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Vivir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to live”.
Below are all of the conjugations for vivir 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 live |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | vivir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está viviendo) and past continuous (estaba viviendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. living).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he vivido and hubiera vivido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lived).
| Gerundio / Gerund | viviendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | vivido |
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 live” or “they live”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | vivo |
| Tú | vives |
| Él / Ella / Usted | vive |
| Nosotros / as | vivimos |
| Vosotros / as | vivís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | viven |
| Vos | vivís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lived” or “she lived” 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 | viví | I lived |
| Tú | viviste | You lived |
| Él / Ella / Usted | vivió | He / she / you lived |
| Nosotros / as | vivimos | We lived |
| Vosotros / as | vivisteis | You lived |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivieron | They / you lived |
| Vos | viviste | You lived |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was living” or “she was living” 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 | vivía | I was living |
| Tú | vivías | You were living |
| Él / Ella / Usted | vivía | He was / she was / you were living |
| Nosotros / as | vivíamos | We were living |
| Vosotros / as | vivíais | You were living |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivían | They / you were living |
| Vos | vivías | You were living |
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 lived” and “she has lived”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he vivido | I have lived |
| Tú | has vivido | You have lived |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha vivido | He has / she has / you have lived |
| Nosotros / as | hemos vivido | We have lived |
| Vosotros / as | habéis vivido | You have lived |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han vivido | They / you have lived |
| Vos | has vivido | You have lived |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would live” or “she would live”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | viviría | I would live |
| Tú | vivirías | You would live |
| Él / Ella / Usted | viviría | He / she / you would live |
| Nosotros / as | viviríamos | We would live |
| Vosotros / as | viviríais | You would live |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivirían | They / you would live |
| Vos | vivirías | You would live |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will live” or “they will live”.
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 vivir” means “They are going to live”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | viviré | I will live |
| Tú | vivirás | You will live |
| Él / Ella / Usted | vivirá | He / she / you will live |
| Nosotros / as | viviremos | We will live |
| Vosotros / as | viviréis | You will live |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivirán | They / you will live |
| Vos | vivirás | You will live |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | viva |
| Tú | vivas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | viva |
| Nosotros / as | vivamos |
| Vosotros / as | viváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivan |
| Vos | vivas |
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 | viviera | viviese |
| Tú | vivieras | viviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | viviera | viviese |
| Nosotros / as | viviéramos | viviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | vivierais | vivieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivieran | viviesen |
| Vos | vivieras | viviese |
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 | viviere |
| Tú | vivieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | viviera |
| Nosotros / as | viviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | viviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivieren |
| Vos | vivieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “live!” and “don’t live!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | vive | no vivas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | viva | no viva |
| Nosotros / as | vivamos | no vivamos |
| Vosotros / as | vivid | no viváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | vivan | no vivan |
| Vos | viví | no vivas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya vivido |
| Tú | hayas vivido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya vivido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos vivido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis vivido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan vivido |
| Vos | hayas vivido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera vivido / hubiese vivido |
| Tú | hubieras vivido / hubieses vivido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera vivido / hubiese vivido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos vivido / hubiésemos vivido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais vivido / hubieseis vivido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran vivido / hubiesen vivido |
| Vos | hubieras vivido / hubieses vivido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere vivido |
| Tú | hubieres vivido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere vivido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos vivido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis vivido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren vivido |
| Vos | hubieres vivido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté viviendo |
| Tú | estés viviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté viviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos viviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis viviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén viviendo |
| Vos | estés viviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera viviendo / estuviese viviendo |
| Tú | estuvieras viviendo / estuvieses viviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera viviendo / estuviese viviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos viviendo / estuviésamos viviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais viviendo / estuvieseis viviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera viviendo / estuviese viviendo |
| Vos | estuvieras viviendo / estuvieses viviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere viviendo |
| Tú | estuvieres viviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere viviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos viviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis viviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere viviendo |
| Vos | estuvieres viviendo |
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 vivís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos viviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos vivías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos vivirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos vivirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos vivas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos vivieras / Vos viviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos viví |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no vivas |
