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Consultar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to consult, look up, discuss, ad-vise”.
Below are all of the conjugations for consultar 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 consult, look up, discuss, ad-vise |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | consultar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está consultando) and past continuous (estaba consultando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. consolting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he consultado and hubiera consultado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have consolted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | consultando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | consultado |
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 consolt” or “they consolt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | consulto |
| Tú | consultas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consulta |
| Nosotros / as | consultamos |
| Vosotros / as | consultáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultan |
| Vos | consultás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I consolted” or “she consolted” 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 | consulté | I consolted |
| Tú | consultaste | You consolted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consultó | He / she / you consolted |
| Nosotros / as | consultamos | We consolted |
| Vosotros / as | consultasteis | You consolted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultaron | They / you consolted |
| Vos | consultaste | You consolted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was consolting” or “she was consolting” 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 | consultaba | I was consolting |
| Tú | consultabas | You were consolting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consultaba | He was / she was / you were consolting |
| Nosotros / as | consultábamos | We were consolting |
| Vosotros / as | consultabais | You were consolting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultaban | They / you were consolting |
| Vos | consultabas | You were consolting |
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 consolted” and “she has consolted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he consultado | I have consolted |
| Tú | has consultado | You have consolted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha consultado | He has / she has / you have consolted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos consultado | We have consolted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis consultado | You have consolted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han consultado | They / you have consolted |
| Vos | has consultado | You have consolted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would consolt” or “she would consolt”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | consultaría | I would consolt |
| Tú | consultarías | You would consolt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consultaría | He / she / you would consolt |
| Nosotros / as | consultaríamos | We would consolt |
| Vosotros / as | consultaríais | You would consolt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultarían | They / you would consolt |
| Vos | consultarías | You would consolt |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will consolt” or “they will consolt”.
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 consultar” means “They are going to consolt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | consultaré | I will consolt |
| Tú | consultarás | You will consolt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consultará | He / she / you will consolt |
| Nosotros / as | consultaremos | We will consolt |
| Vosotros / as | consultaréis | You will consolt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultarán | They / you will consolt |
| Vos | consultarás | You will consolt |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | consulte |
| Tú | consultes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consulte |
| Nosotros / as | consultemos |
| Vosotros / as | consultéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consulten |
| Vos | consultes |
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 | consultara | consultase |
| Tú | consultaras | consultase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consultara | consultase |
| Nosotros / as | consultáramos | consultásemos |
| Vosotros / as | consultarais | consultaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultaran | consultasen |
| Vos | consultaras | consultase |
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 | consultare |
| Tú | consultares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consultare |
| Nosotros / as | consultáremos |
| Vosotros / as | consultareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consultaren |
| Vos | consultares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “consolt!” and “don’t consolt!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | consulta | no consultes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | consulte | no consulte |
| Nosotros / as | consultemos | no consultemos |
| Vosotros / as | consultad | no consultéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | consulten | no consulten |
| Vos | consultá | no consultes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya consultado |
| Tú | hayas consultado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya consultado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos consultado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis consultado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan consultado |
| Vos | hayas consultado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera consultado / hubiese consultado |
| Tú | hubieras consultado / hubieses consultado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera consultado / hubiese consultado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos consultado / hubiésemos consultado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais consultado / hubieseis consultado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran consultado / hubiesen consultado |
| Vos | hubieras consultado / hubieses consultado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere consultado |
| Tú | hubieres consultado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere consultado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos consultado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis consultado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren consultado |
| Vos | hubieres consultado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté consultando |
| Tú | estés consultando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté consultando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos consultando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis consultando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén consultando |
| Vos | estés consultando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera consultando / estuviese consultando |
| Tú | estuvieras consultando / estuvieses consultando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera consultando / estuviese consultando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos consultando / estuviésamos consultando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais consultando / estuvieseis consultando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera consultando / estuviese consultando |
| Vos | estuvieras consultando / estuvieses consultando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere consultando |
| Tú | estuvieres consultando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere consultando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos consultando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis consultando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere consultando |
| Vos | estuvieres consultando |
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 consultás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos consultaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos consultabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos consultarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos consultarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos consultes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos consultaras / Vos consultase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos consultá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no consultes |