Spanish Verb Tenses Explained: A Video Overview
Spanish verb tenses can feel like a long list of rules. In this video, Lucía gives an overview that helps you see how the forms relate to when an action happens.
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Edited lesson transcript
This edited transcript follows the complete original lesson: the non-finite forms, every displayed tense, conjugations of cantar, comer, vivir and haber, all spoken example sentences, commands and the final recap. Accents have been checked against the video’s tables. Grammar notes clarify a few broad statements while keeping the lesson’s emphasis on common forms.
0:00 — Introduction
Welcome to the complete Spanish verb tenses guide. I will explain every single verb tense in 20 minutes. After watching this video, you will have a way better understanding of Spanish grammar. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner looking for a refresher, today's lesson is made for you. To help you with this, I've created a free PDF with all the Spanish verb tenses. I've also included some irregular verbs there to complete the explanation of this video. So let's go. I'll explain all the tenses first, and after that, I'll put examples of each tense for you to process the tenses better.
And to finish, a quick recap that will make things very easy for you, so watch till the end. My Daily Spanish.
1:04 — Verb groups and moods
In Spanish, we have three types of verbs, verbs that end in AR, verbs that end in ER, and verbs that end in IR. We also have three different moods, tres modos; modo indicativo, modo subjuntivo, y modo imperativo. El indicativo has 10 tenses, el subjuntivo has six tenses, and el imperativo has just one tense.
Grammar note: The verb forms for usted and ustedes match third-person forms. Ustedes is used for both informal and formal plural address across most of Spanish-speaking America; vosotros/vosotras is mainly informal plural address in much of Spain.
1:26 — Non-finite forms
Let's learn them all, starting with the non-finite verb forms, las formas no personales. Infinitivo, the verb ending in AR, ER, or IR. Today, we'll use cantar, to sing, comer, to eat, and vivir, to live. Gerundio; cantando, comiendo, viviendo. Participio; cantado, comido, vivido. Infinitivo compuesto, haber plus participle, participio; haber cantado, haber comido, haber vivido. Gerundio compuesto, haber in gerund form plus participle; habiendo cantado, habiendo comido, habiendo vivido.
2:15 — The indicative mood
Modo indicativo. We use the indicative mood to talk about anything factual, true events. It is the mood we use the most. We have five simple tenses and five perfect tenses. Let's start with the present.
Grammar note: The indicative commonly presents statements, facts and descriptions. The choice of mood also depends on the construction; an indicative verb does not, by itself, establish whether a statement is true.
2:31 — Present indicative
Presente de indicativo. Cantar would be yo canto, tú cantas, él canta, nosotros cantamos, vosotros cantáis, ellos cantan. Yo, tú, él or ella, él, he, ella, she, nosotros or nosotras, nosotros masculine, nosotras feminine, vosotros or vosotras, you all plural, vosotros masculine, vosotras feminine, and ellos or ellas. Ellos, they masculine, ellas, they feminine. You might ask, where is usted and ustedes? Usted, you formal, uses the same form as él and ella, and ustedes, plural you, uses the same form as ellos and ellas.
Comer; como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen. Vivir; yo vivo, tú vives, él vive, nosotros vivimos, vosotros vivís, ellos viven. If the verb is regular, the verbs of the same group, AR, ER, or IR, will have the same endings. You have the endings of each tense in green so you can note them. We use the present tense for facts, descriptions, and things that you usually do, like in English. Carolina canta muy bien. Yo como macarrones todos los jueves. Nosotras vivimos en Sevilla.
4:17 — Present perfect
Each simple tense is related to a perfect tense. El presente is connected with pretérito perfecto compuesto. This tense is made with the verb haber, which is irregular in the present tense, plus the participle of the verb you are conjugating. So you only need to learn this verb, haber. Here haber works as the auxiliary used to form perfect tenses, like have in English. Its present forms are he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han, followed by the participle: cantado, comido, vivido, have sung, have eaten, have lived.
We generally use the present perfect for actions related to the present or that have taken place shortly before the present moment. We can use it for things that we did today. He cantado una canción por la mañana. Ana ha comido hoy en mi restaurante favorito. Mis abuelos han vivido muy felices.
Grammar note: The distinction between he cantado and canté varies by region. Much of Spain uses the compound form for events within a current period such as today; other regions commonly use the simple preterite for those same events. Haber also has an independent existential use, as in hay, “there is/there are.”
5:34 — Preterite
Now, how do you talk about actions that happened yesterday or even 10 minutes ago? That's where the past tenses come into play. Up next, we tackle the preterite and imperfect, and you'll learn when to choose the right past tense every time. Pretérito perfecto simple; yo canté, tú cantaste, ella cantó, nosotras cantamos, vosotras cantasteis, ellas cantaron. Comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron. Viví, viviste, vivió, vivimos, vivisteis, vivieron. We use it to talk about completed actions in the past and actions that took place in a specific time in the past.
María le cantó una canción preciosa a su novio. Ayer comí lentejas. Mi abuelo vivió la Guerra Civil.
6:32 — Pretérito anterior
The perfect tense related to the simple past is pretérito anterior. This is formed with the verb haber conjugated in pretérito perfecto simple plus the participle of the verb you are conjugating. Good news for you, we don't really use the pretérito anterior nowadays, just in literature. But here it is. Hube, hubiste, hubo, hubimos, hubisteis, hubieron plus cantado, comido, vivido. The pretérito anterior expresses that a past action took place before another action in the past. But for that, we use another tense.
Stay tuned. Tan pronto como hubo cantado, se fue al hotel.
7:13 — Imperfect indicative
Pretérito imperfecto. We use the pretérito imperfecto to talk about an action that was ongoing or that was habitual in the past. Yo cantaba, tú cantabas, él cantaba, nosotros cantábamos, vosotros cantabais, ellos cantaban. Comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían. Vivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivíais, vivían. Mi madre cantaba en el coro cuando iba a la escuela primaria. Nosotras comíamos mucho pescado cuando éramos pequeñas. Tú vivías en Barcelona en aquella época.
8:13 — Pluperfect indicative
The perfect form derived from the pretérito imperfecto is pretérito pluscuamperfecto. We use it to talk about an action that took place before another action in the past. We conjugate the verb haber in pretérito imperfecto and add the participle, like had sung, had eaten. Yo había, tú habías, ella había, nosotras habíamos, vosotras habíais, ellas habían cantado, comido, vivido. Nunca había cantado delante de tanta gente. Ayer María se encontraba mal. Había comido demasiado antes de irse a dormir.
Ellos ya habían vivido en Sevilla antes de mudarse aquí otra vez.
9:10 — The past-tense map
Let's draw the map of the past tenses. So generally, if the present is here, presente, canto, things that happened in the immediate past and ended use pretérito perfecto compuesto, he cantado. Things that happened a little or long before that and had an end, use pretérito perfecto simple, canté. Things that happen before another thing in the past we are talking about use pretérito pluscuamperfecto, había cantado. And things that we did for some time in the past or that didn't have a clear end, use pretérito imperfecto, cantaba.
Grammar note: This timeline illustrates a useful starting point. Distance from the present alone does not decide between the simple and compound perfect; regional usage and the way an event relates to the present also matter. The imperfect presents background or habitual situations without focusing on their boundaries.
9:50 — Simple future
And what about the future plans? I bet you have some future plans, so let's go with the futuro simple. Cantaré, cantarás, cantará, cantaremos, cantaréis, cantarán. Comeré, comerás, comerá, comeremos, comeréis, comerán. Viviré, vivirás, vivirá, viviremos, viviréis, vivirán. We use it to talk about what we will do, an action in the future or suppositions about an action in the present or future. Mañana cantaré a las 9:00. El fin de semana comeremos paella. Nunca he vivido una pelea. Ya la vivirás.
10:33 — Future perfect
And from the future, we build the perfect future, futuro compuesto. We conjugate the verb haber in the futuro simple. Habré, habrás, habrá, habremos, habréis, habrán cantado, comido, vivido. Will have sung, will have eaten, will have lived. With this tense, we can make suppositions about a completed action or tell an action that will have been completed by a certain time in the future. Will have plus participle. Pasado mañana ya habrás cantado en tu primer concierto. ¿Qué le pasa a María? Habrá comido demasiado.
Cuando seamos ancianos, habremos vivido una vida muy feliz.
11:33 — Simple conditional
We also think of probabilities and hypothetical scenarios. What do we use for that? In Spanish, the conditional is conventionally listed among the tenses of the indicative mood. Let's check the condicional simple. We use the condicional simple to talk about hypothetical situations, to give advice, and make requests. Yo cantaría, tú cantarías, él cantaría, nosotros cantaríamos, vosotros cantaríais, ellos cantarían. Comería, comerías, comería, comeríamos, comeríais, comerían. Viviría, vivirías, viviría, viviríamos, viviríais, vivirían.
Si yo fuera tú, cantaría todos los días. That fuera is a subjunctive tense. Stay tuned. ¿Te comerías mi segundo plato? Yo viviría la vida de Taylor sin pensarlo dos veces.
12:43 — Conditional perfect
And what do we make out of the simple conditional? The perfect conditional, condicional compuesto. We build it by conjugating haber to the conditional and adding the participle. Like in English, I would have, mmm: habría, habrías, habría, habríamos, habríais, habrían. Plus cantado, comido, vivido. Would have sung, would have eaten, would have lived. We use the perfect conditional to talk about what one would have done or what would have happened in a hypothetical situation. Si lo pudiera hacer otra vez, habría cantado otra canción.
Subjunctive with conditional. Qué pena que no vinieras, habrías comido muy bien. Subjunctive with conditional. Si Marina hubiera venido, habría vivido la mejor experiencia de su vida. Subjunctive with conditional again. If you're a little lost in Spanish grammar, something that will help you a lot is this free study guide that you can download on our webpage. It will guide you step by step while you learn Spanish on your own. You have the link in the description.
14:03 — The subjunctive mood
Now, the most hated mood by Spanish learners. All Spaniards also hate it when we study it at school, but you get used to these tenses pretty quickly when you hear them being used. And I'm going to give you good news in a little while. Let's dive into the subjunctive mood, el modo subjuntivo. We use it to give a subjective fact and communicate things like wishes and doubts. Ojalá, I wish, is always accompanied by a subjunctive form. We also see si, if, followed by subjunctive a lot, and subordinate clauses that start with que, that.
Using the subjunctive well will make you advance, so pay attention.
Grammar note: Wishes and doubts are common subjunctive contexts, but conjunctions and the surrounding construction also matter. Neither si nor que automatically requires the subjunctive.
14:43 — Present subjunctive
Presente de subjuntivo: cante, cantes, cante, cantemos, cantéis, canten. Coma, comas, coma, comamos, comáis, coman. Viva, vivas, viva, vivamos, viváis, vivan. Mainly used to express wishes and doubts. Quiero que me cantes una canción. No creo que Ana coma pollo hoy. Ojalá vivamos muchos años juntos.
15:34 — Present perfect subjunctive
With the present, we can form the pretérito perfecto compuesto del subjuntivo. We conjugate the verb haber to present subjunctive. Remember, it is irregular. Yo haya, tú hayas, él haya, nosotros hayamos, vosotros hayáis, ellos hayan cantado, comido, vivido. Llámame cuando hayas cantado. Espero que hayas comido bien. Ojalá hayáis vivido una experiencia inolvidable.
16:14 — Imperfect subjunctive
Pretérito imperfecto del subjuntivo. I really like this tense, but I have something sad to tell you. There are two different forms for this tense, and both are interchangeable in the ordinary subjunctive uses illustrated here. They are easy to remember. Cantara o cantase, cantaras o cantases, cantara o cantase, cantáramos o cantásemos, cantarais o cantaseis, cantaran o cantasen. Comiera o comiese, comieras o comieses, comiera o comiese, comiéramos o comiésemos, comierais o comieseis, comieran o comiesen.
Viviera o viviese, vivieras o vivieses, viviera o viviese, viviéramos o viviésemos, vivierais o vivieseis, vivieran o viviesen. The alternatives are -ara/-ase for -ar verbs and -iera/-iese for -er and -ir verbs. Also used for thoughts and wishes. Here are some examples for you to see when we use it. Si cantáramos a las cinco, podríamos salir de fiesta esta noche. Ojalá comiésemos tortilla de patatas hoy. Me encantaría que los perros vivieran más años.
Grammar note: The -ra and -se forms are equivalent in the ordinary subjunctive examples in this lesson. Some other uses of -ra have no matching -se alternative, so “always interchangeable” would be too broad.
17:40 — Pluperfect subjunctive
And the perfect tense that uses this pretérito imperfecto is pretérito pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo. If the imperfecto has two forms, the pluscuamperfecto also has two forms. We conjugate haber to the pretérito imperfecto del subjuntivo and add the participle. Hubiera, hubiese, hubieras, hubieses, hubiera, hubiese, hubiéramos, hubiésemos, hubierais, hubieseis, hubieran, hubiesen Cantado, comido, vivido. We use it to reflect on actions in the past that were followed by another, most commonly to wish something had or hadn't happened, or to give thoughts.
Si hubieras cantado más tarde, te habría podido escuchar. Ojalá no hubiéramos comido espinacas. Si hubiesen vivido más tiempo, habrían conocido a sus nietos. Hey, if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. Gracias.
18:57 — Future subjunctive forms
And now the good news, next is the future and future perfect of the subjunctive mood, but we don't use them. Yay. I think those might be used only in court. A normal person like me never uses these tenses. Now it's old Spanish, but in case you need, here it is. Futuro simple de subjuntivo. Cantare, cantares, cantare, cantáremos, cantareis, cantaren. Comiere, comieres, comiere, comiéremos, comiereis, comieren. Viviere, vivieres, viviere, viviéremos, viviereis, vivieren. The only sentence I've heard with future subjunctive is a Spanish proverb that says, “Adonde fueres, haz lo que vieres.” Wherever you go, do what you see.
And the futuro compuesto de subjuntivo. Haber in futuro simple de subjuntivo plus participio. Never heard this tense in any conversation. Never. Hubiere, hubieres, hubiere, hubiéremos, hubiereis, hubieren, cantado, comido, vivido. Let's cut the examples because you won't use this tense.
Grammar note: These future subjunctive forms are rare in everyday conversation and mainly survive in legal or formal language and fixed expressions. The lesson’s priority remains the common forms. They do not directly correspond to an ordinary English “will” sentence in every context.
20:20 — Affirmative imperative
And now the last one, yay. Modo imperativo, Here we will practise affirmative commands addressed to you. Is this paradise? Is this paradise? The forms we will use are for tú, vosotros, usted and ustedes. Tú: canta. Vosotros cantad. Usted cante. Ustedes canten. Tú: come. Comed. Coma. Coman. Vive. Vivid. Viva. Vivan. Canta una canción. Comed mucho. Viva su vida y déjeme en paz.
Grammar note: The displayed forms are affirmative commands. Negative commands use subjunctive forms, such as no cantes. This does not change the lesson’s focus on the four addressee forms shown here.
21:20 — Recap with hablar español
Great job on following all the tenses with me. I know it was a lot, so let's review it in a more simple way in a quick recap for you to remember using the sentence hablar español, to speak Spanish, and using just the first person, yo. Formas no personales. Infinitivo, hablar español. Gerundio, hablando español. Participio: hablado, as in he hablado español. Infinitivo compuesto, haber hablado español. Gerundio compuesto, habiendo hablado español. Modo indicativo. Presente, yo hablo español. Pretérito perfecto compuesto, yo he hablado español.
Pretérito perfecto simple, yo hablé español. Pretérito anterior, yo hube hablado español. Pretérito imperfecto, yo hablaba español. Pretérito pluscuamperfecto, yo había hablado español. Futuro simple, yo hablaré español. Futuro compuesto, yo habré hablado español. Condicional simple, yo hablaría español. Condicional compuesto, yo habría hablado español. Modo subjuntivo. Presente, que yo hable español. Pretérito perfecto compuesto, que yo haya hablado español. Pretérito imperfecto, que yo hablara, hablase español.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto, que yo hubiera, hubiese hablado español. Futuro simple, que yo hablare español. Futuro compuesto, que yo hubiere hablado español. Modo imperativo, habla español.
Grammar note: Hablado is the past participle. In a perfect construction, the auxiliary makes the complete verb phrase, as in he hablado español.
23:14 — Keep practising
Review them every now and then, and you'll remember them all, yes. It would be great if you read or listen to Spanish and analyze all the verb tenses they use there. I have these video blogs speaking slow Spanish that will help you a lot. Watch it and have a look at the tenses I'm using. Keep on practicing.
Try it yourself
Choose one example from the video for the past, present, and future. Rewrite each with your own verb, say them aloud, and return to the explanation where a form still feels uncertain.
Watch the original lesson on YouTube.
