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Competir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to compete, contest”.
Below are all of the conjugations for competir 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 compete, contest |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | competir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está compitiendo) and past continuous (estaba compitiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. competing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he competido and hubiera competido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have competed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | compitiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | competido |
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 compete” or “they compete”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compito |
| Tú | compites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compite |
| Nosotros / as | competimos |
| Vosotros / as | competís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compiten |
| Vos | competís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I competed” or “she competed” 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 | competí | I competed |
| Tú | competiste | You competed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compitió | He / she / you competed |
| Nosotros / as | competimos | We competed |
| Vosotros / as | competisteis | You competed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compitieron | They / you competed |
| Vos | competiste | You competed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was competing” or “she was competing” 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 | competía | I was competing |
| Tú | competías | You were competing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | competía | He was / she was / you were competing |
| Nosotros / as | competíamos | We were competing |
| Vosotros / as | competíais | You were competing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | competían | They / you were competing |
| Vos | competías | You were competing |
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 competed” and “she has competed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he competido | I have competed |
| Tú | has competido | You have competed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha competido | He has / she has / you have competed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos competido | We have competed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis competido | You have competed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han competido | They / you have competed |
| Vos | has competido | You have competed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would compete” or “she would compete”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | competiría | I would compete |
| Tú | competirías | You would compete |
| Él / Ella / Usted | competiría | He / she / you would compete |
| Nosotros / as | competiríamos | We would compete |
| Vosotros / as | competiríais | You would compete |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | competirían | They / you would compete |
| Vos | competirías | You would compete |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will compete” or “they will compete”.
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 competir” means “They are going to compete”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | competiré | I will compete |
| Tú | competirás | You will compete |
| Él / Ella / Usted | competirá | He / she / you will compete |
| Nosotros / as | competiremos | We will compete |
| Vosotros / as | competiréis | You will compete |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | competirán | They / you will compete |
| Vos | competirás | You will compete |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compita |
| Tú | compitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compita |
| Nosotros / as | compitamos |
| Vosotros / as | compitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compitan |
| Vos | compitas |
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 | compitiera | compitiese |
| Tú | compitieras | compitiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compitiera | compitiese |
| Nosotros / as | compitiéramos | compitiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | compitierais | compitieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compitieran | compitiesen |
| Vos | compitieras | compitiese |
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 | compitiere |
| Tú | compitieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compitiera |
| Nosotros / as | compitiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | compitiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compitieren |
| Vos | compitieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “compete!” and “don’t compete!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | compite | no compitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compita | no compita |
| Nosotros / as | compitamos | no compitamos |
| Vosotros / as | competid | no compitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compitan | no compitan |
| Vos | competí | no compitas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya competido |
| Tú | hayas competido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya competido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos competido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis competido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan competido |
| Vos | hayas competido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera competido / hubiese competido |
| Tú | hubieras competido / hubieses competido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera competido / hubiese competido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos competido / hubiésemos competido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais competido / hubieseis competido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran competido / hubiesen competido |
| Vos | hubieras competido / hubieses competido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere competido |
| Tú | hubieres competido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere competido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos competido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis competido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren competido |
| Vos | hubieres competido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté compitiendo |
| Tú | estés compitiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté compitiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos compitiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis compitiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén compitiendo |
| Vos | estés compitiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera compitiendo / estuviese compitiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras compitiendo / estuvieses compitiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera compitiendo / estuviese compitiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos compitiendo / estuviésamos compitiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais compitiendo / estuvieseis compitiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera compitiendo / estuviese compitiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras compitiendo / estuvieses compitiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere compitiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres compitiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere compitiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos compitiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis compitiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere compitiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres compitiendo |
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 competís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos competiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos competías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos competirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos competirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos compitas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos compitieras / Vos compitiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos competí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no compitas |