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Necesitar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to need”.
Below are all of the conjugations for necesitar 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 need |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | necesitar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está necesitando) and past continuous (estaba necesitando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. needing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he necesitado and hubiera necesitado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have needed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | necesitando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | necesitado |
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 need” or “they need”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | necesito |
| Tú | necesitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesita |
| Nosotros / as | necesitamos |
| Vosotros / as | necesitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitan |
| Vos | necesitás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I needed” or “she needed” 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 | necesité | I needed |
| Tú | necesitaste | You needed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesitó | He / she / you needed |
| Nosotros / as | necesitamos | We needed |
| Vosotros / as | necesitasteis | You needed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitaron | They / you needed |
| Vos | necesitaste | You needed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was needing” or “she was needing” 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 | necesitaba | I was needing |
| Tú | necesitabas | You were needing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesitaba | He was / she was / you were needing |
| Nosotros / as | necesitábamos | We were needing |
| Vosotros / as | necesitabais | You were needing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitaban | They / you were needing |
| Vos | necesitabas | You were needing |
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 needed” and “she has needed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he necesitado | I have needed |
| Tú | has necesitado | You have needed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha necesitado | He has / she has / you have needed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos necesitado | We have needed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis necesitado | You have needed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han necesitado | They / you have needed |
| Vos | has necesitado | You have needed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would need” or “she would need”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | necesitaría | I would need |
| Tú | necesitarías | You would need |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesitaría | He / she / you would need |
| Nosotros / as | necesitaríamos | We would need |
| Vosotros / as | necesitaríais | You would need |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitarían | They / you would need |
| Vos | necesitarías | You would need |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will need” or “they will need”.
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 necesitar” means “They are going to need”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | necesitaré | I will need |
| Tú | necesitarás | You will need |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesitará | He / she / you will need |
| Nosotros / as | necesitaremos | We will need |
| Vosotros / as | necesitaréis | You will need |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitarán | They / you will need |
| Vos | necesitarás | You will need |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | necesite |
| Tú | necesites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesite |
| Nosotros / as | necesitemos |
| Vosotros / as | necesitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesiten |
| Vos | necesites |
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 | necesitara | necesitase |
| Tú | necesitaras | necesitase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesitara | necesitase |
| Nosotros / as | necesitáramos | necesitásemos |
| Vosotros / as | necesitarais | necesitaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitaran | necesitasen |
| Vos | necesitaras | necesitase |
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 | necesitare |
| Tú | necesitares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesitare |
| Nosotros / as | necesitáremos |
| Vosotros / as | necesitareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesitaren |
| Vos | necesitares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “need!” and “don’t need!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | necesita | no necesites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | necesite | no necesite |
| Nosotros / as | necesitemos | no necesitemos |
| Vosotros / as | necesitad | no necesitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | necesiten | no necesiten |
| Vos | necesitá | no necesites |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya necesitado |
| Tú | hayas necesitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya necesitado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos necesitado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis necesitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan necesitado |
| Vos | hayas necesitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera necesitado / hubiese necesitado |
| Tú | hubieras necesitado / hubieses necesitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera necesitado / hubiese necesitado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos necesitado / hubiésemos necesitado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais necesitado / hubieseis necesitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran necesitado / hubiesen necesitado |
| Vos | hubieras necesitado / hubieses necesitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere necesitado |
| Tú | hubieres necesitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere necesitado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos necesitado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis necesitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren necesitado |
| Vos | hubieres necesitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté necesitando |
| Tú | estés necesitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté necesitando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos necesitando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis necesitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén necesitando |
| Vos | estés necesitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera necesitando / estuviese necesitando |
| Tú | estuvieras necesitando / estuvieses necesitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera necesitando / estuviese necesitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos necesitando / estuviésamos necesitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais necesitando / estuvieseis necesitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera necesitando / estuviese necesitando |
| Vos | estuvieras necesitando / estuvieses necesitando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere necesitando |
| Tú | estuvieres necesitando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere necesitando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos necesitando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis necesitando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere necesitando |
| Vos | estuvieres necesitando |
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 necesitás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos necesitaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos necesitabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos necesitarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos necesitarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos necesites |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos necesitaras / Vos necesitase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos necesitá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no necesites |
