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Permitir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to allow”.
Below are all of the conjugations for permitir 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 allow |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | permitir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está permitiendo) and past continuous (estaba permitiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. allowing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he permitido and hubiera permitido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have allowed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | permitiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | permitido |
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 allow” or “they allow”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | permito |
| Tú | permites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permite |
| Nosotros / as | permitimos |
| Vosotros / as | permitís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permiten |
| Vos | permitís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I allowed” or “she allowed” 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 | permití | I allowed |
| Tú | permitiste | You allowed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permitió | He / she / you allowed |
| Nosotros / as | permitimos | We allowed |
| Vosotros / as | permitisteis | You allowed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitieron | They / you allowed |
| Vos | permitiste | You allowed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was allowing” or “she was allowing” 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 | permitía | I was allowing |
| Tú | permitías | You were allowing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permitía | He was / she was / you were allowing |
| Nosotros / as | permitíamos | We were allowing |
| Vosotros / as | permitíais | You were allowing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitían | They / you were allowing |
| Vos | permitías | You were allowing |
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 allowed” and “she has allowed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he permitido | I have allowed |
| Tú | has permitido | You have allowed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha permitido | He has / she has / you have allowed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos permitido | We have allowed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis permitido | You have allowed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han permitido | They / you have allowed |
| Vos | has permitido | You have allowed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would allow” or “she would allow”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | permitiría | I would allow |
| Tú | permitirías | You would allow |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permitiría | He / she / you would allow |
| Nosotros / as | permitiríamos | We would allow |
| Vosotros / as | permitiríais | You would allow |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitirían | They / you would allow |
| Vos | permitirías | You would allow |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will allow” or “they will allow”.
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 permitir” means “They are going to allow”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | permitiré | I will allow |
| Tú | permitirás | You will allow |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permitirá | He / she / you will allow |
| Nosotros / as | permitiremos | We will allow |
| Vosotros / as | permitiréis | You will allow |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitirán | They / you will allow |
| Vos | permitirás | You will allow |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | permita |
| Tú | permitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permita |
| Nosotros / as | permitamos |
| Vosotros / as | permitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitan |
| Vos | permitas |
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 | permitiera | permitiese |
| Tú | permitieras | permitiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permitiera | permitiese |
| Nosotros / as | permitiéramos | permitiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | permitierais | permitieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitieran | permitiesen |
| Vos | permitieras | permitiese |
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 | permitiere |
| Tú | permitieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permitiera |
| Nosotros / as | permitiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | permitiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitieren |
| Vos | permitieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “allow!” and “don’t allow!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | permite | no permitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | permita | no permita |
| Nosotros / as | permitamos | no permitamos |
| Vosotros / as | permitid | no permitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | permitan | no permitan |
| Vos | permití | no permitas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya permitido |
| Tú | hayas permitido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya permitido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos permitido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis permitido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan permitido |
| Vos | hayas permitido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera permitido / hubiese permitido |
| Tú | hubieras permitido / hubieses permitido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera permitido / hubiese permitido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos permitido / hubiésemos permitido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais permitido / hubieseis permitido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran permitido / hubiesen permitido |
| Vos | hubieras permitido / hubieses permitido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere permitido |
| Tú | hubieres permitido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere permitido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos permitido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis permitido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren permitido |
| Vos | hubieres permitido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté permitiendo |
| Tú | estés permitiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté permitiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos permitiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis permitiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén permitiendo |
| Vos | estés permitiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera permitiendo / estuviese permitiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras permitiendo / estuvieses permitiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera permitiendo / estuviese permitiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos permitiendo / estuviésamos permitiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais permitiendo / estuvieseis permitiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera permitiendo / estuviese permitiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras permitiendo / estuvieses permitiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere permitiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres permitiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere permitiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos permitiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis permitiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere permitiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres permitiendo |
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 permitís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos permitiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos permitías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos permitirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos permitirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos permitas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos permitieras / Vos permitiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos permití |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no permitas |
