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Embellecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to beautify, embellish”.
Below are all of the conjugations for embellecer 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 beautify, embellish |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | embellecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está embelleciendo) and past continuous (estaba embelleciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. beautifying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he embellecido and hubiera embellecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have beautified).
| Gerundio / Gerund | embelleciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | embellecido |
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 beautify” or “they beautify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | embellezco |
| Tú | embelleces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embellece |
| Nosotros / as | embellecemos |
| Vosotros / as | embellecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecen |
| Vos | embellecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I beautified” or “she beautified” 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 | embellecí | I beautified |
| Tú | embelleciste | You beautified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embelleció | He / she / you beautified |
| Nosotros / as | embellecimos | We beautified |
| Vosotros / as | embellecisteis | You beautified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecieron | They / you beautified |
| Vos | embelleciste | You beautified |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was beautifying” or “she was beautifying” 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 | embellecía | I was beautifying |
| Tú | embellecías | You were beautifying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embellecía | He was / she was / you were beautifying |
| Nosotros / as | embellecíamos | We were beautifying |
| Vosotros / as | embellecíais | You were beautifying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecían | They / you were beautifying |
| Vos | embellecías | You were beautifying |
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 beautified” and “she has beautified”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he embellecido | I have beautified |
| Tú | has embellecido | You have beautified |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha embellecido | He has / she has / you have beautified |
| Nosotros / as | hemos embellecido | We have beautified |
| Vosotros / as | habéis embellecido | You have beautified |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han embellecido | They / you have beautified |
| Vos | has embellecido | You have beautified |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would beautify” or “she would beautify”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | embellecería | I would beautify |
| Tú | embellecerías | You would beautify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embellecería | He / she / you would beautify |
| Nosotros / as | embelleceríamos | We would beautify |
| Vosotros / as | embelleceríais | You would beautify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecerían | They / you would beautify |
| Vos | embellecerías | You would beautify |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will beautify” or “they will beautify”.
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 embellecer” means “They are going to beautify”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | embelleceré | I will beautify |
| Tú | embellecerás | You will beautify |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embellecerá | He / she / you will beautify |
| Nosotros / as | embelleceremos | We will beautify |
| Vosotros / as | embelleceréis | You will beautify |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecerán | They / you will beautify |
| Vos | embellecerás | You will beautify |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | embellezca |
| Tú | embellezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embellezca |
| Nosotros / as | embellezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | embellezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellezcan |
| Vos | embellezcas |
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 | embelleciera | embelleciese |
| Tú | embellecieras | embelleciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embelleciera | embelleciese |
| Nosotros / as | embelleciéramos | embelleciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | embellecierais | embellecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecieran | embelleciesen |
| Vos | embellecieras | embelleciese |
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 | embelleciere |
| Tú | embellecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embelleciere |
| Nosotros / as | embelleciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | embelleciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellecieren |
| Vos | embellecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “beautify!” and “don’t beautify!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | embellece | no embellezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | embellezca | no embellezca |
| Nosotros / as | embellezcamos | no embellezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | embelleced | no embellezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | embellezcan | no embellezcan |
| Vos | embellecé | no embellezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya embellecido |
| Tú | hayas embellecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya embellecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos embellecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis embellecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan embellecido |
| Vos | hayas embellecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera embellecido / hubiese embellecido |
| Tú | hubieras embellecido / hubieses embellecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera embellecido / hubiese embellecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos embellecido / hubiésemos embellecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais embellecido / hubieseis embellecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran embellecido / hubiesen embellecido |
| Vos | hubieras embellecido / hubieses embellecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere embellecido |
| Tú | hubieres embellecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere embellecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos embellecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis embellecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren embellecido |
| Vos | hubieres embellecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté embelleciendo |
| Tú | estés embelleciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté embelleciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos embelleciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis embelleciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén embelleciendo |
| Vos | estés embelleciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera embelleciendo / estuviese embelleciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras embelleciendo / estuvieses embelleciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera embelleciendo / estuviese embelleciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos embelleciendo / estuviésamos embelleciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais embelleciendo / estuvieseis embelleciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera embelleciendo / estuviese embelleciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras embelleciendo / estuvieses embelleciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere embelleciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres embelleciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere embelleciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos embelleciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis embelleciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere embelleciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres embelleciendo |
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 embellecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos embelleciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos embellecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos embellecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos embellecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos embellezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos embellecieras / Vos embelleciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos embellecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no embellezcas |