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Decir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to say”.
Below are all of the conjugations for decir 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 say |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | decir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está diciendo) and past continuous (estaba diciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. saying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dicho and hubiera dicho. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have said).
| Gerundio / Gerund | diciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dicho |
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 say” or “they say”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | digo |
| Tú | dices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dice |
| Nosotros / as | decimos |
| Vosotros / as | decís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dicen |
| Vos | decís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I said” or “she said” 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 | dije | I said |
| Tú | dijiste | You said |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dijo | He / she / you said |
| Nosotros / as | dijimos | We said |
| Vosotros / as | dijisteis | You said |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dijeron | They / you said |
| Vos | dijiste | You said |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was saying” or “she was saying” 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 | decía | I was saying |
| Tú | decías | You were saying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decía | He was / she was / you were saying |
| Nosotros / as | decíamos | We were saying |
| Vosotros / as | decíais | You were saying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | decían | They / you were saying |
| Vos | decías | You were saying |
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 said” and “she has said”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he dicho | I have said |
| Tú | has dicho | You have said |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha dicho | He has / she has / you have said |
| Nosotros / as | hemos dicho | We have said |
| Vosotros / as | habéis dicho | You have said |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han dicho | They / you have said |
| Vos | has dicho | You have said |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would say” or “she would say”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | diría | I would say |
| Tú | dirías | You would say |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diría | He / she / you would say |
| Nosotros / as | diríamos | We would say |
| Vosotros / as | diríais | You would say |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirían | They / you would say |
| Vos | dirías | You would say |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will say” or “they will say”.
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 decir” means “They are going to say”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | diré | I will say |
| Tú | dirás | You will say |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dirá | He / she / you will say |
| Nosotros / as | diremos | We will say |
| Vosotros / as | diréis | You will say |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dirán | They / you will say |
| Vos | dirás | You will say |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | diga |
| Tú | digas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diga |
| Nosotros / as | digamos |
| Vosotros / as | digáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | digan |
| Vos | digas |
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 | dijera | dijese |
| Tú | dijeras | dijese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dijera | dijese |
| Nosotros / as | dijéramos | dijésemos |
| Vosotros / as | dijerais | dijeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dijeran | dijesen |
| Vos | dijeras | dijese |
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 | dijere |
| Tú | dijeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dijera |
| Nosotros / as | dijéremos |
| Vosotros / as | dijereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dijeren |
| Vos | dijeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “say!” and “don’t say!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | di | no digas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | diga | no diga |
| Nosotros / as | digamos | no digamos |
| Vosotros / as | decid | no digáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | digan | no digan |
| Vos | decí | no digas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dicho |
| Tú | hayas dicho |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dicho |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dicho |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dicho |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dicho |
| Vos | hayas dicho |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dicho / hubiese dicho |
| Tú | hubieras dicho / hubieses dicho |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dicho / hubiese dicho |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dicho / hubiésemos dicho |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dicho / hubieseis dicho |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dicho / hubiesen dicho |
| Vos | hubieras dicho / hubieses dicho |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dicho |
| Tú | hubieres dicho |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dicho |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dicho |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dicho |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dicho |
| Vos | hubieres dicho |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté diciendo |
| Tú | estés diciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté diciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos diciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis diciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén diciendo |
| Vos | estés diciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera diciendo / estuviese diciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras diciendo / estuvieses diciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera diciendo / estuviese diciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos diciendo / estuviésamos diciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais diciendo / estuvieseis diciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera diciendo / estuviese diciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras diciendo / estuvieses diciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere diciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres diciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere diciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos diciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis diciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere diciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres diciendo |
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 decís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos dijiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos decías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos dirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos dirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos digas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos dijeras / Vos dijese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos decí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no digas |
