Spanish conjugation
Encyclopedia
This article presents a set of paradigms — that is, conjugation
tables — of Spanish
verb
s, including examples of regular verb
s and some of the most common irregular verb
s. For other irregular verbs and their common patterns, see the article on Spanish irregular verbs
.
The tables include only the "simple" tenses (that is, those formed with a single word), and not the "compound" tenses
(those formed with an auxiliary verb
plus a non-finite
form of the main verb), such as the progressive, perfect, and passive voice. The progressive aspects
(also called "continuous tenses") are formed by using the appropriate tense of estar + gerund, and the perfect constructions are formed by using the appropriate tense of haber + past participle
. When the past participle is used in this way, it invariably ends with -o. In contrast, when the participle is used as an adjective
, it agrees in gender
and number
with the noun modified. And similarly, the participle agrees with the subject
when it is used with ser to form the "true" (dynamic
) passive voice
(e.g. La carta fue escrita ayer 'The letter was written [got written] yesterday.'), and also when it is used with estar to form a "passive of result", or stative
passive (as in La carta ya está escrita 'The letter is already written.').
The pronouns yo, tú, vos, él, nosotros, vosotros and ellos/ustedes are used to symbolise the three persons
and two numbers
. Note, however, that Spanish is a pro-drop language
, and so it is the norm to omit subject pronouns when not needed for contrast or emphasis. Note also that the subject, if specified, can easily be something other than these pronouns. For example, él, ella, or usted can be replaced by a noun phrase
, or the verb can appear with impersonal se and no subject (e.g. Aquí se vive bien, 'One lives well here'). The first-person plural expressions nosotros, nosotras, tú y yo, or él y yo can be replaced by a noun phrase that includes the speaker (e.g. Los estudiantes tenemos hambre, 'We students are hungry'). The same comments hold for vosotros and ellos.
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
tables — of Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s, including examples of regular verb
Regular verb
A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language to which it belongs. A verb that cannot be conjugated like this is called an irregular verb. All natural languages, to different extents, have a number of irregular verbs...
s and some of the most common irregular verb
Irregular verb
In contrast to regular verbs, irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned...
s. For other irregular verbs and their common patterns, see the article on Spanish irregular verbs
Spanish irregular verbs
Spanish verbs are a complex area of Spanish grammar, with many combinations of tenses, aspects and moods . While conjugation rules are relatively straightforward, a large number of verbs are irregular. Among these, some fall into more-or-less defined deviant patterns, while others are uniquely...
.
The tables include only the "simple" tenses (that is, those formed with a single word), and not the "compound" tenses
Compound verb
In linguistics, a compound verb or complex predicate is a multi-word compound that acts as a single verb. One component of the compound is a light verb or vector, which carries any inflections, indicating tense, mood, or aspect, but provides only fine shades of meaning...
(those formed with an auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
plus a non-finite
Non-finite verb
In linguistics, a non-finite verb is a verb form that is not limited by a subject and, more generally, is not fully inflected by categories that are marked inflectionally in language, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, and person...
form of the main verb), such as the progressive, perfect, and passive voice. The progressive aspects
Continuous and progressive aspects
The continuous and progressive aspects are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects. It is a verb category with two principal meaning components: duration and incompletion...
(also called "continuous tenses") are formed by using the appropriate tense of estar + gerund, and the perfect constructions are formed by using the appropriate tense of haber + past participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
. When the past participle is used in this way, it invariably ends with -o. In contrast, when the participle is used as an adjective
Grammatical modifier
In grammar, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure; the removal of the modifier typically doesn't affect the grammaticality of the sentence....
, it agrees in gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
with the noun modified. And similarly, the participle agrees with the subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
when it is used with ser to form the "true" (dynamic
Dynamic verb
A dynamic or finitive verb is a verb that shows continued or progressive action on the part of the subject. This is the opposite of a stative verb....
) passive voice
Passive voice
Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed. A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is...
(e.g. La carta fue escrita ayer 'The letter was written [got written] yesterday.'), and also when it is used with estar to form a "passive of result", or stative
Stative verb
A stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
passive (as in La carta ya está escrita 'The letter is already written.').
The pronouns yo, tú, vos, él, nosotros, vosotros and ellos/ustedes are used to symbolise the three persons
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
and two numbers
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
. Note, however, that Spanish is a pro-drop language
Pro-drop language
A pro-drop language is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they are in some sense pragmatically inferable...
, and so it is the norm to omit subject pronouns when not needed for contrast or emphasis. Note also that the subject, if specified, can easily be something other than these pronouns. For example, él, ella, or usted can be replaced by a noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
, or the verb can appear with impersonal se and no subject (e.g. Aquí se vive bien, 'One lives well here'). The first-person plural expressions nosotros, nosotras, tú y yo, or él y yo can be replaced by a noun phrase that includes the speaker (e.g. Los estudiantes tenemos hambre, 'We students are hungry'). The same comments hold for vosotros and ellos.
Regular -ar verbs (amar, 'to love')
Non-finite (Formas no personales) | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive (Infinitivo) | amar | ||||||
Gerund (Gerundio) | amando | ||||||
Past participle (Participio) | amado (amado, amada, amados, amadas — masc. sing., fem. sing., masc. pl., fem pl., respectively) |
||||||
Indicative (Indicativo) | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted | nosotros / nosotras | vosotros / vosotras | ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present (Presente) | amo | amas | amás | ama | amamos | amáis | aman |
Imperfect (Pretérito imperfecto or copretérito) | amaba | amabas | amaba | amábamos | amabais | amaban | |
Preterite (Pretérito perfecto simple or Pretérito) | amé | amaste / amastes | amastes / amaste | amó | amamos | amasteis | amaron |
Future (Futuro simple or Futuro) | amaré | amarás | amará | amaremos | amaréis | amarán | |
Conditional (Condicional simple or Pospretérito) | amaría | amarías | amaría | amaríamos | amaríais | amarían | |
Subjunctive (Subjuntivo) | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present (Presente) | ame | ames | amés / ames | ame | amemos | améis | amen |
Imperfect 1 (Pretérito imperfecto or Pretérito) | amara | amaras | amara | amáramos | amarais | amaran | |
Imperfect 2 | amase | amases | amase | amásemos | amaseis | amasen | |
Future (Futuro simple or Futuro) | amare | amares | amare | amáremos | amareis | amaren | |
Imperative (Imperativo) | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | ama | amá | ame | amemos | amad | amen | |
Negative | no ames | no amés / no ames |
no ame | no amemos | no améis | no amen |
Regular -er verbs (temer, 'to fear')
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | temer | ||||||
Gerund | temiendo | ||||||
Past participle | temido (temido, temida, temidos, temidas — masc. sing., fem. sing., masc. pl., fem pl., respectively) |
||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | temo | temes | temés | teme | tememos | teméis | temen |
Imperfect | temía | temías | temía | temíamos | temíais | temían | |
Preterite | temí | temiste / temistes | temistes / temiste | temió | temimos | temisteis | temieron |
Future | temeré | temerás | temerá | temeremos | temeréis | temerán | |
Conditional | temería | temerías | temería | temeríamos | temeríais | temerían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | tema | temas | temás / temas | tema | temamos | temáis | teman |
Imperfect 1 | temiera | temieras | temiera | temiéramos | temierais | temieran | |
Imperfect 2 | temiese | temieses | temiese | temiésemos | temieseis | temiesen | |
Future | temiere | temieres | temiere | temiéremos | temiereis | temieren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | teme | temé | tema | temamos | temed | teman | |
Negative | no temas | no temás / no temas | no tema | no temamos | no temáis | no teman |
Regular -ir verbs (partir, 'to split/depart')
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | partir | ||||||
Gerund | partiendo | ||||||
Past participle | partido (partido, partida, partidos, partidas — masc. sing., fem. sing., masc. pl., fem pl., respectively) |
||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | parto | partes | partís | parte | partimos | partís | parten |
Imperfect | partía | partías | partía | partíamos | partíais | partían | |
Preterite | partí | partiste / partistes | partistes / partiste | partió | partimos | partisteis | partieron |
Future | partiré | partirás | partirá | partiremos | partiréis | partirán | |
Conditional | partiría | partirías | partiría | partiríamos | partiríais | partirían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | parta | partas | partás / partas | parta | partamos | partáis | partan |
Imperfect 1 | partiera | partieras | partiera | partiéramos | partierais | partieran | |
Imperfect 2 | partiese | partieses | partiese | partiésemos | partieseis | partiesen | |
Future | partiere | partieres | partiere | partiéremos | partiereis | partieren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | parte | partí | parta | partamos | partid | partan | |
Negative | no partas | no partás / no partas | no parta | no partamos | no partáis | no partan |
ser, 'to be (in essence)'
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | ser | ||||||
Gerund | siendo | ||||||
Past participle | sido (never used as adjective) | ||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | soy | eres | sos | es | somos | sois | son |
Imperfect | era | eras | era | éramos | erais | eran | |
Preterite | fui | fuiste / fuistes | fuistes / fuiste | fue | fuimos | fuisteis | fueron |
Future | seré | serás | será | seremos | seréis | serán | |
Conditional | sería | serías | sería | seríamos | seríais | serían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | sea | seas | seás / seas | sea | seamos | seáis | sean |
Imperfect 1 | fuera | fueras | fuera | fuéramos | fuerais | fueran | |
Imperfect 2 | fuese | fueses | fuese | fuésemos | fueseis | fuesen | |
Future | fuere | fueres | fuere | fuéremos | fuereis | fueren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | sé | sé | sea | seamos | sed | sean | |
Negative | no seas | no seás / no seas | no sea | no seamos | no seáis | no sean |
estar, 'to be (in a state)'
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | estar | ||||||
Gerund | estando | ||||||
Past participle | estado (never used as adjective) | ||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | estoy | estás | está | estamos | estáis | están | |
Imperfect | estaba | estabas | estaba | estábamos | estabais | estaban | |
Preterite | estuve | estuviste / estuvistes | estuvistes / estuviste | estuvo | estuvimos | estuvisteis | estuvieron |
Future | estaré | estarás | estará | estaremos | estaréis | estarán | |
Conditional | estaría | estarías | estaría | estaríamos | estaríais | estarían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | esté | estés | esté | estemos | estéis | estén | |
Imperfect 1 | estuviera | estuvieras | estuviera | estuviéramos | estuvierais | estuvieran | |
Imperfect 2 | estuviese | estuvieses | estuviese | estuviésemos | estuvieseis | estuviesen | |
Future | estuviere | estuvieres | estuviere | estuviéremos | estuviereis | estuvieren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | estate | estate | esté OR estese | estemos OR estémonos | estad OR estaos | estén OR estense | |
Negative | no estés | no estés | no esté | no estemos | no estéis | no estén |
haber, 'to have (aux.)'
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | haber | ||||||
Gerund | habiendo | ||||||
Past participle | habido (rarely used as adjective) | ||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | he | has | ha | hemos | habéis | han | |
Imperfect | había | habías | había | habíamos | habíais | habían | |
Preterite | hube | hubiste / hubistes | hubistes / hubiste | hubo | hubimos | hubisteis | hubieron |
Future | habré | habrás | habrá | habremos | habréis | habrán | |
Conditional | habría | habrías | habría | habríamos | habríais | habrían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | haya | hayas | hayás / hayas | haya | hayamos | hayáis | hayan |
Imperfect 1 | hubiera | hubieras | hubiera | hubiéramos | hubierais | hubieran | |
Imperfect 2 | hubiese | hubieses | hubiese | hubiésemos | hubieseis | hubiesen | |
Future | hubiere | hubieres | hubiere | hubiéremos | hubiereis | hubieren | |
Imperative | The imperative of haber is virtually never used. |
tener, 'to have (possession)'
Sometimes referred to by Spanish instructors as a "Yo -go" verb.Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | tener | ||||||
Gerund | teniendo | ||||||
Past participle | tenido (tenido, tenida, tenidos, tenidas ) — masc. sing., fem. sing., masc. pl., fem pl., respectively) |
||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | tengo | tienes | tenés | tiene | tenemos | tenéis | tienen |
Imperfect | tenía | tenías | tenía | teníamos | teníais | tenían | |
Preterite | tuve | tuviste / tuvistes | tuvistes / tuviste | tuvo | tuvimos | tuvisteis | tuvieron |
Future | tendré | tendrás | tendrá | tendremos | tendréis | tendrán | |
Conditional | tendría | tendrías | tendría | tendríamos | tendríais | tendrían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | tenga | tengas | tengás / tengas | tenga | tengamos | tengáis | tengan |
Imperfect 1 | tuviera | tuvieras | tuviera | tuviéramos | tuvierais | tuvieran | |
Imperfect 2 | tuviese | tuvieses | tuviese | tuviésemos | tuvieseis | tuviesen | |
Future | tuviere | tuvieres | tuviere | tuviéremos | tuviereis | tuvieren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | ten | tené | tenga | tengamos | tened | tengan | |
Negative | no tengas | no tengás / no tengas | no tenga | no tengamos | no tengáis | no tengan |
ir, 'to go'
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | ir | ||||||
Gerund | yendo | ||||||
Past participle | ido (rarely used as adjective) | ||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | voy | vas | va | vamos | vais | van | |
Imperfect | iba | ibas | iba | íbamos | ibais | iban | |
Preterite | fui | fuiste / fuistes | fuistes / fuiste | fue | fuimos | fuisteis | fueron |
Future | iré | irás | irá | iremos | iréis | irán | |
Conditional | iría | irías | iría | iríamos | iríais | irían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | vaya | vayas | vayás / vayas | vaya | vayamos | vayáis | vayan |
Imperfect 1 | fuera | fueras | fuera | fuéramos | fuerais | fueran | |
Imperfect 2 | fuese | fueses | fuese | fuésemos | fueseis | fuesen | |
Future | fuere | fueres | fuere | fuéremos | fuereis | fueren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | ve | andá | vaya | vamos | id | vayan | |
Negative | no vayas | no vayás / no vayas | no vaya | no vayamos | no vayáis | no vayan |
conocer, 'to know (to be acquainted with); to get acquainted with'
Non-finite | Form | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | conocer | ||||||
Gerund | conociendo | ||||||
Past participle | conocido (conocido, conocida, conocidos, conocidas — masc. sing., fem. sing., masc. pl., fem pl., respectively) |
||||||
Indicative | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | conozco | conoces | conocés | conoce | conocemos | conocéis | conocen |
Imperfect | conocía | conocías | conocía | conocíamos | conocíais | conocían | |
Preterite | conocí | conociste / conocistes | conocistes / conociste | conoció | conocimos | conocisteis | conocieron |
Future | conoceré | conocerás | conocerá | conoceremos | conoceréis | conocerán | |
Conditional | conocería | conocerías | conocería | conoceríamos | conoceríais | conocerían | |
Subjunctive | yo | tú | vos | él / ella / usted |
nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ellos / ellas / ustedes |
Present | conozca | conozcas | conozcás / conozcas | conozca | conozcamos | conozcáis | conozcan |
Imperfect 1 | conociera | conocieras | conociera | conociéramos | conocierais | conocieran | |
Imperfect 2 | conociese | conocieses | conociese | conociésemos | conocieseis | conociesen | |
Future | conociere | conocieres | conociere | conociéremos | conociereis | conocieren | |
Imperative | tú | vos | usted | nosotros / nosotras |
vosotros / vosotras |
ustedes | |
Affirmative | conoce | conocé | conozca | conozcamos | conoced | conozcan | |
Negative | no conozcas | no conozcás | no conozca | no conozcamos | no conozcáis | no conozcan |