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Autorizar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to authorize, permit”.
Below are all of the conjugations for autorizar 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 authorize, permit |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | autorizar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está autorizando) and past continuous (estaba autorizando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. authorizing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he autorizado and hubiera autorizado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have authorized).
| Gerundio / Gerund | autorizando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | autorizado |
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 authorize” or “they authorize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | autorizo |
| Tú | autorizas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autoriza |
| Nosotros / as | autorizamos |
| Vosotros / as | autorizáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizan |
| Vos | autorizás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I authorized” or “she authorized” 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 | autoricé | I authorized |
| Tú | autorizaste | You authorized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorizó | He / she / you authorized |
| Nosotros / as | autorizamos | We authorized |
| Vosotros / as | autorizasteis | You authorized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizaron | They / you authorized |
| Vos | autorizaste | You authorized |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was authorizing” or “she was authorizing” 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 | autorizaba | I was authorizing |
| Tú | autorizabas | You were authorizing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorizaba | He was / she was / you were authorizing |
| Nosotros / as | autorizábamos | We were authorizing |
| Vosotros / as | autorizabais | You were authorizing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizaban | They / you were authorizing |
| Vos | autorizabas | You were authorizing |
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 authorized” and “she has authorized”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he autorizado | I have authorized |
| Tú | has autorizado | You have authorized |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha autorizado | He has / she has / you have authorized |
| Nosotros / as | hemos autorizado | We have authorized |
| Vosotros / as | habéis autorizado | You have authorized |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han autorizado | They / you have authorized |
| Vos | has autorizado | You have authorized |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would authorize” or “she would authorize”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | autorizaría | I would authorize |
| Tú | autorizarías | You would authorize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorizaría | He / she / you would authorize |
| Nosotros / as | autorizaríamos | We would authorize |
| Vosotros / as | autorizaríais | You would authorize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizarían | They / you would authorize |
| Vos | autorizarías | You would authorize |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will authorize” or “they will authorize”.
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 autorizar” means “They are going to authorize”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | autorizaré | I will authorize |
| Tú | autorizarás | You will authorize |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorizará | He / she / you will authorize |
| Nosotros / as | autorizaremos | We will authorize |
| Vosotros / as | autorizaréis | You will authorize |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizarán | They / you will authorize |
| Vos | autorizarás | You will authorize |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | autorice |
| Tú | autorices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorice |
| Nosotros / as | autoricemos |
| Vosotros / as | autoricéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autoricen |
| Vos | autorices |
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 | autorizara | autorizase |
| Tú | autorizaras | autorizase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorizara | autorizase |
| Nosotros / as | autorizáramos | autorizásemos |
| Vosotros / as | autorizarais | autorizaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizaran | autorizasen |
| Vos | autorizaras | autorizase |
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 | autorizare |
| Tú | autorizares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorizare |
| Nosotros / as | autorizáremos |
| Vosotros / as | autorizareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autorizaren |
| Vos | autorizares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “authorize!” and “don’t authorize!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | autoriza | no autorices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | autorice | no autorice |
| Nosotros / as | autoricemos | no autoricemos |
| Vosotros / as | autorizad | no autoricéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | autoricen | no autoricen |
| Vos | autorizá | no autorices |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya autorizado |
| Tú | hayas autorizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya autorizado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos autorizado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis autorizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan autorizado |
| Vos | hayas autorizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera autorizado / hubiese autorizado |
| Tú | hubieras autorizado / hubieses autorizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera autorizado / hubiese autorizado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos autorizado / hubiésemos autorizado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais autorizado / hubieseis autorizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran autorizado / hubiesen autorizado |
| Vos | hubieras autorizado / hubieses autorizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere autorizado |
| Tú | hubieres autorizado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere autorizado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos autorizado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis autorizado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren autorizado |
| Vos | hubieres autorizado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté autorizando |
| Tú | estés autorizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté autorizando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos autorizando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis autorizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén autorizando |
| Vos | estés autorizando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera autorizando / estuviese autorizando |
| Tú | estuvieras autorizando / estuvieses autorizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera autorizando / estuviese autorizando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos autorizando / estuviésamos autorizando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais autorizando / estuvieseis autorizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera autorizando / estuviese autorizando |
| Vos | estuvieras autorizando / estuvieses autorizando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere autorizando |
| Tú | estuvieres autorizando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere autorizando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos autorizando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis autorizando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere autorizando |
| Vos | estuvieres autorizando |
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 autorizás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos autorizaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos autorizabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos autorizarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos autorizarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos autorices |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos autorizaras / Vos autorizase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos autorizá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no autorices |