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Contraer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to contract, reduce, shrink”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contraer 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 contract, reduce, shrink |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contraer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contrayendo) and past continuous (estaba contrayendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. contracting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contraído and hubiera contraído. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have contracted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contrayendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contraído |
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 contract” or “they contract”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contraigo |
| Tú | contraes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrae |
| Nosotros / as | contraemos |
| Vosotros / as | contraéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraen |
| Vos | contraés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I contracted” or “she contracted” 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 | contraje | I contracted |
| Tú | contrajiste | You contracted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrajo | He / she / you contracted |
| Nosotros / as | contrajimos | We contracted |
| Vosotros / as | contrajisteis | You contracted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrajeron | They / you contracted |
| Vos | contrajiste | You contracted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was contracting” or “she was contracting” 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 | contraía | I was contracting |
| Tú | contraías | You were contracting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraía | He was / she was / you were contracting |
| Nosotros / as | contraíamos | We were contracting |
| Vosotros / as | contraíais | You were contracting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraían | They / you were contracting |
| Vos | contraías | You were contracting |
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 contracted” and “she has contracted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contraído | I have contracted |
| Tú | has contraído | You have contracted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contraído | He has / she has / you have contracted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contraído | We have contracted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contraído | You have contracted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contraído | They / you have contracted |
| Vos | has contraído | You have contracted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would contract” or “she would contract”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contraería | I would contract |
| Tú | contraerías | You would contract |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraería | He / she / you would contract |
| Nosotros / as | contraeríamos | We would contract |
| Vosotros / as | contraeríais | You would contract |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraerían | They / you would contract |
| Vos | contraerías | You would contract |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will contract” or “they will contract”.
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 contraer” means “They are going to contract”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contraeré | I will contract |
| Tú | contraerás | You will contract |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraerá | He / she / you will contract |
| Nosotros / as | contraeremos | We will contract |
| Vosotros / as | contraeréis | You will contract |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraerán | They / you will contract |
| Vos | contraerás | You will contract |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contraiga |
| Tú | contraigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraiga |
| Nosotros / as | contraigamos |
| Vosotros / as | contraigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraigan |
| Vos | contraigas |
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 | contrajera | contrajese |
| Tú | contrajeras | contrajese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrajera | contrajese |
| Nosotros / as | contrajéramos | contrajésemos |
| Vosotros / as | contrajerais | contrajeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrajeran | contrajesen |
| Vos | contrajeras | contrajese |
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 | contrajere |
| Tú | contrajeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contrajere |
| Nosotros / as | contrajéremos |
| Vosotros / as | contrajereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contrajeren |
| Vos | contrajeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “contract!” and “don’t contract!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | contrae | no contraigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contraiga | no contraiga |
| Nosotros / as | contraigamos | no contraigamos |
| Vosotros / as | contraed | no contraigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contraigan | no contraigan |
| Vos | contraé | no contraigas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contraído |
| Tú | hayas contraído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contraído |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contraído |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contraído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contraído |
| Vos | hayas contraído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contraído / hubiese contraído |
| Tú | hubieras contraído / hubieses contraído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contraído / hubiese contraído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contraído / hubiésemos contraído |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contraído / hubieseis contraído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contraído / hubiesen contraído |
| Vos | hubieras contraído / hubieses contraído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contraído |
| Tú | hubieres contraído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contraído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contraído |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contraído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contraído |
| Vos | hubieres contraído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contrayendo |
| Tú | estés contrayendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contrayendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contrayendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contrayendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contrayendo |
| Vos | estés contrayendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contrayendo / estuviese contrayendo |
| Tú | estuvieras contrayendo / estuvieses contrayendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contrayendo / estuviese contrayendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contrayendo / estuviésamos contrayendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contrayendo / estuvieseis contrayendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contrayendo / estuviese contrayendo |
| Vos | estuvieras contrayendo / estuvieses contrayendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contrayendo |
| Tú | estuvieres contrayendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contrayendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contrayendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contrayendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contrayendo |
| Vos | estuvieres contrayendo |
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 contraés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contrajiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contraías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contraerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contraerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos contraigas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contrajeras / Vos contrajese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contraé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no contraigas |