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Distribuir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to distribute, apportion”.
Below are all of the conjugations for distribuir 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 distribute, apportion |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | distribuir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está distribuyendo) and past continuous (estaba distribuyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. distributing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he distribuido and hubiera distribuido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have distributed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | distribuyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | distribuido |
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 distribute” or “they distribute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | distribuyo |
| Tú | distribuyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuye |
| Nosotros / as | distribuimos |
| Vosotros / as | distribuís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuyen |
| Vos | distribuís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I distributed” or “she distributed” 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 | distribuí | I distributed |
| Tú | distribuiste | You distributed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuyó | He / she / you distributed |
| Nosotros / as | distribuimos | We distributed |
| Vosotros / as | distribuisteis | You distributed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuyeron | They / you distributed |
| Vos | distribuiste | You distributed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was distributing” or “she was distributing” 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 | distribuía | I was distributing |
| Tú | distribuías | You were distributing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuía | He was / she was / you were distributing |
| Nosotros / as | distribuíamos | We were distributing |
| Vosotros / as | distribuíais | You were distributing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuían | They / you were distributing |
| Vos | distribuías | You were distributing |
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 distributed” and “she has distributed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he distribuido | I have distributed |
| Tú | has distribuido | You have distributed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha distribuido | He has / she has / you have distributed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos distribuido | We have distributed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis distribuido | You have distributed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han distribuido | They / you have distributed |
| Vos | has distribuido | You have distributed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would distribute” or “she would distribute”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | distribuiría | I would distribute |
| Tú | distribuirías | You would distribute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuiría | He / she / you would distribute |
| Nosotros / as | distribuiríamos | We would distribute |
| Vosotros / as | distribuiríais | You would distribute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuirían | They / you would distribute |
| Vos | distribuirías | You would distribute |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will distribute” or “they will distribute”.
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 distribuir” means “They are going to distribute”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | distribuiré | I will distribute |
| Tú | distribuirás | You will distribute |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuirá | He / she / you will distribute |
| Nosotros / as | distribuiremos | We will distribute |
| Vosotros / as | distribuiréis | You will distribute |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuirán | They / you will distribute |
| Vos | distribuirás | You will distribute |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | distribuya |
| Tú | distribuyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuya |
| Nosotros / as | distribuyamos |
| Vosotros / as | distribuyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuyan |
| Vos | distribuyas |
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 | distribuyera | distribuyese |
| Tú | distribuyeras | distribuyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuyera | distribuyese |
| Nosotros / as | distribuyéramos | distribuyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | distribuyerais | distribuyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuyeran | distribuyesen |
| Vos | distribuyeras | distribuyese |
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 | distribuyere |
| Tú | distribuyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuyera |
| Nosotros / as | distribuyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | distribuyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuyeren |
| Vos | distribuyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “distribute!” and “don’t distribute!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | distribuye | no distribuyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distribuya | no distribuya |
| Nosotros / as | distribuyamos | no distribuyamos |
| Vosotros / as | distribuid | no distribuyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distribuyan | no distribuyan |
| Vos | distribuí | no distribuyas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya distribuido |
| Tú | hayas distribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya distribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos distribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis distribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan distribuido |
| Vos | hayas distribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera distribuido / hubiese distribuido |
| Tú | hubieras distribuido / hubieses distribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera distribuido / hubiese distribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos distribuido / hubiésemos distribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais distribuido / hubieseis distribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran distribuido / hubiesen distribuido |
| Vos | hubieras distribuido / hubieses distribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere distribuido |
| Tú | hubieres distribuido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere distribuido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos distribuido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis distribuido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren distribuido |
| Vos | hubieres distribuido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté distribuyendo |
| Tú | estés distribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté distribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos distribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis distribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén distribuyendo |
| Vos | estés distribuyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera distribuyendo / estuviese distribuyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras distribuyendo / estuvieses distribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera distribuyendo / estuviese distribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos distribuyendo / estuviésamos distribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais distribuyendo / estuvieseis distribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera distribuyendo / estuviese distribuyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras distribuyendo / estuvieses distribuyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere distribuyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres distribuyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere distribuyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos distribuyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis distribuyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere distribuyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres distribuyendo |
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 distribuís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos distribuiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos distribuías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos distribuirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos distribuirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos distribuyas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos distribuyeras / Vos distribuyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos distribuí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no distribuyas |