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Declinar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to decline, fade out”.
Below are all of the conjugations for declinar 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 decline, fade out |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | declinar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está declinando) and past continuous (estaba declinando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. declining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he declinado and hubiera declinado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have declined).
| Gerundio / Gerund | declinando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | declinado |
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 decline” or “they decline”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | declino |
| Tú | declinas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declina |
| Nosotros / as | declinamos |
| Vosotros / as | declináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinan |
| Vos | declinás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I declined” or “she declined” 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 | decliné | I declined |
| Tú | declinaste | You declined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declinó | He / she / you declined |
| Nosotros / as | declinamos | We declined |
| Vosotros / as | declinasteis | You declined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinaron | They / you declined |
| Vos | declinaste | You declined |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was declining” or “she was declining” 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 | declinaba | I was declining |
| Tú | declinabas | You were declining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declinaba | He was / she was / you were declining |
| Nosotros / as | declinábamos | We were declining |
| Vosotros / as | declinabais | You were declining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinaban | They / you were declining |
| Vos | declinabas | You were declining |
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 declined” and “she has declined”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he declinado | I have declined |
| Tú | has declinado | You have declined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha declinado | He has / she has / you have declined |
| Nosotros / as | hemos declinado | We have declined |
| Vosotros / as | habéis declinado | You have declined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han declinado | They / you have declined |
| Vos | has declinado | You have declined |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would decline” or “she would decline”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | declinaría | I would decline |
| Tú | declinarías | You would decline |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declinaría | He / she / you would decline |
| Nosotros / as | declinaríamos | We would decline |
| Vosotros / as | declinaríais | You would decline |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinarían | They / you would decline |
| Vos | declinarías | You would decline |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will decline” or “they will decline”.
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 declinar” means “They are going to decline”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | declinaré | I will decline |
| Tú | declinarás | You will decline |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declinará | He / she / you will decline |
| Nosotros / as | declinaremos | We will decline |
| Vosotros / as | declinaréis | You will decline |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinarán | They / you will decline |
| Vos | declinarás | You will decline |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | decline |
| Tú | declines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decline |
| Nosotros / as | declinemos |
| Vosotros / as | declinéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinen |
| Vos | declines |
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 | declinara | declinase |
| Tú | declinaras | declinase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declinara | declinase |
| Nosotros / as | declináramos | declinásemos |
| Vosotros / as | declinarais | declinaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinaran | declinasen |
| Vos | declinaras | declinase |
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 | declinare |
| Tú | declinares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | declinare |
| Nosotros / as | declináremos |
| Vosotros / as | declinareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinaren |
| Vos | declinares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “decline!” and “don’t decline!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | declina | no declines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | decline | no decline |
| Nosotros / as | declinemos | no declinemos |
| Vosotros / as | declinad | no declinéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | declinen | no declinen |
| Vos | decliná | no declines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya declinado |
| Tú | hayas declinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya declinado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos declinado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis declinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan declinado |
| Vos | hayas declinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera declinado / hubiese declinado |
| Tú | hubieras declinado / hubieses declinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera declinado / hubiese declinado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos declinado / hubiésemos declinado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais declinado / hubieseis declinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran declinado / hubiesen declinado |
| Vos | hubieras declinado / hubieses declinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere declinado |
| Tú | hubieres declinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere declinado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos declinado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis declinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren declinado |
| Vos | hubieres declinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté declinando |
| Tú | estés declinando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté declinando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos declinando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis declinando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén declinando |
| Vos | estés declinando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera declinando / estuviese declinando |
| Tú | estuvieras declinando / estuvieses declinando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera declinando / estuviese declinando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos declinando / estuviésamos declinando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais declinando / estuvieseis declinando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera declinando / estuviese declinando |
| Vos | estuvieras declinando / estuvieses declinando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere declinando |
| Tú | estuvieres declinando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere declinando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos declinando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis declinando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere declinando |
| Vos | estuvieres declinando |
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 declinás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos declinaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos declinabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos declinarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos declinarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos declines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos declinaras / Vos declinase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos decliná |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no declines |