Appendix:Spanish Conjugation Definition
Appendix:Spanish verbs
(Redirected from Appendix:Spanish conjugation) Main category: Spanish verbsSpanish verb conjugation is one of the most complex areas of Spanish grammar for native English speakers due to the relatively high degree of inflection.
Spanish verb conjugations are separated into three finite moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative)[1] and a few non-finite forms.
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Non-finite forms
Each verb has an infinitive, an adverbial present participle (sometimes known as the gerundive, verbal adverb, or gerund, but functionally quite different from the gerund of English grammar), and a passive perfect participle (past participle) that can further inflect with number and gender. Some verbs also have an adjectival present participle, generally considered to be an adjective derived from the verb rather than a form of the verb itself.
- Infinitive: hablar (“to speak”)
- Adverbial present participle: hablando (“speaking”)
- Past participle: hablado (“spoken”);
- Adjectival present participle: hablante (“speaking; speaker”) (plural: hablantes)
Finite forms
The finite forms are grouped into seven distinct “simple tenses” (in a general sense of “tense” that refers to a specific time and a specific mood, although most modern grammars consider many of these forms as products of a tense and an aspect) and seven “perfect tenses”. The perfect tenses use the auxiliary verb haber along with the past participle. Other compound forms such as the present progressive are not considered to be an official conjugation of the verb.
Pronouns
Each of the finite “tenses” is conjugated according to the person and number of the subject. Nominative forms of Spanish pronouns often serve as the subject of such verbs. Frequently, though, the form of the verb makes the person and number of the subject clear. Thus, the subject pronoun is usually dropped altogether, except when used for emphasis:
- Implied: Soy de España. (“[I] am from Spain.”)
- Emphasized: Él es de Portugal, pero yo soy de España. (“He is from Portugal, but I am from Spain.”)
The 2nd person formal singular pronoun usted (“you”, literally, “your grace”) and its plural form ustedes take verbs conjugated in the third person. This is similar to the English practice of using third person verb forms with Your Majesty, Your Highness, and your Honor:
- Usted habla. — Third person singular form of hablar, literally, “Your grace speaks.”
- Ustedes hablan. — Third person plural form of hablar, literally, “Your graces speak.”
The use of usted and ustedes is very common in Spanish and is the equivalent of speaking on a lastname basis in English.
Indicative
The indicative mood has simple tense forms and corresponding perfect, continuous, and perfect continuous forms, as in English. However, in traditional Spanish grammar, continuous forms are ignored, and only the simple tenses and their perfect versions are considered as tenses.
Simple tenses
The Spanish indicative mood has four “simple tenses”. As opposed to English, which has just one past tense form, Spanish distinguishes between the preterite and the imperfect aspect. The preterite describes an event with a beginning and an end, but the imperfect describes a context without indicating its beginning or end. Within traditional Spanish grammar, the preterite and imperfect forms are considered separate tenses, with aspect controlled by auxiliary verbs, but modern grammar studies consider the preterite and imperfect to be different aspects of a single tense.
- Present (presente), e.g.: hablo (“I speak, I am speaking”)
- Imperfect (pretérito imperfecto or copretérito), e.g.: hablaba (“I used to speak, I was speaking”)
- Preterite/Simple past (pretérito indefinido), e.g.: hablé (“I spoke”)
- Future (futuro simple), e.g.: hablaré (“I shall/will speak”)
- Conditional (condicional), e.g.: hablaría (“I would speak”)
Besides the future tense, alternative constructions are often used to indicate a future event:
- With ir (“to go”) + a (“to”) + infinitive: Voy a hablar. (“I am going to speak.”)
- With temporal adverbs like mañana (“morning, tomorrow”): Mi padre llega mañana. (“My father arrives tomorrow.”)
- Immediate future with estar a punto de (“to be about to [do something]”) + infinitive: Mi padre está a punto de llegar. (“My father is about to arrive.”)
- With ya (“already”): Mi padre ya llega. (“My father arrives soon.”)
Spanish present tense verbs often express future actions, although the future tense does so more explicitly. The future tense can also express some uncertainty about the present and immediate future:
- ¿Qué hora es? Serán las tres. (“What time is it? It is (probably) about three.”)
- ¿Quién llama a la puerta? Será José. (“Who is at the door? It must be José.”)
As with the future tense, the conditional can express some uncertainty that is not indicated by the corresponding imperfect verb form:
- ¿Qué hora era? Serían las tres. — “What time was it? It was about three (but I had not checked).”
- ¿Quién llamaba a la puerta? Sería José. — “Who was at the door? It must have been José.”
Perfect forms
Spanish perfect tenses are always formed with haber (“(auxilliary verb) to have”) (unlike some other Romance languages, which use different auxilliary verbs based on the main verb) followed by the masculine singular form of the passive perfect participle:
- Present Perfect (pretérito perfecto), e.g.: he hablado (“I have spoken”)
- Pluperfect (pretérito pluscuamperfecto), e.g.: había hablado (“I had spoken”)
- Past Anterior (pretérito anterior), e.g.: hube hablado (“I had (just) spoken”) (when...)
- Future Perfect (futuro compuesto), e.g.: habré hablado (“I shall have spoken”)
- Conditional Perfect (condicional anterior), e.g.: habría hablado (“I would have spoken”)
The past anterior indicates that an action occured just after another, with words such as cuando (“when”), nada más (“no sooner”) and en cuanto (“as soon as”).
Continuous forms
Similar to English, Spanish uses the copula—estar (“to be”)—with the adverbial present participle to express continuous activity:
- Present Continuous (presente continuo), e.g.: estoy hablando (“I am speaking”)
- Imperfect Continuous (pretérito imperfecto continuo), e.g.: estaba hablando (“I was speaking”)
- Simple Past/Preterite Continuous (pretérito indefinido continuo), e.g.: estuve hablando (“I was speaking (for a while)”)
- Future Continuous (futuro continuo), e.g.: estaré hablando (“I shall be speaking”)
- Conditional Continuous (condicional continuo), e.g.: estaría hablando (“I would be speaking”)
- Perfect Continuous (pretérito perfecto continuo), e.g.: he estado hablando (“I have been speaking”)
- Pluperfect Continuous (pretérito pluscuamperfecto continuo), e.g.: había estado hablando (“I had been speaking”)
- Past Anterior Continuous (pretérito anterior continuo), e.g.: hube estado hablando (“I had been speaking (for a while)”)
- Future Perfect Continuous (futuro compuesto continuo), e.g.: habré estado hablando (“I shall have been speaking”)
- Conditional Perfect Continuous (condicional anterior continuo), e.g.: habría estado hablando (“I would have been speaking”)
Note: the past anterior continuous (pretérito anterior continuo) is rarely used in modern Spanish.
The distinction between habitual actions and current activity is less strict in Spanish than in English:
- hablo (“I speak”) (a habit or a current activity)
- estoy hablando (“I am speaking”) (stressing the current activity)
Subjunctive
The subjunctive mood expresses the speaker’s opinion, wish, doubt, emotion, or judgement about the unlikelihood of a hypothetical event.
Simple tenses
- Present Subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo), e.g.: hable (“I speak”)
- Imperfect Subjunctive (imperfecto de subjuntivo) (-ra form), e.g.: hablara (“I used to speak, I was speaking”)
- Imperfect Subjunctive (imperfecto de subjuntivo) (-se form), e.g.: hablase (“I used to speak, I was speaking”)
- Future Subjunctive (futuro de subjuntivo), e.g.: hablare (“I shall speak”)
Perfect forms
- Present Perfect Subjunctive (pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo), e.g.: haya hablado (“I have spoken, I spoke”)
- Pluperfect Subjunctive (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo) (-ra form), e.g.: hubiera hablado (“I had spoken, I spoke”)
- Pluperfect Subjunctive (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo) (-se form), e.g.: hubiese hablado (“I had spoken, I spoke”)
- Future Perfect Subjunctive (futuro compuesto del subjuntivo), e.g.: hubiere hablado (“I shall have spoken”)
Continuous forms
- Present Subjunctive Continuous (presente de subjuntivo continuo), e.g.: esté hablando (“I am speaking”)
- Imperfect Subjunctive Continuous (imperfecto de subjuntivo continuo) (-ra form), e.g.: estuviera hablando (“I was speaking, I would be speaking”)
- Imperfect Subjunctive Continuous (imperfecto de subjuntivo continuo) (-se form), e.g.: estuviese hablando (“I was speaking, I would be speaking”)
- Future Subjunctive Continuous (futuro de subjuntivo continuo), e.g.: estuviere hablando (“I shall/will be speaking”)
- Present Perfect Subjunctive Continuous pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo continuo), e.g.: haya estado hablando (“I have been speaking”)
- Pluperfect Subjunctive Continuous (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo continuo) (-ra form), e.g.: hubiera estado hablando (“I had been speaking”)
- Pluperfect Subjunctive Continuous (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo continuo) (-se form), e.g.: hubiese estado hablando (“I had been speaking”)
- Future Perfect Subjunctive Continuous (futuro compuesto de subjuntivo continuo), e.g.: hubiere estado hablando (“I shall/will have been speaking”)
The subjunctive is often used with a conditional verb:
- Desearía que estuvieses aquí. — “I wish that you were here.”
- Me alegraría mucho si volvieras mañana. — “I would be very glad if you came back tomorrow.”
The present subjunctive is formed from the stem of the first person present indicative of a verb. Therefore, for an irregular verb like salir (“to leave”) with the first person salgo (“I leave”), the present subjunctive is 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 and -se forms are always interchangeable with any changes in meaning.
The future tense of the subjunctive is obsolete in practice, found today mostly in old texts and legal documents. In other contexts, it is usually replaced by the indicative form, except in certain fixed expressions, including venga lo que viniere (“come what may”), sea lo que fuere, and the proverb allá donde fueres, haz lo que vieres.
Imperative
The imperative mood has five forms, but only the second person (familiar) forms are distinct from the subjunctive. The second person singular imperative form coincides with the third-person singular indicative form for all but a few irregular verbs. In the formal writing, the second person plural imperative is always the same as the infinitive but with a -d instead of an -r.
- ¡Habla! — “Speak!” (informal singular, corresponding to tú)
- ¡Hable! — “Speak!” (formal singular, corresponding to usted)
- ¡Hablemos! — “Let us speak!” (corresponding to nosotros)
- ¡Hablad! — “Speak!” (prescribed plural corresponding to vosotros, rarely used in casual speech)
- ¡Hablar! — “Speak!” (common plural corresponding to vosotros, unaccepted by the Real Academia Española)
- ¡Hablen! — “Speak!” (plural corresponding to ustedes; see Appendix:Spanish pronouns for regional formality details)
For negative commands, the subjunctive is used instead, e.g.:
- ¡No hables! — “Do not speak!” (informal singular, corresponding to tú)
- ¡No hable! — “Do not speak!” (formal singular, corresponding to usted)
- ¡No hablemos! — “Let us not speak!” (corresponding to nosotros)
- ¡No habléis! — “Do not speak!” (plural corresponding to vosotros; see Appendix:Spanish pronouns for regional details)
- ¡No hablen! — “Do not speak!” (plural corresponding to ustedes; see Appendix:Spanish pronouns for regional formality details)
Object pronouns
The object pronoun is placed after the infinitive, gerund, and positive imperative, and before other forms. Exceptions are made in poetry for scansion. Pronouns are agglutinative, with the following exceptions:
- If le or les precedes lo, la, los, or las, it becomes se.
- If a form ending in -mos is followed by nos, the s drops, resulting in -monos.
- If a form ending in -d is followed by os, the d drops, resulting in -aos, -eos or -íos.
Accent
The word stress remains the same when pronouns are suffixed. The written accent is thus added, kept, or removed as needed to mark it when it falls on a non-default syllable, according to the general rules.
- quitar = "to remove"; quitarle = "to remove from you (formal singular) or him/her"; quitárselas = "to remove them (feminine) from you/him/her"
- acercad = "bring close (imperative informal plural)"; acercaos = "bring yourselves close, draw near"
- vamos = "let us go"; vámonos = "let us leave"
- lave = "wash (imperative formal singular)"; láveme = "wash me"
- lavé = "I washed"; laveme = me lavé = "I washed myself"
- vio = "he saw"; violo = lo vio = "he saw it", or "I violate" (from violar, "to violate")
Examples
Most Spanish verbs fall into one of three regular conjugations, based on the last vowel of the infinitive form, which always ends in -ar, -er, or -ir.
The following three conjugation tables illustrate the patterns used by regular Spanish verbs.
Regular verbs ending in -ar
Following is the conjugation of the regular -ar verb hablar (“to speak”):
| infinitive | hablar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gerund | hablando | ||||||
| past participle | hablado | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | yo | tú | él, ella, usted[2] | nosotros | vosotros | ellos, ellas, ustedes[2] | |
| present | hablo | hablas | habla | hablamos | habláis | hablan | |
| imperfect | hablaba | hablabas | hablaba | hablábamos | hablabais | hablaban | |
| preterite | hablé | hablaste | habló | hablamos | hablasteis | hablaron | |
| future | hablaré | hablarás | hablará | hablaremos | hablaréis | hablarán | |
| conditional | hablaría | hablarías | hablaría | hablaríamos | hablaríais | hablarían | |
| perfect | he hablado | has hablado | ha hablado | hemos hablado | habéis hablado | han hablado | |
| pluperfect | había hablado | habías hablado | había hablado | habíamos hablado | habíais hablado | habían hablado | |
| future perfect | habré hablado | habrás hablado | habrá hablado | habremos hablado | habréis hablado | habrá hablado | |
| conditional perfect | habría hablado | habrías hablado | habría hablado | habríamos hablado | habríais hablado | habría hablado | |
| subjunctive | yo | tú | él, ella, usted[2] | nosotros | vosotros | ellos, ellas, ustedes[2] | |
| present | hable | hables | hable | hablemos | habléis | hablen | |
| imperfect (-ra form) | hablara | hablaras | hablara | habláramos | hablarais | hablaran | |
| imperfect (-se form) | hablase | hablases | hablase | hablásemos | hablaseis | hablasen | |
| future | hablare | hablares | hablare | habláremos | hablareis | hablaren | |
| imperative | — | tú | él, ella, usted[2] | nosotros | vosotros | ellos, ellas, ustedes[2] | |
| — | habla | hable | hablemos | hablad | hablen | ||
Regular verbs ending in -er
| Conjugations of comer | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | comer | |||||||
| gerund | comiendo | |||||||
| past participle | comido | |||||||
| number | singular | plural | ||||||
| person | first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | yo | tú | el, ella usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos, ellas ustedes | ||
| simple tenses | present | como | comes | come | comemos | coméis | comen | |
| imperfect | comía | comías | comía | comíamos | comíais | comían | ||
| preterit | comí | comiste | comió | comimos | comisteis | comieron | ||
| future | comeré | comerás | comerá | comeremos | comeréis | comerán | ||
| conditional | comería | comerías | comería | comeríamos | comeríais | comerían | ||
| compound tenses | perfect tenses | |||||||
| present | Use the present tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| he comido | has comido | ha comido | hemos comido | habéis comido | han comido | |||
| past | Use the imperfect tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| había comido | habías comido | había comido | habíamos comido | habíais comido | habían comido | |||
| preterit | Use the preterit tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| hube comido | hubiste comido | hubo comido | hubimos comido | hubisteis comido | hubieron comido | |||
| future | Use the future tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| habré comido | habrá comido | habrás comido | habremos comido | habreis comido | habrán comido | |||
| conditional | Use the conditional tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| habría comido | habrías comido | habría comido | habríamos comido | habríais comido | habrían comido | |||
| progressive tenses | ||||||||
| present | Use the present tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| estoy comiendo | estás comiendo | está comiendo | estamos comiendo | estáis comiendo | están comiendo | |||
| imperfect | Use the imperfect tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| estaba comiendo | estabas comiendo | estaba comiendo | estábamos comiendo | estabais comiendo | estaban comiendo | |||
| preterit | Use the preterit tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| estuve comiendo | estuviste comiendo | estuvo comiendo | estuvimos comiendo | estuvisteis comiendo | estuvieron comiendo | |||
| future | Use the future tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| estaré comiendo | estarás comiendo | estará comiendo | estaremos comiendo | estaréis comiendo | estarán comiendo | |||
| conditional | Use the conditional tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| estaría comiendo | estarías comiendo | estaría comiendo | estaríamos comiendo | estaríais comiendo | estarían comiendo | |||
| present perfect | Use the present perfect tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| he estado comiendo | has estado comiendo | ha estado comiendo | hemos estado comiendo | habéis estado comiendo | han estado comiendo | |||
| past perfect | Use the past perfect tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| había estado comiendo | habías estado comiendo | había estado comiendo | habíamos estado comiendo | habíais estado comiendo | habían estado comiendo | |||
| number | singular | plural | ||||||
| person | first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| subjunctive | yo | tú | el, ella usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos, ellas ustedes | ||
| simple tenses | present | coma | comas | coma | comamos | comáis | coman | |
| imperfect | comiera comiese | comieras comieses | comiera comiese | comiéramos comiésemos | comierais comieseis | comieran comiesen | ||
| future | comiere | comieres | comiere | comiéremos | comiereis | comieren | ||
| compound tenses | perfect tenses | |||||||
| present | Use the present subjunctive tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| haya comido | hayas comido | haya comido | hayamos comido | hayáis comido | hayan comido | |||
| past | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of haber plus comido. | |||||||
| hubiera comido | hubieras comido | hubiera comido | hubiéramos comido | hubierais comido | hubieran comido | |||
| progressive tenses | ||||||||
| present | Use the present subjunctive tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| esté comiendo | estés comiendo | esté comiendo | estemos comiendo | estéis comiendo | estén comiendo | |||
| imperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| estuviera comiendo | estuvieras comiendo | estuviera comiendo | estuviéramos comiendo | estuvierais comiendo | estuvieran comiendo | |||
| present perfect | Use the present perfect tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| haya estado comiendo | hayas estado comiendo | haya estado comiendo | hayamos estado comiendo | hayáis estado comiendo | hayan estado comiendo | |||
| past perfect | Use the past perfect tense of estar plus comiendo. | |||||||
| hubiera estado comiendo | hubieras estado comiendo | hubiera estado comiendo | hubiéramos estado comiendo | hubierais estado comiendo | hubieran estado hablando | |||
| number | singular | plural | ||||||
| person | first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| - | tú | el, ella usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos, ellas ustedes | |||
| imperative | none | come | coma | comamos | comed | coman | ||
Notes
- ^ Modern linguistics often categorizes the conditional as a separate mood from the indicative, thereby having four moods. This article uses the traditional classification.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The semantically 2nd person pronouns usted (“your grace”) and ustedes (“your graces”) take verbs conjugated in the third person.
See also
- Wikilengua, the portal on spanish language
- Appendix:Spanish irregular verb types
- Category:Spanish verbs
- Spanish verbs on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Spanish conjugation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Spanish conjugation
- Verbix, an online verb conjugator, available for Spanish
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