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Carecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lack, be in need of”.
Below are all of the conjugations for carecer 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 lack, be in need of |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | carecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está careciendo) and past continuous (estaba careciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. lacking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he carecido and hubiera carecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lacked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | careciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | carecido |
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 lack” or “they lack”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | carezco |
| Tú | careces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carece |
| Nosotros / as | carecemos |
| Vosotros / as | carecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecen |
| Vos | carecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lacked” or “she lacked” 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 | carecí | I lacked |
| Tú | careciste | You lacked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | careció | He / she / you lacked |
| Nosotros / as | carecimos | We lacked |
| Vosotros / as | carecisteis | You lacked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecieron | They / you lacked |
| Vos | careciste | You lacked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was lacking” or “she was lacking” 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 | carecía | I was lacking |
| Tú | carecías | You were lacking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carecía | He was / she was / you were lacking |
| Nosotros / as | carecíamos | We were lacking |
| Vosotros / as | carecíais | You were lacking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecían | They / you were lacking |
| Vos | carecías | You were lacking |
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 lacked” and “she has lacked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he carecido | I have lacked |
| Tú | has carecido | You have lacked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha carecido | He has / she has / you have lacked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos carecido | We have lacked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis carecido | You have lacked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han carecido | They / you have lacked |
| Vos | has carecido | You have lacked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lack” or “she would lack”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | carecería | I would lack |
| Tú | carecerías | You would lack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carecería | He / she / you would lack |
| Nosotros / as | careceríamos | We would lack |
| Vosotros / as | careceríais | You would lack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecerían | They / you would lack |
| Vos | carecerías | You would lack |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lack” or “they will lack”.
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 carecer” means “They are going to lack”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | careceré | I will lack |
| Tú | carecerás | You will lack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carecerá | He / she / you will lack |
| Nosotros / as | careceremos | We will lack |
| Vosotros / as | careceréis | You will lack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecerán | They / you will lack |
| Vos | carecerás | You will lack |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | carezca |
| Tú | carezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carezca |
| Nosotros / as | carezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | carezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carezcan |
| Vos | carezcas |
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 | careciera | careciese |
| Tú | carecieras | careciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | careciera | careciese |
| Nosotros / as | careciéramos | careciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | carecierais | carecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecieran | careciesen |
| Vos | carecieras | careciese |
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 | careciere |
| Tú | carecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | careciere |
| Nosotros / as | careciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | careciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carecieren |
| Vos | carecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lack!” and “don’t lack!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | carece | no carezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | carezca | no carezca |
| Nosotros / as | carezcamos | no carezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | careced | no carezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | carezcan | no carezcan |
| Vos | carecé | no carezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya carecido |
| Tú | hayas carecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya carecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos carecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis carecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan carecido |
| Vos | hayas carecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera carecido / hubiese carecido |
| Tú | hubieras carecido / hubieses carecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera carecido / hubiese carecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos carecido / hubiésemos carecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais carecido / hubieseis carecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran carecido / hubiesen carecido |
| Vos | hubieras carecido / hubieses carecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere carecido |
| Tú | hubieres carecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere carecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos carecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis carecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren carecido |
| Vos | hubieres carecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté careciendo |
| Tú | estés careciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté careciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos careciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis careciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén careciendo |
| Vos | estés careciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera careciendo / estuviese careciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras careciendo / estuvieses careciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera careciendo / estuviese careciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos careciendo / estuviésamos careciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais careciendo / estuvieseis careciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera careciendo / estuviese careciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras careciendo / estuvieses careciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere careciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres careciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere careciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos careciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis careciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere careciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres careciendo |
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 carecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos careciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos carecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos carecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos carecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos carezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos carecieras / Vos careciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos carecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no carezcas |