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Debutar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to make one’s debut, open (a play)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for debutar 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 make one’s debut, open (a play) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | debutar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está debutando) and past continuous (estaba debutando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. making my debut).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he debutado and hubiera debutado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have made my debut).
| Gerundio / Gerund | debutando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | debutado |
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 make my debut” or “they make my debut”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | debuto |
| Tú | debutas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debuta |
| Nosotros / as | debutamos |
| Vosotros / as | debutáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutan |
| Vos | debutás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I made my debut” or “she made my debut” 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 | debuté | I made my debut |
| Tú | debutaste | You made my debut |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debutó | He / she / you made my debut |
| Nosotros / as | debutamos | We made my debut |
| Vosotros / as | debutasteis | You made my debut |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutaron | They / you made my debut |
| Vos | debutaste | You made my debut |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was making my debut” or “she was making my debut” 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 | debutaba | I was making my debut |
| Tú | debutabas | You were making my debut |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debutaba | He was / she was / you were making my debut |
| Nosotros / as | debutábamos | We were making my debut |
| Vosotros / as | debutabais | You were making my debut |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutaban | They / you were making my debut |
| Vos | debutabas | You were making my debut |
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 made my debut” and “she has made my debut”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he debutado | I have made my debut |
| Tú | has debutado | You have made my debut |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha debutado | He has / she has / you have made my debut |
| Nosotros / as | hemos debutado | We have made my debut |
| Vosotros / as | habéis debutado | You have made my debut |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han debutado | They / you have made my debut |
| Vos | has debutado | You have made my debut |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would make one’s debut” or “she would make one’s debut”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | debutaría | I would make my debut |
| Tú | debutarías | You would make my debut |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debutaría | He / she / you would make my debut |
| Nosotros / as | debutaríamos | We would make my debut |
| Vosotros / as | debutaríais | You would make my debut |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutarían | They / you would make my debut |
| Vos | debutarías | You would make my debut |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will make one’s debut” or “they will make one’s debut”.
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 debutar” means “They are going to make one’s debut”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | debutaré | I will make my debut |
| Tú | debutarás | You will make my debut |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debutará | He / she / you will make my debut |
| Nosotros / as | debutaremos | We will make my debut |
| Vosotros / as | debutaréis | You will make my debut |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutarán | They / you will make my debut |
| Vos | debutarás | You will make my debut |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | debute |
| Tú | debutes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debute |
| Nosotros / as | debutemos |
| Vosotros / as | debutéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debuten |
| Vos | debutes |
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 | debutara | debutase |
| Tú | debutaras | debutase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debutara | debutase |
| Nosotros / as | debutáramos | debutásemos |
| Vosotros / as | debutarais | debutaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutaran | debutasen |
| Vos | debutaras | debutase |
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 | debutare |
| Tú | debutares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debutare |
| Nosotros / as | debutáremos |
| Vosotros / as | debutareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debutaren |
| Vos | debutares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “make one’s debut!” and “don’t make one’s debut!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | debuta | no debutes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | debute | no debute |
| Nosotros / as | debutemos | no debutemos |
| Vosotros / as | debutad | no debutéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | debuten | no debuten |
| Vos | debutá | no debutes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya debutado |
| Tú | hayas debutado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya debutado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos debutado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis debutado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan debutado |
| Vos | hayas debutado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera debutado / hubiese debutado |
| Tú | hubieras debutado / hubieses debutado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera debutado / hubiese debutado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos debutado / hubiésemos debutado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais debutado / hubieseis debutado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran debutado / hubiesen debutado |
| Vos | hubieras debutado / hubieses debutado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere debutado |
| Tú | hubieres debutado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere debutado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos debutado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis debutado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren debutado |
| Vos | hubieres debutado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté debutando |
| Tú | estés debutando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté debutando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos debutando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis debutando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén debutando |
| Vos | estés debutando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera debutando / estuviese debutando |
| Tú | estuvieras debutando / estuvieses debutando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera debutando / estuviese debutando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos debutando / estuviésamos debutando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais debutando / estuvieseis debutando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera debutando / estuviese debutando |
| Vos | estuvieras debutando / estuvieses debutando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere debutando |
| Tú | estuvieres debutando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere debutando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos debutando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis debutando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere debutando |
| Vos | estuvieres debutando |
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 debutás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos debutaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos debutabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos debutarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos debutarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos debutes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos debutaras / Vos debutase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos debutá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no debutes |