Spanish Verb Tenses: Complete Guide and Conjugation Tables

24 min video · Complete regular-verb reference

Understand the main Spanish verb forms and when to use them. This guide corrects common shortcuts about the perfect, imperfect, subjunctive, and imperative and uses cantar, comer, and vivir as regular models.

Spanish verb system overview

Spanish infinitives belong to three conjugations: verbs ending in -ar, -er, and -ir. This guide uses the regular models cantar (to sing), comer (to eat), and vivir (to live).

Finite verb forms show person, number, tense, and mood. Spanish traditionally distinguishes three moods:

• Indicative: presents information as asserted, described, or located in time.
• Subjunctive: commonly appears when a clause is presented as desired, doubted, evaluated, required, hypothetical, pending, or otherwise not independently asserted.
• Imperative: gives commands, instructions, invitations, or requests.

The traditional RAE paradigm groups five simple and five compound forms under the indicative, three simple and three compound forms under the subjunctive, and affirmative command forms under the imperative. Terminology can differ across textbooks and regions. Compare the forms with the RAE–ASALE conjugation table.

Non-finite forms (formas no personales)

These forms do not mark a grammatical person. Calling them “non-verbal tenses” is misleading; they are non-finite verb forms.

The gerund is used in progressive constructions such as estoy cantando (I am singing). The participle combines with haber in compound tenses: he cantado (I have sung).

Present indicative (presente)

Use the present for current states, descriptions, habits, general statements, and sometimes scheduled or vivid future events.

• Carolina canta muy bien. — Carolina sings very well.
• Como macarrones todos los jueves. — I eat macaroni every Thursday.
• Vivimos en Sevilla. — We live in Seville.

Present perfect (pretérito perfecto compuesto)

Form it with the present of haber plus a past participle: he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han + cantado/comido/vivido.

It often connects a past event or period with the present. Its use varies substantially by region. In much of Spain, he comido hoy is common for a completed event within an unfinished period such as hoy. In much of Latin America and in some parts of Spain, speakers may prefer the simple preterite, comí hoy, in contexts where other speakers use the present perfect.

• He cantado esa canción muchas veces. — I have sung that song many times.
• Ana ha comido hoy en mi restaurante favorito. — Ana has eaten at my favorite restaurant today.
• Mis abuelos han vivido aquí desde 1990. — My grandparents have lived here since 1990.

Past tenses in the indicative

Simple preterite (pretérito perfecto simple)

Use it to present a past event as completed within a past time frame.

• María le cantó una canción preciosa a su novio. — María sang a beautiful song to her boyfriend.
• Ayer comí lentejas. — Yesterday I ate lentils.
• Mi abuelo vivió la Guerra Civil. — My grandfather lived through the Spanish Civil War.

Imperfect (pretérito imperfecto)

The imperfect presents a past situation from within, without focusing on its endpoint. It commonly describes background, repeated past actions, age, time, states, and an action in progress when another event occurred.

• Mi madre cantaba en el coro cuando iba a la escuela primaria. — My mother used to sing in the choir when she was in primary school.
• Comíamos cuando llegó Ana. — We were eating when Ana arrived.
• Vivías en Barcelona en aquella época. — You lived in Barcelona at that time.

The imperfect is not itself “the past progressive.” Spanish can make a progressive explicitly with estar + gerund: estábamos comiendo (we were eating).

Pluperfect (pretérito pluscuamperfecto)

Form it with the imperfect of haber: había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían + participle. It places an event before another past reference point.

• Nunca había cantado delante de tanta gente. — I had never sung in front of so many people.
• María se encontraba mal: había comido demasiado. — María felt ill; she had eaten too much.
• Ya habían vivido en Sevilla antes de mudarse aquí otra vez. — They had already lived in Seville before moving here again.

Preterite anterior (pretérito anterior)

Form it with hube, hubiste, hubo, hubimos, hubisteis, hubieron + participle. It marks an action completed immediately before another past action, usually after expressions such as cuando, apenas, or tan pronto como.

It is rare in present-day conversation and appears mainly in older or deliberately literary prose. Modern Spanish normally uses the simple preterite or pluperfect instead.

Tan pronto como hubo cantado, salió del teatro. — As soon as he had finished singing, he left the theater.

Future forms in the indicative

Simple future (futuro simple)

Use it for future statements, predictions, promises, and conjecture about the present. Everyday plans are also commonly expressed with the present or ir a + infinitive.

• Mañana cantaré a las nueve. — Tomorrow I will sing at nine.
• Este fin de semana vamos a comer paella. — This weekend we are going to eat paella.
• ¿Dónde está Ana? Estará en casa. — Where is Ana? She is probably at home.

Future perfect (futuro compuesto)

Form it with habré, habrás, habrá, habremos, habréis, habrán + participle. It can locate a completed event before a future point or express conjecture about a completed past event.

• Para el viernes ya habrás cantado en tu primer concierto. — By Friday you will already have sung in your first concert.
• ¿Qué le pasa a María? Habrá comido demasiado. — What is wrong with María? She must have eaten too much.
• Cuando seamos mayores, habremos vivido muchas experiencias. — When we are older, we will have lived through many experiences.

Conditional forms

In the traditional paradigm used here, the conditional forms are grouped with the indicative. They express hypothetical results, future-in-the-past, polite requests, advice, and conjecture, depending on context.

Simple conditional (condicional simple)

• Si yo fuera tú, cantaría todos los días. — If I were you, I would sing every day.
• ¿Te comerías mi segundo plato? — Would you eat my second course?
• Dijo que viviría en Madrid. — She said she would live in Madrid.

Conditional perfect (condicional compuesto)

Form it with habría, habrías, habría, habríamos, habríais, habrían + participle. It often expresses an unrealized past result or conjecture about an earlier event.

• Si Marina hubiera venido, habría vivido una experiencia inolvidable. — If Marina had come, she would have had an unforgettable experience.
• Sin tu ayuda, no habría terminado. — Without your help, I would not have finished.

Subjunctive mood

The subjunctive is not simply the mood of “subjective thoughts.” Its use depends on how a clause is framed. Common contexts include wishes, influence, emotion or evaluation, doubt or denial, purpose, hypothetical conditions, and future or pending events in certain subordinate clauses.

Present subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo)

• Quiero que me cantes una canción. — I want you to sing me a song.
• No creo que Ana coma pollo hoy. — I do not think Ana will eat chicken today.
• Ojalá vivamos muchos años juntos. — I hope we live many years together.

Present perfect subjunctive (pretérito perfecto compuesto de subjuntivo)

Form it with haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayáis, hayan + participle. It places a completed event in a present or future subjunctive context.

• Llámame cuando hayas cantado. — Call me when you have sung.
• Espero que hayas comido bien. — I hope you have eaten well.
• Ojalá hayáis vivido una experiencia inolvidable. — I hope you have had an unforgettable experience.

Imperfect subjunctive (pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo)

Spanish has forms in -ra and -se. In ordinary subjunctive uses they are usually interchangeable, although the -ra form also has some historical or literary uses in which replacement by -se is not possible.

• Si cantáramos a las cinco, podríamos salir esta noche. — If we sang at five, we could go out tonight.
• Ojalá comiésemos tortilla de patatas hoy. — I wish we could eat Spanish omelet today.
• Me encantaría que los perros vivieran más años. — I would love dogs to live longer.

Pluperfect subjunctive (pretérito pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo)

Form it with hubiera/hubiese, hubieras/hubieses, hubiera/hubiese, hubiéramos/hubiésemos, hubierais/hubieseis, hubieran/hubiesen + participle.

• Si hubieras cantado más tarde, habría podido escucharte. — If you had sung later, I would have been able to hear you.
• Ojalá no hubiéramos comido tanto. — I wish we had not eaten so much.
• Si hubiesen vivido más tiempo, habrían conocido a sus nietos. — If they had lived longer, they would have met their grandchildren.

Future subjunctive and future perfect subjunctive

The simple forms are cantare, cantares, cantare, cantáremos, cantareis, cantaren; the compound forms use hubiere, hubieres, hubiere, hubiéremos, hubiereis, hubieren + participle.

These forms are rare in modern general conversation, but “never used” and “only used in court” are too absolute. They survive in legal and administrative language, older texts, fixed formulas, proverbs, and some regional usage. A familiar proverb is Adonde fueres, haz lo que vieres (roughly, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”).

Imperative mood

Spanish commands are directed to a listener, but the paradigm includes informal and formal singular and plural forms. Affirmative tú and vosotros have distinctive imperative forms. Formal commands, nosotros commands, and all negative commands use forms shared with the present subjunctive.

Examples: Canta una canción (Sing a song), No comáis todavía (Do not eat yet), and Viva su vida y déjeme en paz (Live your life and leave me alone).

In regions that use vos, affirmative forms include cantá, comé, viví. Negative forms and some command patterns vary by region.

Quick reference

Learn the highest-frequency contrasts first: present, preterite versus imperfect, present perfect as used in your target region, future and conditional, then the main subjunctive patterns. Rare literary forms can wait until you meet them in context.

For more listening practice, watch the slow-Spanish video blog and identify the forms you hear.

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Use this accurate Spanish verb-tenses guide to compare regular conjugations, meanings, regional perfect usage, subjunctive patterns, and affirmative and negative commands.