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Meter is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to put in to something, get involved in, be part of”.
Below are all of the conjugations for meter 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 put in to something, get involved in, be part of |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | meter |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está metiendo) and past continuous (estaba metiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. putting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he metido and hubiera metido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have put).
| Gerundio / Gerund | metiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | metido |
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 put” or “they put”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | meto |
| Tú | metes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mete |
| Nosotros / as | metemos |
| Vosotros / as | metéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | meten |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I put” or “she put” 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 | metí | I put |
| Tú | metiste | You put |
| Él / Ella / Usted | metió | He / she / you put |
| Nosotros / as | metimos | We put |
| Vosotros / as | metisteis | You put |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | metieron | They / you put |
| Vos | metiste | You put |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was putting” or “she was putting” 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 | metía | I was putting |
| Tú | metías | You were putting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | metía | He was / she was / you were putting |
| Nosotros / as | metíamos | We were putting |
| Vosotros / as | metíais | You were putting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | metían | They / you were putting |
| Vos | metías | You were putting |
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 put” and “she has put”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he metido | I have put |
| Tú | has metido | You have put |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha metido | He has / she has / you have put |
| Nosotros / as | hemos metido | We have put |
| Vosotros / as | habéis metido | You have put |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han metido | They / you have put |
| Vos | has metido | You have put |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would put” or “she would put”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | metería | I would put |
| Tú | meterías | You would put |
| Él / Ella / Usted | metería | He / she / you would put |
| Nosotros / as | meteríamos | We would put |
| Vosotros / as | meteríais | You would put |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | meterían | They / you would put |
| Vos | meterías | You would put |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will put” or “they will put”.
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 meter” means “They are going to put”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | meteré | I will put |
| Tú | meterás | You will put |
| Él / Ella / Usted | meterá | He / she / you will put |
| Nosotros / as | meteremos | We will put |
| Vosotros / as | meteréis | You will put |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | meterán | They / you will put |
| Vos | meterás | You will put |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | meta |
| Tú | metas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | meta |
| Nosotros / as | metamos |
| Vosotros / as | metáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | metan |
| Vos | metas |
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 | metiera | metiese |
| Tú | metieras | metiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | metiera | metiese |
| Nosotros / as | metiéramos | metiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | metierais | metieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | metieran | metiesen |
| Vos | metieras | metiese |
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 | metiere |
| Tú | metieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | metiere |
| Nosotros / as | metiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | metiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | metieren |
| Vos | metieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “put!” and “don’t put!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | mete | no metas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | meta | no meta |
| Nosotros / as | metamos | no metamos |
| Vosotros / as | meted | no metáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | metan | no metan |
| Vos | no metas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya metido |
| Tú | hayas metido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya metido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos metido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis metido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan metido |
| Vos | hayas metido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera metido / hubiese metido |
| Tú | hubieras metido / hubieses metido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera metido / hubiese metido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos metido / hubiésemos metido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais metido / hubieseis metido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran metido / hubiesen metido |
| Vos | hubieras metido / hubieses metido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere metido |
| Tú | hubieres metido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere metido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos metido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis metido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren metido |
| Vos | hubieres metido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté metiendo |
| Tú | estés metiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté metiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos metiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis metiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén metiendo |
| Vos | estés metiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera metiendo / estuviese metiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras metiendo / estuvieses metiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera metiendo / estuviese metiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos metiendo / estuviésamos metiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais metiendo / estuvieseis metiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera metiendo / estuviese metiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras metiendo / estuvieses metiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere metiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres metiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere metiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos metiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis metiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere metiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres metiendo |
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 metiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos metías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos meterías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos meterás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos metas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos metieras / Vos metiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no metas |