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Constreñir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to constrain, force, compel”.
Below are all of the conjugations for constreñir 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 constrain, force, compel |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | constreñir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está constreñiendo) and past continuous (estaba constreñiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. constraining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he constreñido and hubiera constreñido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have constrained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | constreñiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | constreñido |
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 constrain” or “they constrain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | constreño |
| Tú | constreñes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñe |
| Nosotros / as | constreñimos |
| Vosotros / as | constreñís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñen |
| Vos | constreñís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I constrained” or “she constrained” 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 | constreñí | I constrained |
| Tú | constreñiste | You constrained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñió | He / she / you constrained |
| Nosotros / as | constreñimos | We constrained |
| Vosotros / as | constreñisteis | You constrained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñieron | They / you constrained |
| Vos | constreñiste | You constrained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was constraining” or “she was constraining” 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 | constreñía | I was constraining |
| Tú | constreñías | You were constraining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñía | He was / she was / you were constraining |
| Nosotros / as | constreñíamos | We were constraining |
| Vosotros / as | constreñíais | You were constraining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñían | They / you were constraining |
| Vos | constreñías | You were constraining |
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 constrained” and “she has constrained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he constreñido | I have constrained |
| Tú | has constreñido | You have constrained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha constreñido | He has / she has / you have constrained |
| Nosotros / as | hemos constreñido | We have constrained |
| Vosotros / as | habéis constreñido | You have constrained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han constreñido | They / you have constrained |
| Vos | has constreñido | You have constrained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would constrain” or “she would constrain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | constreñiría | I would constrain |
| Tú | constreñirías | You would constrain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñiría | He / she / you would constrain |
| Nosotros / as | constreñiríamos | We would constrain |
| Vosotros / as | constreñiríais | You would constrain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñirían | They / you would constrain |
| Vos | constreñirías | You would constrain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will constrain” or “they will constrain”.
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 constreñir” means “They are going to constrain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | constreñiré | I will constrain |
| Tú | constreñirás | You will constrain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñirá | He / she / you will constrain |
| Nosotros / as | constreñiremos | We will constrain |
| Vosotros / as | constreñiréis | You will constrain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñirán | They / you will constrain |
| Vos | constreñirás | You will constrain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | constreña |
| Tú | constreñas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreña |
| Nosotros / as | constreñamos |
| Vosotros / as | constreñáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñan |
| Vos | constreñas |
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 | constreñiera | constreñiese |
| Tú | constreñieras | constreñiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñiera | constreñiese |
| Nosotros / as | constreñiéramos | constreñiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | constreñierais | constreñieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñieran | constreñiesen |
| Vos | constreñieras | constreñiese |
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 | constreñiere |
| Tú | constreñieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreñiera |
| Nosotros / as | constreñiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | constreñiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñieren |
| Vos | constreñieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “constrain!” and “don’t constrain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | constreñe | no constreñas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constreña | no constreña |
| Nosotros / as | constreñamos | no constreñamos |
| Vosotros / as | constreñid | no constreñáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constreñan | no constreñan |
| Vos | constreñí | no constreñas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya constreñido |
| Tú | hayas constreñido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya constreñido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos constreñido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis constreñido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan constreñido |
| Vos | hayas constreñido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera constreñido / hubiese constreñido |
| Tú | hubieras constreñido / hubieses constreñido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera constreñido / hubiese constreñido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos constreñido / hubiésemos constreñido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais constreñido / hubieseis constreñido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran constreñido / hubiesen constreñido |
| Vos | hubieras constreñido / hubieses constreñido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere constreñido |
| Tú | hubieres constreñido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere constreñido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos constreñido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis constreñido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren constreñido |
| Vos | hubieres constreñido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté constreñiendo |
| Tú | estés constreñiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté constreñiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos constreñiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis constreñiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén constreñiendo |
| Vos | estés constreñiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera constreñiendo / estuviese constreñiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras constreñiendo / estuvieses constreñiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera constreñiendo / estuviese constreñiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos constreñiendo / estuviésamos constreñiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais constreñiendo / estuvieseis constreñiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera constreñiendo / estuviese constreñiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras constreñiendo / estuvieses constreñiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere constreñiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres constreñiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere constreñiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos constreñiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis constreñiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere constreñiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres constreñiendo |
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 constreñís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos constreñiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos constreñías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos constreñirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos constreñirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos constreñas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos constreñieras / Vos constreñiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos constreñí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no constreñas |