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Tratar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to treat”.
Below are all of the conjugations for tratar 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 treat |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | tratar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está tratando) and past continuous (estaba tratando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. treating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he tratado and hubiera tratado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have treated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | tratando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | tratado |
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 treat” or “they treat”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | trato |
| Tú | tratas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trata |
| Nosotros / as | tratamos |
| Vosotros / as | tratáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tratan |
| Vos | tratás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I treated” or “she treated” 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 | traté | I treated |
| Tú | trataste | You treated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trató | He / she / you treated |
| Nosotros / as | tratamos | We treated |
| Vosotros / as | tratasteis | You treated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trataron | They / you treated |
| Vos | trataste | You treated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was treating” or “she was treating” 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 | trataba | I was treating |
| Tú | tratabas | You were treating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trataba | He was / she was / you were treating |
| Nosotros / as | tratábamos | We were treating |
| Vosotros / as | tratabais | You were treating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trataban | They / you were treating |
| Vos | tratabas | You were treating |
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 treated” and “she has treated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he tratado | I have treated |
| Tú | has tratado | You have treated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha tratado | He has / she has / you have treated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos tratado | We have treated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis tratado | You have treated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han tratado | They / you have treated |
| Vos | has tratado | You have treated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would treat” or “she would treat”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | trataría | I would treat |
| Tú | tratarías | You would treat |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trataría | He / she / you would treat |
| Nosotros / as | trataríamos | We would treat |
| Vosotros / as | trataríais | You would treat |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tratarían | They / you would treat |
| Vos | tratarías | You would treat |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will treat” or “they will treat”.
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 tratar” means “They are going to treat”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | trataré | I will treat |
| Tú | tratarás | You will treat |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tratará | He / she / you will treat |
| Nosotros / as | trataremos | We will treat |
| Vosotros / as | trataréis | You will treat |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tratarán | They / you will treat |
| Vos | tratarás | You will treat |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | trate |
| Tú | trates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trate |
| Nosotros / as | tratemos |
| Vosotros / as | tratéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | traten |
| Vos | trates |
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 | tratara | tratase |
| Tú | trataras | tratase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tratara | tratase |
| Nosotros / as | tratáramos | tratásemos |
| Vosotros / as | tratarais | trataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trataran | tratasen |
| Vos | trataras | tratase |
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 | tratare |
| Tú | tratares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tratare |
| Nosotros / as | tratáremos |
| Vosotros / as | tratareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trataren |
| Vos | tratares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “treat!” and “don’t treat!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | trata | no trates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trate | no trate |
| Nosotros / as | tratemos | no tratemos |
| Vosotros / as | tratad | no tratéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | traten | no traten |
| Vos | tratá | no trates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya tratado |
| Tú | hayas tratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya tratado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos tratado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis tratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan tratado |
| Vos | hayas tratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera tratado / hubiese tratado |
| Tú | hubieras tratado / hubieses tratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera tratado / hubiese tratado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos tratado / hubiésemos tratado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais tratado / hubieseis tratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran tratado / hubiesen tratado |
| Vos | hubieras tratado / hubieses tratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere tratado |
| Tú | hubieres tratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere tratado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos tratado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis tratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren tratado |
| Vos | hubieres tratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté tratando |
| Tú | estés tratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté tratando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos tratando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis tratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén tratando |
| Vos | estés tratando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera tratando / estuviese tratando |
| Tú | estuvieras tratando / estuvieses tratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera tratando / estuviese tratando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos tratando / estuviésamos tratando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais tratando / estuvieseis tratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera tratando / estuviese tratando |
| Vos | estuvieras tratando / estuvieses tratando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere tratando |
| Tú | estuvieres tratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere tratando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos tratando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis tratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere tratando |
| Vos | estuvieres tratando |
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 tratás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos trataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos tratabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos tratarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos tratarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos trates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos trataras / Vos tratase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos tratá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no trates |
