Portál španělského jazyka



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References


  • A New Reference Grammar of Modern SpanishISBN 0-340-58390-8

  • Diccionario esencial Santillana de la lengua españolaISBN 84-294-3415-1

  • Manual de dialectología hispánicaISBN 84-344-8218-5

  • Cassell's Contemporary SpanishISBN 0-02-595915-8

Spanish verbs

Spanish verbs are one of the trickiest areas of Spanish grammar for foreign learners such as English speakers, given that Spanish is a relatively inflected language, with a two-gender system and about fifty conjugated forms per verb, but no noun declension and limited pronominal declension.

How Spanish verbs work


Spanish verbs are conjugated in four categories known as moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional and imperative. Each verb also has three non-finite forms: an infinitive, a gerund, and a past participle (more exactly a passive and perfect participle). This participle can agree for number and gender, giving it four possible forms. There is also form traditionally known as the present participle, but this is generally considered to be an adjective derived from the verb rather than a form of the verb itself.

Verbs are divided into three classes, which differ with respect to their conjugation. The class of the verb can be be identified by looking at the infinitive ending: -ar, -er, or -ir, as shown in the dictionary form of the verb. The vowel in the ending (/a/, /e/, or /i/) is technically termed the thematic vowel.

The ar-verbs are the most numerous and the most regular; moreover, the -ar class is usually chosen for new verbs. The -er and -ir classes comprise far fewer verbs, which also tend to be more irregular. There are also subclasses of semi-regular verbs which show vowel alternation conditioned by stress (see below).

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Mood, tense and aspect — forms of the verb


To illustrate the way a verb may conjugate, let us take a typical -ar verb: hablar, to talk or speak. Note that the English equivalents given are only approximate. First, here are its forms that do not conjugate:

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Non-finite forms


  • Infinitive: hablar = "to speak"

  • Gerund: hablando = "speaking"

  • Past participle: hablado (hablado, hablada, hablados, habladas) = "spoken"

  • Present participle: hablante = "speaking, speaker"

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The indicative


Next, there is the indicative mood, with its four simple tenses. Each one of these has a perfective form, a continuous form and a perfective continuous form, as in English. This makes for a total of fifteen simple and compound tenses (one is not used). However, in traditional descriptions of the Spanish verb, continuous forms are ignored, and only the simple tenses plus their perfective versions are counted as "tenses". Note that modern grammatical studies would count only the simple forms as "tenses", and the other forms as the product of a certain tense and a certain aspect.

Simple tenses

(i.e. each of the four basic tenses plus simple aspect)


  • presente (present) – Hablo = "I speak, I am speaking"

  • pretérito imperfecto (imperfect) – Hablaba = "I used to speak, I was speaking"

  • pretérito indefinido (preterite/simple past) – Hablé = "I spoke"

  • futuro (future) – Hablaré = "I shall/will speak"

Perfective tenses

(i.e. each of the four basic tenses plus perfective aspect)



  • pretérito perfecto ([present] perfect) – He hablado = "I have spoken"

  • pretérito pluscuamperfecto (pluperfect) – Había hablado = "I had spoken"

  • pretérito anterior (past anterior) – Hube hablado = "I (had) spoken"

  • futuro anterior (future perfect) – Habré hablado = "I shall/will have spoken"

Continuous tenses

(i.e. each of the four basic tenses plus continous aspect)



  • presente continuo (present continuous) – Estoy hablando = "I am speaking"

  • pretérito imperfecto continuo (imperfect continuous) – Estaba hablando = "I was speaking"

  • pretérito indefinido continuo (preterite/simple past continuous) – Estuve hablando = "I spoke for a while"

  • futuro continuo (future) – Estaré hablando = "I shall/will be speaking"

Perfective continuous tenses

(i.e. each of the four basic tenses plus continous and perfective aspect)



  • pretérito perfecto continuo ([present] perfect continuous) – He estado hablando = "I have been speaking"

  • pretérito pluscuamperfecto continuo (pluperfect continuous) – Había estado hablando = "I had been speaking"

  • pretérito anterior continuo (past anterior continuous) – Not used

  • futuro anterior continuo (future perfect continuous) – Habré estado hablando = "I must have been speaking"

Note again that only the first half of these forms are traditionally considered "tenses" when studying Romance languages.

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The subjunctive


The subjunctive mood has a separate conjugation table with fewer tenses. It is used to express the speaker's opinion or judgement, such as doubts, possibilities, emotions, and events which may or may not occur.

Simple tenses



  • presente del subjuntivo (present subjunctive) – "Hable" = "I speak, I am speaking, I will speak"

  • imperfecto del subjuntivo (imperfect subjunctive) – "Hablara" or "Hablase" = "I used to speak, I was speaking, I spoke, I would speak"

Perfective tenses

  • perfecto del subjuntivo ([present] perfect subjunctive) – "Haya hablado" = "I have spoken, I spoke"

  • pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo (pluperfect subjunctive) – "Hubiera hablado" or "Hubiese hablado" = "I had spoken, I spoke"

Continuous tenses

  • presente del subjuntivo continuo (present subjunctive continuous) – "Esté hablando" = "I am speaking"

  • imperfecto del subjuntivo continuo (imperfect subjunctive continuous) – "Estuviera hablando" or "Estuviese hablando" = "I was speaking, I would be speaking"

Perfective continuous tenses

  • perfecto del subjuntivo continuo ([present] perfect subjunctive continuous) – "Haya estado hablando" = "I have been speaking"

  • pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo continuo (pluperfect subjunctive continuous) – "Hubiera estado hablando" or "Hubiese estado hablando" = "I had been speaking"

The present subjunctive is formed from the stem of the first person present indicative of a verb. So for an irregular verb like salir with the first person salgo, the present subjunctive would be salga, not sala. The use of the imperfect subjunctive is determined by tense of the main verb of a sentence, not necessarily the tense of the subjunctive verb itself. The "-ra" form is always correct, whereas the "-se" form is only correct in certain types of clauses.

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The conditional


Simple tenses

  • condicional (conditional) – "Hablaría" = "I would speak"

Perfective tenses

  • condicional anterior (conditional perfect) – "Habría hablado" = "I would have spoken"

Continuous tenses

  • condicional continuo (conditional continuous) – "Estaría hablando" = "I would be speaking"

Perfective continuous tenses

  • condicional anterior continuo (conditional perfect continuous) – "Habría estado hablando" = "I would have been speaking"

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The imperative


The imperative mood only has two forms: the second person singular and plural, and these are only used in the positive. The subjunctive supplements the imperative in all other cases.

For comer, to eat

The singular imperative coincides with the third-person singular of the indicative for all but a few irregular verbs. The plural is always the same as the infinitive but with a -d instead of an -r. These actual imperative forms are in bold to distinguish them from those which are really just subjunctive forms.


  • ¡come! (tú) – Eat! (informal singular)

  • ¡coma! (usted) – Eat! (formal singular)

  • ¡comed! (vosotros) – Eat! (informal plural)

  • ¡coman! (ustedes) – Eat! (formal plural)

  • ¡no comas! (tú) – Don't eat! (informal singular)

  • ¡no coma! (usted) – Don't eat! (formal singular)

  • ¡no comáis! (vosotros) – Don't eat! (informal plural)

  • ¡no coman! (ustedes) – Don't eat! (formal plural)

The first person plural imperative, i.e. "Let's..." is expressed in any of three possible ways:

  • The present indicative: comemos (for action verbs only)

  • The present subjunctive: comamos

  • Vamos + infinitive: vamos a comer

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