Ella Verbscaracterizar to characterise, to characterize Irregular Verb
At a glance: Caracterizar (to characterise, to characterize) is a irregular verb in Spanish. In the present tense: caracterizo, caracterizas, caracteriza, caracterizamos, caracterizáis, caracterizan. The present tense is regular. In the preterite: yo changes z to c (caractericé); the other forms are regular. It is also irregular in the present subjunctive (caracterice).

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The Indicative Present of caracterizar is used to talk about situations, events or thoughts that are happening now or in the near future. It is also used to talk about facts and truths. For example, “caracterizo”, meaning “I characterise”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Present is known as "El Presente".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterizo | I characterise |
| Tú | caracterizas | you characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracteriza | s/he characterises |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizamos | we characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizáis | you (plural) characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizan | they characterise |
How it’s built: Regular: stem caracteriz- plus the -ar endings.
The Indicative Preterite of caracterizar is used to talk about actions completed in the past, at a specific point in time. For example, “caractericé”, meaning “I characterised”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Preterite is known as "El Pretérito Indefinido".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caractericé | I characterised |
| Tú | caracterizaste | you characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterizó | s/he characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizamos | we characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizasteis | you (plural) characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizaron | they characterised |
How it’s built: Yo changes z to c (caractericé); the other forms are regular.
Letters in red show where a form differs from the regular pattern.
The Indicative Imperfect of caracterizar is used to describe regular and repeated actions that happened in the past and descriptions of things you used to do. For example, “caracterizaba”, meaning “I used to characterise”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Imperfect is known as "El Pretérito Imperfecto".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterizaba | I used to characterise |
| Tú | caracterizabas | you used to characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterizaba | s/he used to characterise |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizábamos | we used to characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizabais | you (plural) used to characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizaban | they used to characterise |
How it’s built: Regular: stem caracteriz- plus the -ar endings.
The Indicative Present Continuous of caracterizar is used to talk about something that is happening continuously or right now. For example, “estoy caracterizando”, meaning “I am characterising”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Present Continuous is known as "El Presente Progresivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | estoy caracterizando | I am characterising |
| Tú | estás caracterizando | you are characterising |
| Ella / Él / Usted | está caracterizando | s/he is characterising |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | estamos caracterizando | we are characterising |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | estáis caracterizando | you (plural) are characterising |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | están caracterizando | they are characterising |
How it’s built: Estar in the present (estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están) plus the gerund caracterizando.
The Indicative Informal Future of caracterizar is used to talk about something that will happen in the future, especially in the near future. For example, “voy a caracterizar”, meaning “I am going to characterise”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Informal Future is known as "El Futuro Próximo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | voy a caracterizar | I am going to characterise |
| Tú | vas a caracterizar | you are going to characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | va a caracterizar | s/he is going to characterise |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | vamos a caracterizar | we are going to characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | vais a caracterizar | you (plural) are going to characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | van a caracterizar | they are going to characterise |
How it’s built: Ir in the present (voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van), then a, then the infinitive caracterizar.
The Indicative Future of caracterizar is used to talk about something that will happen in the future. For example, “caracterizaré”, meaning “I will characterise”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Future is known as "El Futuro Simple".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterizaré | I will characterise |
| Tú | caracterizarás | you will characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterizará | s/he will characterise |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizaremos | we will characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizaréis | you (plural) will characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizarán | they will characterise |
How it’s built: Regular: the infinitive caracterizar plus the future endings.
The Indicative Conditional of caracterizar is used to talk about something that may happen in the future, hypothesis and probabilities. For example, “caracterizaría”, meaning “I would characterise”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Conditional is known as "El Condicional Simple".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterizaría | I would characterise |
| Tú | caracterizarías | you would characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterizaría | s/he would characterise |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizaríamos | we would characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizaríais | you (plural) would characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizarían | they would characterise |
How it’s built: Regular: the infinitive caracterizar plus the conditional endings.
The Indicative Present Perfect of caracterizar is used to describe actions that started recently (in the past) and are still happening now or things that have been done recently. For example, “he caracterizado”, meaning “I have characterised”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Present Perfect is known as "El Pretérito Perfecto".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he caracterizado | I have characterised |
| Tú | has caracterizado | you have characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | ha caracterizado | s/he has characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | hemos caracterizado | we have characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | habéis caracterizado | you (plural) have characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | han caracterizado | they have characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the present (he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han) plus the past participle caracterizado.
The Indicative Past Perfect of caracterizar is used to talk about actions that happened before another action in the past. For example, “había caracterizado”, meaning “I had characterised”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Past Perfect is known as "El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | había caracterizado | I had characterised |
| Tú | habías caracterizado | you had characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | había caracterizado | s/he had characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | habíamos caracterizado | we had characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | habíais caracterizado | you (plural) had characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | habían caracterizado | they had characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the imperfect (había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían) plus the past participle caracterizado.
The Indicative Future Perfect of caracterizar is used to talk about something that will have happened in the future after something else has already happened. For example, “habré caracterizado”, meaning “I will have characterised”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Future Perfect is known as "El Futuro Perfecto".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | habré caracterizado | I will have characterised |
| Tú | habrás caracterizado | you will have characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | habrá caracterizado | s/he will have characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | habremos caracterizado | we will have characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | habréis caracterizado | you (plural) will have characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | habrán caracterizado | they will have characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the future (habré, habrás, habrá, habremos, habréis, habrán) plus the past participle caracterizado.
The Indicative Conditional Perfect of caracterizar is used to talk about something that would have happened in the past but didn’t due to another action. For example, “habría caracterizado”, meaning “I would have characterised”.
In Spanish, the Indicative Conditional Perfect is known as "El Condicional Perfecto".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | habría caracterizado | I would have characterised |
| Tú | habrías caracterizado | you would have characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | habría caracterizado | s/he would have characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | habríamos caracterizado | we would have characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | habríais caracterizado | you (plural) would have characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | habrían caracterizado | they would have characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the conditional (habría, habrías, habría, habríamos, habríais, habrían) plus the past participle caracterizado.
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The Subjunctive Present is used to talk about situations of uncertainty, or emotions such as wishes, desires and hopes. It differs from the indicative mood due to the uncertainty of the events which are being spoken about. For example, “caracterice”, meaning “I characterise”.
In Spanish, the Subjunctive Present is known as "El Presente de Subjuntivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterice | I characterise |
| Tú | caracterices | you characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterice | s/he characterises |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caractericemos | we characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caractericéis | you (plural) characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caractericen | they characterise |
How it’s built: Every form changes z to c (caracterice, caracterices, caracterice, caractericemos, caractericéis, caractericen).
Letters in red show where a form differs from the regular pattern.
The Subjunctive Imperfect is used to speak about unlikely or uncertain events in the past or to cast an opinion (emotional) about something that happened in the past. For example, “caracterizara”, meaning “I characterised”.
In Spanish, the Subjunctive Imperfect is known as "El Imperfecto Subjuntivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterizara | I characterised |
| Tú | caracterizaras | you characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterizara | s/he characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizáramos | we characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizarais | you (plural) characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizaran | they characterised |
How it’s built: Regular: the ellas/ellos preterite, caracterizaron, without -ron, plus the -ra endings; nosotros adds an accent (caracterizáramos).
The Subjunctive Future is used to speak about hypothetical situations, and actions/events that may happen in the future. For example, “caracterizare”, meaning “I will characterise”.
In Spanish, the Subjunctive Future is known as "El Futuro de Subjuntivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caracterizare | I will characterise |
| Tú | caracterizares | you will characterise |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterizare | s/he will characterise |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caracterizáremos | we will characterise |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizareis | you (plural) will characterise |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caracterizaren | they will characterise |
How it’s built: Regular: the ellas/ellos preterite, caracterizaron, without -ron, plus the -re endings; nosotros adds an accent (caracterizáremos).
The Subjunctive Present Perfect is used to describe past actions or events that are still connected to the present day and to speak about an action that will have happened by a certain time in the future. For example, “haya caracterizado”, meaning “I have characterised”.
In Spanish, the Subjunctive Present Perfect is known as "El Pretérito Perfecto de Subjuntivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | haya caracterizado | I have characterised |
| Tú | hayas caracterizado | you have characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | haya caracterizado | s/he has characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | hayamos caracterizado | we have characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | hayáis caracterizado | you (plural) have characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | hayan caracterizado | they have characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the subjunctive present (haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayáis, hayan) plus the past participle caracterizado.
The Subjunctive Past Perfect is used to speak about hypothetical situations, and actions/events that occurred before other actions/events in the past. For example, “hubiera caracterizado”, meaning “I had characterised”.
In Spanish, the Subjunctive Past Perfect is known as "El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera caracterizado | I had characterised |
| Tú | hubieras caracterizado | you had characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | hubiera caracterizado | s/he had characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | hubiéramos caracterizado | we had characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | hubierais caracterizado | you (plural) had characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | hubieran caracterizado | they had characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the subjunctive imperfect (hubiera, hubieras, hubiera, hubiéramos, hubierais, hubieran) plus the past participle caracterizado.
The Subjunctive Future Perfect is used to speak about something that will have happened if a hypothetical situations occurs in the future. For example, “hubiere caracterizado”, meaning “I will have characterised”.
In Spanish, the Subjunctive Future Perfect is known as "El Futuro Perfecto de Subjuntivo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere caracterizado | I will have characterised |
| Tú | hubieres caracterizado | you will have characterised |
| Ella / Él / Usted | hubiere caracterizado | s/he will have characterised |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | hubiéremos caracterizado | we will have characterised |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | hubiereis caracterizado | you (plural) will have characterised |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | hubieren caracterizado | they will have characterised |
How it’s built: Haber in the subjunctive future (hubiere, hubieres, hubiere, hubiéremos, hubiereis, hubieren) plus the past participle caracterizado.
The Imperative Affirmative is used to give orders and commands, to tell someone to do something. For example, “caracterice”, meaning “(to you formal) characterise!”.
In Spanish, the Imperative Affirmative is known as "El Imperativo Afirmativo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | - | - |
| Tú | caracteriza | (to you) characterise! |
| Ella / Él / Usted | caracterice | (to you formal) characterise! |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | caractericemos | let's characterise! |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | caracterizad | (to you plural) characterise! |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | caractericen | (to you plural formal) characterise! |
How it’s built: Tú takes the ella/él present (caracteriza); usted, nosotros and ustedes take the subjunctive present (caracterice, caractericemos, caractericen); vosotros swaps the final r of the infinitive for a d (caracterizad).
Letters in red show where a form differs from the regular pattern.
The Imperative Negative is used to give orders and commands, telling someone not to do something. For example, “no caracterice”, meaning “(to you formal) don't characterise!”.
In Spanish, the Imperative Negative is known as "El Imperativo Negativo".
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | - | - |
| Tú | no caracterices | (to you) don't characterise! |
| Ella / Él / Usted | no caracterice | (to you formal) don't characterise! |
| Nosotras / Nosotros | no caractericemos | let's not characterise! |
| Vosotras / Vosotros | no caractericéis | (to you plural) don't characterise! |
| Ellas / Ellos / Ustedes | no caractericen | (to you plural formal) don't characterise! |
How it’s built: No plus the subjunctive present: no caracterices, no caracterice, no caractericemos, no caractericéis, no caractericen.
Letters in red show where a form differs from the regular pattern.
Caracterizar is an irregular Spanish verb. The present tense is regular. In the preterite: yo changes z to c (caractericé); the other forms are regular. It is also irregular in the present subjunctive (caracterice).
In the present tense (presente), caracterizar is conjugated as: yo caracterizo, tú caracterizas, él/ella/usted caracteriza, nosotros caracterizamos, vosotros caracterizáis, ellos/ellas/ustedes caracterizan. The present tense is used To talk about situations, events or thoughts that are happening now or in the near future. It is also used to talk about facts and truths.
In the preterite (pretérito indefinido), caracterizar is conjugated as: yo caractericé, tú caracterizaste, él/ella/usted caracterizó, nosotros caracterizamos, vosotros caracterizasteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes caracterizaron. The preterite is used To talk about actions completed in the past, at a specific point in time.
In the imperfect (pretérito imperfecto), caracterizar is conjugated as: yo caracterizaba, tú caracterizabas, él/ella/usted caracterizaba, nosotros caracterizábamos, vosotros caracterizabais, ellos/ellas/ustedes caracterizaban. The imperfect is used To describe regular and repeated actions that happened in the past and descriptions of things you used to do.
In the future tense (futuro simple), caracterizar is conjugated as: yo caracterizaré, tú caracterizarás, él/ella/usted caracterizará, nosotros caracterizaremos, vosotros caracterizaréis, ellos/ellas/ustedes caracterizarán. The future tense is used To talk about something that will happen in the future.
In the present subjunctive (subjuntivo presente), caracterizar is conjugated as: yo caracterice, tú caracterices, él/ella/usted caracterice, nosotros caractericemos, vosotros caractericéis, ellos/ellas/ustedes caractericen. The present subjunctive is used To talk about situations of uncertainty, or emotions such as wishes, desires and hopes. It differs from the indicative mood due to the uncertainty of the events which are being spoken about.
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