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Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Comprobar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to check, prove”.
Below are all of the conjugations for comprobar 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 check, prove |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | comprobar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está comprobando) and past continuous (estaba comprobando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. checking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he comprobado and hubiera comprobado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have checked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | comprobando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | comprobado |
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 check” or “they check”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compruebo |
| Tú | compruebas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprueba |
| Nosotros / as | comprobamos |
| Vosotros / as | comprobáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprueban |
| Vos | comprobás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I checked” or “she checked” 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 | comprobé | I checked |
| Tú | comprobaste | You checked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprobó | He / she / you checked |
| Nosotros / as | comprobamos | We checked |
| Vosotros / as | comprobasteis | You checked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprobaron | They / you checked |
| Vos | comprobaste | You checked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was checking” or “she was checking” 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 | comprobaba | I was checking |
| Tú | comprobabas | You were checking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprobaba | He was / she was / you were checking |
| Nosotros / as | comprobábamos | We were checking |
| Vosotros / as | comprobabais | You were checking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprobaban | They / you were checking |
| Vos | comprobabas | You were checking |
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 checked” and “she has checked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he comprobado | I have checked |
| Tú | has comprobado | You have checked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha comprobado | He has / she has / you have checked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos comprobado | We have checked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis comprobado | You have checked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han comprobado | They / you have checked |
| Vos | has comprobado | You have checked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would check” or “she would check”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | comprobaría | I would check |
| Tú | comprobarías | You would check |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprobaría | He / she / you would check |
| Nosotros / as | comprobaríamos | We would check |
| Vosotros / as | comprobaríais | You would check |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprobarían | They / you would check |
| Vos | comprobarías | You would check |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will check” or “they will check”.
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 comprobar” means “They are going to check”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | comprobaré | I will check |
| Tú | comprobarás | You will check |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprobará | He / she / you will check |
| Nosotros / as | comprobaremos | We will check |
| Vosotros / as | comprobaréis | You will check |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprobarán | They / you will check |
| Vos | comprobarás | You will check |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | compruebe |
| Tú | compruebes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compruebe |
| Nosotros / as | comprobemos |
| Vosotros / as | comprobéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprueben |
| Vos | compruebes |
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 | comprobara | comprobase |
| Tú | comprobaras | comprobase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprobara | comprobase |
| Nosotros / as | comprobáramos | comprobásemos |
| Vosotros / as | comprobarais | comprobaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprobaran | comprobasen |
| Vos | comprobaras | comprobase |
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 | comprobare |
| Tú | comprobares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comprobare |
| Nosotros / as | comprobáremos |
| Vosotros / as | comprobareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprobaren |
| Vos | comprobares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “check!” and “don’t check!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | comprueba | no compruebes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compruebe | no compruebe |
| Nosotros / as | comprobemos | no comprobemos |
| Vosotros / as | comprobad | no comprobéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comprueben | no comprueben |
| Vos | comprobá | no compruebes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya comprobado |
| Tú | hayas comprobado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya comprobado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos comprobado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis comprobado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan comprobado |
| Vos | hayas comprobado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera comprobado / hubiese comprobado |
| Tú | hubieras comprobado / hubieses comprobado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera comprobado / hubiese comprobado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos comprobado / hubiésemos comprobado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais comprobado / hubieseis comprobado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran comprobado / hubiesen comprobado |
| Vos | hubieras comprobado / hubieses comprobado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere comprobado |
| Tú | hubieres comprobado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere comprobado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos comprobado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis comprobado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren comprobado |
| Vos | hubieres comprobado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté comprobando |
| Tú | estés comprobando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté comprobando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos comprobando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis comprobando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén comprobando |
| Vos | estés comprobando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera comprobando / estuviese comprobando |
| Tú | estuvieras comprobando / estuvieses comprobando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera comprobando / estuviese comprobando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos comprobando / estuviésamos comprobando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais comprobando / estuvieseis comprobando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera comprobando / estuviese comprobando |
| Vos | estuvieras comprobando / estuvieses comprobando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere comprobando |
| Tú | estuvieres comprobando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere comprobando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos comprobando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis comprobando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere comprobando |
| Vos | estuvieres comprobando |
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 comprobás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos comprobaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos comprobabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos comprobarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos comprobarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos compruebes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos comprobaras / Vos comprobase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos comprobá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no compruebes |