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Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Nacer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be born”.
Below are all of the conjugations for nacer 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 be born |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | nacer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está naciendo) and past continuous (estaba naciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being born).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he nacido and hubiera nacido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been born).
| Gerundio / Gerund | naciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | nacido |
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 be born” or “they be born”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | nazco |
| Tú | naces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nace |
| Nosotros / as | nacemos |
| Vosotros / as | nacéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacen |
| Vos | nacés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was born” or “she was born” 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 | nací | I was born |
| Tú | naciste | You was born |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nació | He / she / you was born |
| Nosotros / as | nacimos | We was born |
| Vosotros / as | nacisteis | You was born |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacieron | They / you was born |
| Vos | naciste | You was born |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being born” or “she was being born” 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 | nacía | I was being born |
| Tú | nacías | You were being born |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nacía | He was / she was / you were being born |
| Nosotros / as | nacíamos | We were being born |
| Vosotros / as | nacíais | You were being born |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacían | They / you were being born |
| Vos | nacías | You were being born |
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 been born” and “she has been born”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he nacido | I have been born |
| Tú | has nacido | You have been born |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha nacido | He has / she has / you have been born |
| Nosotros / as | hemos nacido | We have been born |
| Vosotros / as | habéis nacido | You have been born |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han nacido | They / you have been born |
| Vos | has nacido | You have been born |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be born” or “she would be born”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | nacería | I would be born |
| Tú | nacerías | You would be born |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nacería | He / she / you would be born |
| Nosotros / as | naceríamos | We would be born |
| Vosotros / as | naceríais | You would be born |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacerían | They / you would be born |
| Vos | nacerías | You would be born |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be born” or “they will be born”.
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 nacer” means “They are going to be born”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | naceré | I will be born |
| Tú | nacerás | You will be born |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nacerá | He / she / you will be born |
| Nosotros / as | naceremos | We will be born |
| Vosotros / as | naceréis | You will be born |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacerán | They / you will be born |
| Vos | nacerás | You will be born |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | nazca |
| Tú | nazcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nazca |
| Nosotros / as | nazcamos |
| Vosotros / as | nazcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nazcan |
| Vos | nazcas |
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 | naciera | naciese |
| Tú | nacieras | naciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | naciera | naciese |
| Nosotros / as | naciéramos | naciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | nacierais | nacieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacieran | naciesen |
| Vos | nacieras | naciese |
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 | naciere |
| Tú | nacieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | naciere |
| Nosotros / as | naciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | naciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nacieren |
| Vos | nacieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be born!” and “don’t be born!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | nace | no nazcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | nazca | no nazca |
| Nosotros / as | nazcamos | no nazcamos |
| Vosotros / as | naced | no nazcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nazcan | no nazcan |
| Vos | nacé | no nazcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya nacido |
| Tú | hayas nacido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya nacido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos nacido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis nacido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan nacido |
| Vos | hayas nacido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera nacido / hubiese nacido |
| Tú | hubieras nacido / hubieses nacido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera nacido / hubiese nacido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos nacido / hubiésemos nacido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais nacido / hubieseis nacido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran nacido / hubiesen nacido |
| Vos | hubieras nacido / hubieses nacido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere nacido |
| Tú | hubieres nacido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere nacido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos nacido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis nacido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren nacido |
| Vos | hubieres nacido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté naciendo |
| Tú | estés naciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté naciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos naciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis naciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén naciendo |
| Vos | estés naciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera naciendo / estuviese naciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras naciendo / estuvieses naciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera naciendo / estuviese naciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos naciendo / estuviésamos naciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais naciendo / estuvieseis naciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera naciendo / estuviese naciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras naciendo / estuvieses naciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere naciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres naciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere naciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos naciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis naciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere naciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres naciendo |
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 nacés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos naciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos nacías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos nacerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos nacerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos nazcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos nacieras / Vos naciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos nacé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no nazcas |
