Conjugating Spanish Verbs
A verb is the action word in a sentence — the word that names an action (he works) or describes a state of being. Verbs are one of the most essential parts of speech, since they are a required element in sentences. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, etc. don't show up in every sentence you use, but verbs do. For example, the shortest grammatically correct sentence in English is “Go!” That single word in the imperative can be a complete sentence.
Factors That Affect Verb Conjugation
Spanish verbs have to be “conjugated” or “inflected”; that is, changed according to how they are used. Each Spanish verb has at least five — but usually six — different conjugations in each tense and mood.
FACT
The infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. In English, it is expressed as “to + verb.” Spanish infinitives are single words with one of three infinitive endings: — AR, — ER, or — IR. For example, hablar (to speak), comer (to eat), abrir (to open).
In most conjugations, you will need to drop the infinitive ending (leaving the radical or root) and add the appropriate ending. There are a total of five elements in conjugation: number, person, voice, mood, and tense.
Number and Person
Number and person go hand in hand; together, they indicate the grammatical person: who or what is performing the action of the verb. Number may be singular (one) or plural (more than one). Person may be first person (the speaker), second person (the listener), and third person (third party). This means there's a total of six grammatical persons, and each has at least one subject pronoun:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | yo (I) | nosotros/as (we) |
| 2nd person | tú (you, inf.) | vosotros/as (you, inf.) |
| 3rd person | él, ella, ello, Ud. (he, she, it, you) | ellos, ellas, Uds. (they, you) |
Ello is rarely used; él and ella mean “it” when they replace a noun of that gender, so el perro becomes él and la ciudad is replaced by ella. Nosotros, vosotros, and ellos are used for men, male nouns, and mixed gender groups. Nosotras, vosotras, and ellas can only be used for a group of women and/or female nouns.
ESSENTIAL
Ud. (which can also be written Vd.) is short for usted, which is itself the contraction of vuestra merced (your honor). Just as we might say “Your Majesty” and use the third person, Ud. and Uds. are considered third-person pronouns and take the same verb conjugations as él, ella, ello, ellos, and ellas.
In looking at the chart, you might notice what appears to be an excess of “you”s. In Spanish, two important distinctions are made when talking to “you”: Is there one person or more than one? Is it someone to whom you want to indicate closeness (a friend, parent, pet) or someone to whom you wish to show respect (a doctor, teacher, lawyer)? Once you've answered these questions, you'll know which “you” to use: In Spain, tú is singular/informal, Ud. is singular/formal, vosotros (vosotras in the feminine) is plural/informal, and Uds. is plural/formal. In Latin America, vosotros is no longer in use; instead, Uds. is used for all plural “you”s.
Making Sense of Tense
Tense refers to the time a verb's action takes place: present, past, or future. There are two kinds of tenses. A simple tense is a verb form that consists of a single word like hablamos (we talk). A compound tense is a verb form made up of two words: auxiliary verb + participle: he comido (I have eaten), estamos hablando (we are talking). Note that escucharé is a simple tense in Spanish, while its translation “will listen” is a compound tense in English.
Get in the Mood
Mood refers to the attitude of the speaker toward the action/state of the verb — how likely or factual the statement is. Spanish has three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. The indicative is what you might call the “normal” mood — it indicates a fact:Vivimos en España. (We live in Spain.)
The subjunctive expresses subjectivity, such as doubt and unlikelihood: Quiero que lo hagas. (I want you to do it.) Note that the subjunctive is extremely rare in English but common in Spanish. The imperative is the mood of command: Esperad aquí. (Wait here.)
Verb Forms
Once you know the tense and mood that you would like to use, you have a verb form and you can start figuring out its conjugations. There are more than two dozen Spanish verb forms, the most important of which will be explained in this chapter.
Four Types of Verbs
There are four main types of Spanish verbs: regular, stem-changing, irregular, and reflexive. Most Spanish verbs are regular, which means they are conjugated according to a pattern. Once you learn how to conjugate one regular — AR, — ER, and — IR verb, you can conjugate the majority of Spanish verbs.
Stem-Changing Verbs
Stem-changing verbs are verbs that undergo a change in the root (radical) in various conjugations. The three stem changes are E > IE, O ⟩ UE, and E > I. The following examples show how the stem is changed in the present indicative of querer, poder, and pedir.
Querer (to want)| yo quiero | nosotros queremos |
| tú quieres | vosotros queréis |
| él quiere | ellos quieren |
Poder (can, to be able to)
| yo puedo | nosotros podemos |
| tú puedes | vosotros podéis |
| él puede | ellos pueden |
Repetir (to repeat)
| yo repito | nosotros repetimos |
| tú repites | vosotros repetís |
| él repite | ellos repiten |
Spelling-Change Verbs
Aside from stem-changing verbs, which are characterized by changes in vowels, there are certain Spanish verbs that undergo consonant spelling changes in certain conjugations. The consonants that are generally affected are C, G, and, to a lesser extent, Z. Before E and I, C sounds like S and G sounds like a hard H (or Spanish J). The letter Z cannot precede E or I; that means it must be replaced by the letter C.
When conjugating verbs, the sound of the last letter before the ending (e.g., the C in sacar, the G in jugar) needs to be maintained in every tense and mood. As a result, some verbs require a spelling modification.
For example, the verb pagar (to pay) has a hard G sound, which is maintained with all of the present tense conjugations because they are all hard vowels (pago, pagas, paga, etc.). However in the preterite, the first person singular ends in the soft vowel E, which would normally give you “pagé” and would be pronounced [pa hay]. What you want is [pa gay], so to get that sound you need to change the spelling to pagué.
Reflections on Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs are classified according to their regular/irregular/stem-changing verb classification, but have an additional characteristic: they are preceded by a reflexive pronoun, which indicates that the subject is performing the action of the verb upon itself (me lavo, I'm washing myself) or that multiple subjects are performing a reciprocal action (se escriben, they write to each other). Many verbs have both reflexive and nonreflexive uses. For example, escribir means “to write” (a letter, a book, etc.), whereas escribirse means “to write to each other.”
When you are conjugating a reflexive verb, each grammatical person must be matched with a reflexive pronoun:
Lavarse (to wash oneself)| yo me lavo | nosotros nos lavamos |
| tú te lavas | vosotros os laváis |
| él se lava | ellos se lavan |
Indirect Object Pronoun Verbs
There is another category of verbs that includes gustarle (to like) and faltarle (to need, be lacking). These verbs are unusual for two reasons: They require an indirect object pronoun (indicated by le tacked on to the infinitive) and they do not conjugate according to grammatical person, but rather according to the number of the noun that follows.
Take the phrase “I like school” as an example. “School” is singular, so the verb, gustar, will be in the third person singular, and we end up with me gusta la escuela. In the sentence “I like books,” the subject “books” is plural, so the verb will be conjugated in the third person plural: me gustan los libros.
| me gusta el libro | nos gusta el libro |
| me gustan los libros | nos gustan los libros |
| te gusta el libro | os gusta el libro |
| te gustan los libros | os gustan los libros |
| le gusta el libro | les gusta el libro |
| le gustan los libros | les gustan los libros |
Present Tense
The present tense (el presente) of the indicative mood is very similar in usage to the English present tense. The one difference is that in Spanish, “I eat” and “I am eating” are both translated as (yo) como. If you want to emphasize the fact that you are eating right now, you can use the Spanish present progressive, yo estoy comiendo, covered later in the chapter.
In the present tense, regular verbs are conjugated by dropping the infinitive ending and adding the following endings:
| — AR Verbs | — ER Verbs | — IR Verbs |
|---|---|---|
| — o — amos | — o — emos | — o — imos |
| — as — áis | — es — éis | — es — ís |
| — a — an | — e — en | — e — en |
Simple Past (Preterite)
The preterite (el pretérito) is the Spanish simple past tense, used to talk about specific actions or events that were completed in the past. In the preterite, most regular Spanish verbs are conjugated with the radical (verb minus infinitive ending) plus the appropriate preterite ending.
| — AR Verbs | — ER and — IR Verbs | Irregular Verb Endings |
|---|---|---|
| — é — amos | — í — imos | — e — imos |
| — aste — asteis | — iste — isteis | — iste — isteis |
| — ó — aron | — ió — ieron | — o — ieron |
Stem-changing verbs that end in — AR or — ER do not stem-change in the preterite; stem-changing — IR verbs do go through a stem change in the third person conjugations: those that have an E change to an I, and those that have an O change to a U.
Some verbs are irregular in the preterite; you'll need to memorize their radicals and use them with the irregular set of endings (listed in the preceding table). These verbs are estar (to be), poder (to be able to), poner (to put), querer (to want), tener (to have), and venir (to come).
Other verbs that are irregular in the preterite include dar (to give), ver (to see), decir (to say), traer (to bring), hacer (to do), ser (to be), and ir (to go).
The Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense (el imperfecto) is used to talk about a past action or state of being without specifying when it began or ended. It is often equivalent to the construction “was/were … — ing” in English. The Spanish imperfect is also used for descriptions, like hacía calor (it was hot) and can express repeated actions in the past, such as llamaba todos los días (I used to call every day).
Except for ir, ser, and ver, all Spanish verbs have regular conjugations in this tense, formed with the following endings:
| — AR verbs | — ER and — IR Verbs |
|---|---|
| — aba — ábamos | — ía — íamos |
| — abas — abais | — ías — íais |
| — aba — aban | — ía — ían |
Future and Conditional
Future and conditional tenses are both formed with the entire infinitive form (without dropping the — AR, — ER, or — IR ending) plus the appropriate ending. A handful of verbs have irregular future/conditional radicals, but they use the same endings as regular verbs:
| Verb | Radical | Verb | Radical |
|---|---|---|---|
| caber | cabr — | querer | querr — |
| decir | dir — | reír | reir — |
| haber | habr — | saber | sabr — |
| hacer | har — | salir | saldr — |
| oír | oir — | tener | tendr — |
| poder | podr — | valer | valdr — |
| poner | pondr — | venir | vendr — |
The Spanish future tense (el futuro) is used much like its English counterpart (“will” + verb) — to announce upcoming events. The conditional (el potencial) is used for actions that are not guaranteed to occur; often they are dependent on certain conditions. In English, this verb form is indicated by the word “would.”
Future Endings for All Verbs| — é | — emos |
| — ás | — éis |
| — á | — án |
Conditional Endings for All Verbs
| — ía | — íamos |
| ías | — íais |
| — ía | — ían |
For example, yo hablaré (I'll speak), ella venderá (she'll sell), nosotros viviremos (we'll live), ellos tendrán (they'll have);yo hablaría (I'd speak), ella vendería (she'd sell), nosotros viviríamos (we'd live), ellos tendrían (they'd have).
In the Mood to Command
The imperative (el imperativo) is a verb mood used to give a command, either affirmative (Go!) or negative (Don't go!). The imperative for all commands for Ud., Uds., and nosotros and for negative commands for tú and vosotros is formed by taking the present indicative form and then changing one letter:
- Regular — AR verbs: Change the A at the beginning of the ending to E.
- Regular — ER verbs: Change the E at the beginning of the ending to A.
- Regular — IR verbs: In the tú, Ud., and Uds. forms, change the E at the beginning of the ending to A.
In the nosotros form, change the I of the ending to A. In the vosotros form, change the Í of the ending to ÁI. (Note that the imperative endings for — ER and — IR verbs end up being identical.)
ESSENTIAL
Affirmative commands with tú and vosotros are conjugated a bit differently: With the tú form, take the present tense conjugation and drop the final S. With the vosotros form, take the infinitive and replace the final R with a D.
| PRESENT INDICATIVE | POSITIVE COMMAND | NEGATIVE COMMAND |
|---|---|---|
| tú estudias | estudia | no estudies |
| Ud. estudia | estudie | no estudie |
| nosotros | ||
| estudiamos | estudiemos | no estudiemos |
| vosotros estudiáis | estudiad | no estudiéis |
| Uds. estudian | estudien | no estudien |
— ER Verbs in the Imperative
| PRESENT INDICATIVE | POSITIVE COMMAND | NEGATIVE COMMAND |
|---|---|---|
| tú bebes | bebe | no bebas |
| Ud. bebe | beba | no beba |
| nosotros bebemos | bebamos | no bebamos |
| vosotros bebéis | bebed | no bebáis |
| Uds. beben | beban | no beban |
— IR Verbs in the Imperative
| PRESENT INDICATIVE | POSITIVE COMMAND | NEGATIVE COMMAND |
|---|---|---|
| tú abres | abre | no abras |
| Ud. abre | abra | no abra |
| nosotros abrimos | abramos | no abramos |
| vosotros abrís | abrid | no abráis |
| Uds. abren | abran | no abran |
The Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood (el subjuntivo) is subjective; it expresses emotional, potential, and hypothetical attitudes about what is being expressed — things like will/wanting, emotion, doubt, possibility, necessity, and judgment. Subjunctive conjugations are similar to imperative conjugations, in the sense that the endings “switch”: — AR verbs take on E endings, and — ER and — IR verbs take on A endings.
| — AR Verbs | — ER and — IR Verbs |
|---|---|
| — e — emos | — a — amos |
| — es — éis | — as — áis |
| — e — en | — a — an |
Stem-changing verbs use the same endings for subjunctive conjugations as regular verbs but may undergo spelling changes. Stem-changing — AR and — ER verbs follow the rules for regular verbs: they use the same stem as in the present tense and thus maintain their stem changes in the subjunctive. However, stem-changing — IR verbs are irregular in the subjunctive.
Most verbs that have an irregular first person singular (yo) conjugation in the present indicative tense use that conjugation as the basis for their subjunctive stem. For example: conocer > conozco > conozca.
FACT
Dar and estar have irregular subjunctive forms due to accents: dé, des, dé, demos, deis, den; esté, estés, esté, estemos, estéis, estén.
Some verbs have an irregular subjunctive stem that must be memorized: haber (perfect auxiliary verb), ir (to go), saber (to know), and ser (to be). The following verb groups change the final letter in the stem due to the issue of hard/soft vowels:
- Verbs that end in car — (C > QU).
- Verbs that end in gar — (G > GU).
- Verbs that end in zar — (Z > C).
Imperfect Subjunctive
The imperfect tense of the subjunctive mood (el imperfecto de subjuntivo) is used to express the same subjectivity as the present subjunctive, but in the past. It is most commonly found in unlikely si (if) clauses:Si tuviera dinero, iría. (If I had money, I would go.)
To conjugate the imperfect subjunctive for any verb, take the third person plural preterite form, drop the ron — ending to find the radical, and add the appropriate endings (choosing from either the ra — or the se — group):
| — ra Conjugations | — se Conjugations |
|---|---|
| — ra — ´ramos | — se — ´semos |
| — ras — rais | — ses — seis |
| — ra — ran | — se — sen |
ALERT
There are two complete sets of conjugations for the imperfect subjunctive. The ra — set of conjugations is more colloquial than the se — set.
Progressive Tenses and Moods
The progressive tenses indicate something in progress — the equivalent of “to be + — ing” in English. The progressive tenses are conjugated with estar as the auxiliary verb plus the present participle. For example, present progressive uses the present form of estar: estoy estudiando (I am studying).
The present participle in English is the “— ing” form of the verb (also known as a gerund). In Spanish, it's the ndo — form. The formation of the Spanish present participle is fairly easy.
- Regular — AR verbs: Drop the infinitive ending and add ando; hablar — hablando. —
- Regular — ER and — IR verbs: Drop the infinitive ending and add iendo; aprender — aprendiendo, escribir — escribiendo. —
- Verbs with stems that end in vowel: Drop the infinitive and add — yendo; leer — leyendo.
- — IR verbs with stem-change in third-person preterite form keep that stem change: decir — diciendo.
- Ir (to go) has an irregular gerund: yendo.
Perfect Tenses and Moods
The perfect tenses use haber as the auxiliary verb plus the past participle. Note that “perfect” here does not mean flawless, but rather completed, indicating that perfect tenses and moods are those which describe a completed action at some point in time and possibility.
Perfect Tenses| TENSE | EXAMPLE IN YO FORM |
|---|---|
| present perfect | he comido (I have eaten) |
| past perfect | había comido (I had eaten) |
| future perfect | habré comido (I will have eaten) |
| conditional perfect | habría comido (I would have eaten) |
| past subjunctive | que haya comido (that I have eaten) |
| pluperfect subjunctive | que hubiera comido (that I had eaten) |
Forming past participles isn't difficult:
- Regular — AR verbs: Drop the infinitive ending and add ado; hablar — hablado. —
- Regular — ER and — IR verbs: Drop the infinitive ending and add ido; aprender — aprendido, venir — venido. —
- Verbs with radical that ends in vowel: Drop the infinitive and add ído; leer — leído. —
A few past participles are simply irregular and will have to be memorized.