Mastering Spanish verbs to communicate in Spain

The way verbs work in Spanish is quite unique. In fact, many people struggle with verb conjugation when they start to learn Spanish. Subject, tense and mood are some of the elements that determine how Spanish verbs will behave, which might seem a bit confusing at first. However, once you understand the basic rules of Spanish conjugation, you will be able to communicate more efficiently in this language, and even sound like a native. Keep reading and learn about the most common verb forms and tenses in Spanish, as well as how to inflect them.

General rules for understanding verbs in Spanish

To start with, it is important to bear in mind that verbs in Spanish have person inflections. In other words, they must always agree with the subject — unless they are nonfinite verbs. See the difference with English:

• I eat / Yo como
• You eat / Tú comes

Whereas English verbs will only change with the third person singular ‘s’, in Spanish we give all verbs inflectional forms. They follow a specific pattern and one can simply memorise it. These are the personal pronouns and their equivalents in English:

Besides, there are three classes of verbs in Spanish that share the same inflectional patterns: first conjugation, second conjugation and third conjugation. There are also irregular verbs, but that is another story and shall be told another time.

Just as in English, verbs in Spanish have three moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. There are also nonfinite verbs, which we will discuss further on. In the following lines, we will explore the different verb forms in Spanish, the most common ones and how their conjugation works. To that end, we will use a first conjugation verb: cantar, “to sing” in Spanish.

Most common tenses and how to use them

To start with, there are three nonfinite verb forms in Spanish: infinitive, participle and gerund. Nonfinite verbs do not show person or number, just like in English. These would be the nonfinite verb forms of cantar:

• Infinitive: cantar / to sing
• Participle: cantado / sung
• Gerund: cantando / singing

These are the most common tenses in Spanish and how they inflect the verb cantar. Let’s see their meaning and translations in English.

• Presente indicativo: Present tense (yo canto / I sing).
• Pretérito perfecto simple: Indicates something that happened in the past (yo canté / I sang).
• Pretérito imperfecto indicativo: An unfinished action from the past (yo cantaba / I was singing).
• Futuro imperfecto indicativo: Future tense (yo cantaré / I will sing).
• Condicional simple: Used to express a wish or possibility (yo cantaría / I would sing).
• Pretérito imperfecto subjuntivo: It indicates an uncertain possibility in a conditional sentence. It always has two forms that can be used interchangeably (si yo cantara / if I sang).

Imperative verbs are also widely used in everyday speech. The imperative mood has only one tense: present. It is used to influence others or express a command. Usually, we do not include the subject in imperative utterances. It can be tú (you singular), vosotros/vosotras (you plural) or usted (also ustedes in plural), which is a more formal way of saying “you”.

More tenses in Spanish for advanced learners

When it comes to meaning, moods in Spanish verbs are similar to those in English. Indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods tell us the nature or the intention behind the verbs they encompass. These are all the verb forms of the Spanish language, besides the imperative verbs we already discussed: