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Alterar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to alter, change”.
Below are all of the conjugations for alterar 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 alter, change |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alterar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alterando) and past continuous (estaba alterando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. altering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alterado and hubiera alterado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have altered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alterando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alterado |
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 alter” or “they alter”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | altero |
| Tú | alteras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | altera |
| Nosotros / as | alteramos |
| Vosotros / as | alteráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteran |
| Vos | alterás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I altered” or “she altered” 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 | alteré | I altered |
| Tú | alteraste | You altered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alteró | He / she / you altered |
| Nosotros / as | alteramos | We altered |
| Vosotros / as | alterasteis | You altered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteraron | They / you altered |
| Vos | alteraste | You altered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was altering” or “she was altering” 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 | alteraba | I was altering |
| Tú | alterabas | You were altering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alteraba | He was / she was / you were altering |
| Nosotros / as | alterábamos | We were altering |
| Vosotros / as | alterabais | You were altering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteraban | They / you were altering |
| Vos | alterabas | You were altering |
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 altered” and “she has altered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he alterado | I have altered |
| Tú | has alterado | You have altered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha alterado | He has / she has / you have altered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos alterado | We have altered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis alterado | You have altered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han alterado | They / you have altered |
| Vos | has alterado | You have altered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would alter” or “she would alter”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alteraría | I would alter |
| Tú | alterarías | You would alter |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alteraría | He / she / you would alter |
| Nosotros / as | alteraríamos | We would alter |
| Vosotros / as | alteraríais | You would alter |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alterarían | They / you would alter |
| Vos | alterarías | You would alter |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will alter” or “they will alter”.
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 alterar” means “They are going to alter”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | alteraré | I will alter |
| Tú | alterarás | You will alter |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alterará | He / she / you will alter |
| Nosotros / as | alteraremos | We will alter |
| Vosotros / as | alteraréis | You will alter |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alterarán | They / you will alter |
| Vos | alterarás | You will alter |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | altere |
| Tú | alteres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | altere |
| Nosotros / as | alteremos |
| Vosotros / as | alteréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteren |
| Vos | alteres |
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 | alterara | alterase |
| Tú | alteraras | alterase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alterara | alterase |
| Nosotros / as | alteráramos | alterásemos |
| Vosotros / as | alterarais | alteraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteraran | alterasen |
| Vos | alteraras | alterase |
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 | alterare |
| Tú | alterares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alterare |
| Nosotros / as | alteráremos |
| Vosotros / as | alterareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteraren |
| Vos | alterares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “alter!” and “don’t alter!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | altera | no alteres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | altere | no altere |
| Nosotros / as | alteremos | no alteremos |
| Vosotros / as | alterad | no alteréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alteren | no alteren |
| Vos | alterá | no alteres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alterado |
| Tú | hayas alterado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alterado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alterado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alterado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alterado |
| Vos | hayas alterado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alterado / hubiese alterado |
| Tú | hubieras alterado / hubieses alterado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alterado / hubiese alterado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alterado / hubiésemos alterado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alterado / hubieseis alterado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alterado / hubiesen alterado |
| Vos | hubieras alterado / hubieses alterado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alterado |
| Tú | hubieres alterado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alterado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alterado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alterado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alterado |
| Vos | hubieres alterado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alterando |
| Tú | estés alterando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alterando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alterando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alterando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alterando |
| Vos | estés alterando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alterando / estuviese alterando |
| Tú | estuvieras alterando / estuvieses alterando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alterando / estuviese alterando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alterando / estuviésamos alterando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alterando / estuvieseis alterando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alterando / estuviese alterando |
| Vos | estuvieras alterando / estuvieses alterando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alterando |
| Tú | estuvieres alterando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alterando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alterando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alterando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alterando |
| Vos | estuvieres alterando |
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 alterás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos alteraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos alterabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos alterarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos alterarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos alteres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos alteraras / Vos alterase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alterá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no alteres |