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Elegir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to elect, choose”.
Below are all of the conjugations for elegir 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 elect, choose |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | elegir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está elegiendo) and past continuous (estaba elegiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. electing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he elegido and hubiera elegido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have elected).
| Gerundio / Gerund | elegiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | elegido |
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 elect” or “they elect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | elejo |
| Tú | eleges |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elege |
| Nosotros / as | elegimos |
| Vosotros / as | elegís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegen |
| Vos | elegís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I elected” or “she elected” 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 | elegí | I elected |
| Tú | elegiste | You elected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elegió | He / she / you elected |
| Nosotros / as | elegimos | We elected |
| Vosotros / as | elegisteis | You elected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegieron | They / you elected |
| Vos | elegiste | You elected |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was electing” or “she was electing” 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 | elegía | I was electing |
| Tú | elegías | You were electing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elegía | He was / she was / you were electing |
| Nosotros / as | elegíamos | We were electing |
| Vosotros / as | elegíais | You were electing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegían | They / you were electing |
| Vos | elegías | You were electing |
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 elected” and “she has elected”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he elegido | I have elected |
| Tú | has elegido | You have elected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha elegido | He has / she has / you have elected |
| Nosotros / as | hemos elegido | We have elected |
| Vosotros / as | habéis elegido | You have elected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han elegido | They / you have elected |
| Vos | has elegido | You have elected |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would elect” or “she would elect”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | elegiría | I would elect |
| Tú | elegirías | You would elect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elegiría | He / she / you would elect |
| Nosotros / as | elegiríamos | We would elect |
| Vosotros / as | elegiríais | You would elect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegirían | They / you would elect |
| Vos | elegirías | You would elect |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will elect” or “they will elect”.
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 elegir” means “They are going to elect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | elegiré | I will elect |
| Tú | elegirás | You will elect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elegirá | He / she / you will elect |
| Nosotros / as | elegiremos | We will elect |
| Vosotros / as | elegiréis | You will elect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegirán | They / you will elect |
| Vos | elegirás | You will elect |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | eleja |
| Tú | elejas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | eleja |
| Nosotros / as | elejamos |
| Vosotros / as | elejáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elejan |
| Vos | elejas |
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 | elegiera | elegiese |
| Tú | elegieras | elegiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elegiera | elegiese |
| Nosotros / as | elegiéramos | elegiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | elegierais | elegieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegieran | elegiesen |
| Vos | elegieras | elegiese |
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 | elegiere |
| Tú | elegieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | elegiera |
| Nosotros / as | elegiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | elegiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elegieren |
| Vos | elegieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “elect!” and “don’t elect!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | elege | no elejas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | eleja | no eleja |
| Nosotros / as | elejamos | no elejamos |
| Vosotros / as | elegid | no elejáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | elejan | no elejan |
| Vos | elegí | no elejas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya elegido |
| Tú | hayas elegido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya elegido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos elegido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis elegido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan elegido |
| Vos | hayas elegido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera elegido / hubiese elegido |
| Tú | hubieras elegido / hubieses elegido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera elegido / hubiese elegido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos elegido / hubiésemos elegido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais elegido / hubieseis elegido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran elegido / hubiesen elegido |
| Vos | hubieras elegido / hubieses elegido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere elegido |
| Tú | hubieres elegido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere elegido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos elegido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis elegido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren elegido |
| Vos | hubieres elegido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté elegiendo |
| Tú | estés elegiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté elegiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos elegiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis elegiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén elegiendo |
| Vos | estés elegiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera elegiendo / estuviese elegiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras elegiendo / estuvieses elegiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera elegiendo / estuviese elegiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos elegiendo / estuviésamos elegiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais elegiendo / estuvieseis elegiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera elegiendo / estuviese elegiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras elegiendo / estuvieses elegiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere elegiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres elegiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere elegiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos elegiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis elegiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere elegiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres elegiendo |
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 elegís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos elegiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos elegías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos elegirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos elegirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos elejas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos elegieras / Vos elegiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos elegí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no elejas |