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Ablandar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to soften”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ablandar 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 soften |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ablandar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ablandando) and past continuous (estaba ablandando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. softening).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ablandado and hubiera ablandado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have softened).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ablandando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ablandado |
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 soften” or “they soften”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ablando |
| Tú | ablandas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablanda |
| Nosotros / as | ablandamos |
| Vosotros / as | ablandáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandan |
| Vos | ablandás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I softened” or “she softened” 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 | ablandé | I softened |
| Tú | ablandaste | You softened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablandó | He / she / you softened |
| Nosotros / as | ablandamos | We softened |
| Vosotros / as | ablandasteis | You softened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandaron | They / you softened |
| Vos | ablandaste | You softened |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was softening” or “she was softening” 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 | ablandaba | I was softening |
| Tú | ablandabas | You were softening |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablandaba | He was / she was / you were softening |
| Nosotros / as | ablandábamos | We were softening |
| Vosotros / as | ablandabais | You were softening |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandaban | They / you were softening |
| Vos | ablandabas | You were softening |
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 softened” and “she has softened”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ablandado | I have softened |
| Tú | has ablandado | You have softened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ablandado | He has / she has / you have softened |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ablandado | We have softened |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ablandado | You have softened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ablandado | They / you have softened |
| Vos | has ablandado | You have softened |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would soften” or “she would soften”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ablandaría | I would soften |
| Tú | ablandarías | You would soften |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablandaría | He / she / you would soften |
| Nosotros / as | ablandaríamos | We would soften |
| Vosotros / as | ablandaríais | You would soften |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandarían | They / you would soften |
| Vos | ablandarías | You would soften |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will soften” or “they will soften”.
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 ablandar” means “They are going to soften”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ablandaré | I will soften |
| Tú | ablandarás | You will soften |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablandará | He / she / you will soften |
| Nosotros / as | ablandaremos | We will soften |
| Vosotros / as | ablandaréis | You will soften |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandarán | They / you will soften |
| Vos | ablandarás | You will soften |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ablande |
| Tú | ablandes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablande |
| Nosotros / as | ablandemos |
| Vosotros / as | ablandéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablanden |
| Vos | ablandes |
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 | ablandara | ablandase |
| Tú | ablandaras | ablandase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablandara | ablandase |
| Nosotros / as | ablandáramos | ablandásemos |
| Vosotros / as | ablandarais | ablandaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandaran | ablandasen |
| Vos | ablandaras | ablandase |
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 | ablandare |
| Tú | ablandares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablandare |
| Nosotros / as | ablandáremos |
| Vosotros / as | ablandareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablandaren |
| Vos | ablandares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “soften!” and “don’t soften!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | ablanda | no ablandes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ablande | no ablande |
| Nosotros / as | ablandemos | no ablandemos |
| Vosotros / as | ablandad | no ablandéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ablanden | no ablanden |
| Vos | ablandá | no ablandes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ablandado |
| Tú | hayas ablandado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ablandado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ablandado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ablandado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ablandado |
| Vos | hayas ablandado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ablandado / hubiese ablandado |
| Tú | hubieras ablandado / hubieses ablandado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ablandado / hubiese ablandado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ablandado / hubiésemos ablandado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ablandado / hubieseis ablandado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ablandado / hubiesen ablandado |
| Vos | hubieras ablandado / hubieses ablandado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ablandado |
| Tú | hubieres ablandado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ablandado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ablandado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ablandado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ablandado |
| Vos | hubieres ablandado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ablandando |
| Tú | estés ablandando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ablandando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ablandando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ablandando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ablandando |
| Vos | estés ablandando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ablandando / estuviese ablandando |
| Tú | estuvieras ablandando / estuvieses ablandando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ablandando / estuviese ablandando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ablandando / estuviésamos ablandando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ablandando / estuvieseis ablandando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ablandando / estuviese ablandando |
| Vos | estuvieras ablandando / estuvieses ablandando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ablandando |
| Tú | estuvieres ablandando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ablandando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ablandando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ablandando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ablandando |
| Vos | estuvieres ablandando |
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 ablandás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ablandaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ablandabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos ablandarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos ablandarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ablandes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ablandaras / Vos ablandase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ablandá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ablandes |