”.
Below are all of the conjugations for mejorar 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 improve, make better |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | mejorar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está mejorando) and past continuous (estaba mejorando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. improving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he mejorado and hubiera mejorado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have improved).
| Gerundio / Gerund | mejorando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | mejorado |
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 improve” or “they improve”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | mejoro |
| Tú | mejoras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejora |
| Nosotros / as | mejoramos |
| Vosotros / as | mejoráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoran |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I improved” or “she improved” 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 | mejoré | I improved |
| Tú | mejoraste | You improved |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejoró | He / she / you improved |
| Nosotros / as | mejoramos | We improved |
| Vosotros / as | mejorasteis | You improved |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoraron | They / you improved |
| Vos | mejoraste | You improved |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was improving” or “she was improving” 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 | mejoraba | I was improving |
| Tú | mejorabas | You were improving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejoraba | He was / she was / you were improving |
| Nosotros / as | mejorábamos | We were improving |
| Vosotros / as | mejorabais | You were improving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoraban | They / you were improving |
| Vos | mejorabas | You were improving |
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 improved” and “she has improved”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he mejorado | I have improved |
| Tú | has mejorado | You have improved |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha mejorado | He has / she has / you have improved |
| Nosotros / as | hemos mejorado | We have improved |
| Vosotros / as | habéis mejorado | You have improved |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han mejorado | They / you have improved |
| Vos | has mejorado | You have improved |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would improve” or “she would improve”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | mejoraría | I would improve |
| Tú | mejorarías | You would improve |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejoraría | He / she / you would improve |
| Nosotros / as | mejoraríamos | We would improve |
| Vosotros / as | mejoraríais | You would improve |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejorarían | They / you would improve |
| Vos | mejorarías | You would improve |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will improve” or “they will improve”.
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 mejorar” means “They are going to improve”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | mejoraré | I will improve |
| Tú | mejorarás | You will improve |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejorará | He / she / you will improve |
| Nosotros / as | mejoraremos | We will improve |
| Vosotros / as | mejoraréis | You will improve |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejorarán | They / you will improve |
| Vos | mejorarás | You will improve |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | mejore |
| Tú | mejores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejore |
| Nosotros / as | mejoremos |
| Vosotros / as | mejoréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoren |
| Vos | mejores |
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 | mejorara | mejorase |
| Tú | mejoraras | mejorase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejorara | mejorase |
| Nosotros / as | mejoráramos | mejorásemos |
| Vosotros / as | mejorarais | mejoraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoraran | mejorasen |
| Vos | mejoraras | mejorase |
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 | mejorare |
| Tú | mejorares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejorare |
| Nosotros / as | mejoráremos |
| Vosotros / as | mejorareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoraren |
| Vos | mejorares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “improve!” and “don’t improve!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | mejora | no mejores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mejore | no mejore |
| Nosotros / as | mejoremos | no mejoremos |
| Vosotros / as | mejorad | no mejoréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mejoren | no mejoren |
| Vos | no mejores |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya mejorado |
| Tú | hayas mejorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya mejorado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos mejorado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis mejorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan mejorado |
| Vos | hayas mejorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera mejorado / hubiese mejorado |
| Tú | hubieras mejorado / hubieses mejorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera mejorado / hubiese mejorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos mejorado / hubiésemos mejorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais mejorado / hubieseis mejorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran mejorado / hubiesen mejorado |
| Vos | hubieras mejorado / hubieses mejorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere mejorado |
| Tú | hubieres mejorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere mejorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos mejorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis mejorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren mejorado |
| Vos | hubieres mejorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté mejorando |
| Tú | estés mejorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté mejorando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos mejorando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis mejorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén mejorando |
| Vos | estés mejorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera mejorando / estuviese mejorando |
| Tú | estuvieras mejorando / estuvieses mejorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera mejorando / estuviese mejorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos mejorando / estuviésamos mejorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais mejorando / estuvieseis mejorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera mejorando / estuviese mejorando |
| Vos | estuvieras mejorando / estuvieses mejorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere mejorando |
| Tú | estuvieres mejorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere mejorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos mejorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis mejorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere mejorando |
| Vos | estuvieres mejorando |
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 mejoraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos mejorabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos mejorarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos mejorarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos mejores |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos mejoraras / Vos mejorase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no mejores |