contraer Affirmative Imperative Conjugation
contraer — to contract
The imperative uses 'contrae' for informal 'tú' and 'contraiga' for formal 'usted'.
contraer Affirmative Imperative Forms
When to Use the Affirmative Imperative
Use this to give orders, like telling someone to contract a muscle during a workout.
Notes on contraer in the Affirmative Imperative
The 'tú' form is regular (contrae), but the 'usted', 'nosotros', and 'ustedes' forms use the irregular 'g' stem (contraiga).
Example Sentences
Contrae el abdomen ahora.
Contract your abdomen now.
tú
Contraiga el músculo suavemente.
Contract the muscle gently.
usted
Contraigamos los gastos este mes.
Let's reduce (contract) our expenses this month.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'contraigo' as a command.
Correct: Use 'contraiga' for usted.
Why: The 'yo' form is never used as a command; formal commands come from the subjunctive.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: contraigo
The present tense of contraer is irregular in the 'yo' form (contraigo), but follows regular -er patterns for the rest.
Preterite
yo: contraje
The preterite of contraer is highly irregular, using a 'j' stem: contraje, contrajiste, contrajo.
Imperfect
yo: contraía
The imperfect of contraer is completely regular: contraía, contraías, contraía.
Future
yo: contraeré
The future tense of contraer is regular: contraeré, contraerás, contraerá.
Conditional
yo: contraería
The conditional of contraer is regular: contraería, contraerías, contraería.
Present Subjunctive
yo: contraiga
The present subjunctive uses the 'contraig-' stem: contraiga, contraigas, contraiga.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: contrajera
The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'j' stem: contrajera, contrajeras, contrajera.
Negative Imperative
yo: no contraigas
The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive forms: no contraigas, no contraiga.