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Intentar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to try”.
Below are all of the conjugations for intentar 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 try |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | intentar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está intentando) and past continuous (estaba intentando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. trying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he intentado and hubiera intentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have tried).
| Gerundio / Gerund | intentando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | intentado |
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 try” or “they try”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | intento |
| Tú | intentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intenta |
| Nosotros / as | intentamos |
| Vosotros / as | intentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentan |
| Vos | intentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I tried” or “she tried” 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 | intenté | I tried |
| Tú | intentaste | You tried |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intentó | He / she / you tried |
| Nosotros / as | intentamos | We tried |
| Vosotros / as | intentasteis | You tried |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentaron | They / you tried |
| Vos | intentaste | You tried |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was trying” or “she was trying” 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 | intentaba | I was trying |
| Tú | intentabas | You were trying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intentaba | He was / she was / you were trying |
| Nosotros / as | intentábamos | We were trying |
| Vosotros / as | intentabais | You were trying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentaban | They / you were trying |
| Vos | intentabas | You were trying |
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 tried” and “she has tried”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he intentado | I have tried |
| Tú | has intentado | You have tried |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha intentado | He has / she has / you have tried |
| Nosotros / as | hemos intentado | We have tried |
| Vosotros / as | habéis intentado | You have tried |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han intentado | They / you have tried |
| Vos | has intentado | You have tried |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would try” or “she would try”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | intentaría | I would try |
| Tú | intentarías | You would try |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intentaría | He / she / you would try |
| Nosotros / as | intentaríamos | We would try |
| Vosotros / as | intentaríais | You would try |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentarían | They / you would try |
| Vos | intentarías | You would try |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will try” or “they will try”.
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 intentar” means “They are going to try”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | intentaré | I will try |
| Tú | intentarás | You will try |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intentará | He / she / you will try |
| Nosotros / as | intentaremos | We will try |
| Vosotros / as | intentaréis | You will try |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentarán | They / you will try |
| Vos | intentarás | You will try |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | intente |
| Tú | intentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intente |
| Nosotros / as | intentemos |
| Vosotros / as | intentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intenten |
| Vos | intentes |
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 | intentara | intentase |
| Tú | intentaras | intentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intentara | intentase |
| Nosotros / as | intentáramos | intentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | intentarais | intentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentaran | intentasen |
| Vos | intentaras | intentase |
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 | intentare |
| Tú | intentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intentare |
| Nosotros / as | intentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | intentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intentaren |
| Vos | intentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “try!” and “don’t try!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | intenta | no intentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | intente | no intente |
| Nosotros / as | intentemos | no intentemos |
| Vosotros / as | intentad | no intentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | intenten | no intenten |
| Vos | intentá | no intentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya intentado |
| Tú | hayas intentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya intentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos intentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis intentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan intentado |
| Vos | hayas intentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera intentado / hubiese intentado |
| Tú | hubieras intentado / hubieses intentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera intentado / hubiese intentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos intentado / hubiésemos intentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais intentado / hubieseis intentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran intentado / hubiesen intentado |
| Vos | hubieras intentado / hubieses intentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere intentado |
| Tú | hubieres intentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere intentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos intentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis intentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren intentado |
| Vos | hubieres intentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté intentando |
| Tú | estés intentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté intentando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos intentando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis intentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén intentando |
| Vos | estés intentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera intentando / estuviese intentando |
| Tú | estuvieras intentando / estuvieses intentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera intentando / estuviese intentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos intentando / estuviésamos intentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais intentando / estuvieseis intentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera intentando / estuviese intentando |
| Vos | estuvieras intentando / estuvieses intentando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere intentando |
| Tú | estuvieres intentando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere intentando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos intentando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis intentando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere intentando |
| Vos | estuvieres intentando |
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 intentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos intentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos intentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos intentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos intentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos intentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos intentaras / Vos intentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos intentá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no intentes |
