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Negar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to deny”.
Below are all of the conjugations for negar 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 deny |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | negar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está negando) and past continuous (estaba negando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. denying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he negado and hubiera negado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have denied).
| Gerundio / Gerund | negando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | negado |
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 deny” or “they deny”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | niego |
| Tú | niegas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | niega |
| Nosotros / as | negamos |
| Vosotros / as | negáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | niegan |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I denied” or “she denied” 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 | negué | I denied |
| Tú | negaste | You denied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | negó | He / she / you denied |
| Nosotros / as | negamos | We denied |
| Vosotros / as | negasteis | You denied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | negaron | They / you denied |
| Vos | negaste | You denied |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was denying” or “she was denying” 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 | negaba | I was denying |
| Tú | negabas | You were denying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | negaba | He was / she was / you were denying |
| Nosotros / as | negábamos | We were denying |
| Vosotros / as | negabais | You were denying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | negaban | They / you were denying |
| Vos | negabas | You were denying |
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 denied” and “she has denied”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he negado | I have denied |
| Tú | has negado | You have denied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha negado | He has / she has / you have denied |
| Nosotros / as | hemos negado | We have denied |
| Vosotros / as | habéis negado | You have denied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han negado | They / you have denied |
| Vos | has negado | You have denied |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would deny” or “she would deny”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | negaría | I would deny |
| Tú | negarías | You would deny |
| Él / Ella / Usted | negaría | He / she / you would deny |
| Nosotros / as | negaríamos | We would deny |
| Vosotros / as | negaríais | You would deny |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | negarían | They / you would deny |
| Vos | negarías | You would deny |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will deny” or “they will deny”.
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 negar” means “They are going to deny”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | negaré | I will deny |
| Tú | negarás | You will deny |
| Él / Ella / Usted | negará | He / she / you will deny |
| Nosotros / as | negaremos | We will deny |
| Vosotros / as | negaréis | You will deny |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | negarán | They / you will deny |
| Vos | negarás | You will deny |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | niegue |
| Tú | niegues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | niegue |
| Nosotros / as | neguemos |
| Vosotros / as | neguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nieguen |
| Vos | niegues |
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 | negara | negase |
| Tú | negaras | negase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | negara | negase |
| Nosotros / as | negáramos | negásemos |
| Vosotros / as | negarais | negaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | negaran | negasen |
| Vos | negaras | negase |
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 | negare |
| Tú | negares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | negare |
| Nosotros / as | negáremos |
| Vosotros / as | negareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | negaren |
| Vos | negares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “deny!” and “don’t deny!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | niega | no niegues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | niegue | no niegue |
| Nosotros / as | neguemos | no neguemos |
| Vosotros / as | negad | no neguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | nieguen | no nieguen |
| Vos | no niegues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya negado |
| Tú | hayas negado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya negado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos negado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis negado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan negado |
| Vos | hayas negado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera negado / hubiese negado |
| Tú | hubieras negado / hubieses negado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera negado / hubiese negado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos negado / hubiésemos negado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais negado / hubieseis negado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran negado / hubiesen negado |
| Vos | hubieras negado / hubieses negado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere negado |
| Tú | hubieres negado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere negado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos negado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis negado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren negado |
| Vos | hubieres negado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté negando |
| Tú | estés negando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté negando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos negando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis negando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén negando |
| Vos | estés negando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera negando / estuviese negando |
| Tú | estuvieras negando / estuvieses negando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera negando / estuviese negando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos negando / estuviésamos negando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais negando / estuvieseis negando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera negando / estuviese negando |
| Vos | estuvieras negando / estuvieses negando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere negando |
| Tú | estuvieres negando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere negando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos negando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis negando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere negando |
| Vos | estuvieres negando |
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 negaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos negabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos negarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos negarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos niegues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos negaras / Vos negase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no niegues |