Spanish Verb Tenses
(2-parts)
Must-Memorize Part:
Present Tense:
- Several irregular forms to memorize!
- AR, ER & IR are always different.
- Regular AR-Endings: o, as, a, amos, áis, an
- Regular ER-Endings: o, es, e, emos, éis, en
- Regular IR-Endings: o, es, e, imos, ís, en
Regular Verb Conjugation Examples:
caminar: camino, caminas, camina, caminamos, camináis, caminancomer: como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen
vivir: vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven
Past (a.k.a Preterite):
- Several irregular forms to memorize!
- ER & IR are the same (grouped together), AR is different
- Regular AR-Endings: é, aste, ó, amos, asteis, aron
- Regular ER-Endings: í, iste, ió, imos, isteis, ieron
- Regular IR-Endings: í, iste, ió, imos, isteis, ieron
Regular Verb Conjugation Examples:
caminar: caminé, caminaste, caminó, caminamos, caminasteis, caminaroncomer: comí, comiste, comió, comimos, isteis, comieron
viver: viví, viviste, vivió, vivimos, vivisteis, vivieron
Present-Subjunctive (is also the Imperative-Command):
Several irregular forms to memorize. AR, ER & IR are different.
comer: coma, comas, coma, comamos, comáis, coman
vivir: viva, vivas, viva, vivamos, viváis, vivan
- Several irregular forms to memorize!
- ER & IR are the same (grouped together), AR is different
- Normally ...
- AR-verbs become ER/IR.
- ER/IR-verbs become AR
- Regular AR-Endings: e, es, e, emos, éis, en
- Regular ER-Endings: a, as, a, amos, áis, an
- Regular IR-Endings: a, as, a, amos, áis, an
Regular Verb Conjugation Examples:
caminar: camine, camines, camine, caminemos, camineis, caminencomer: coma, comas, coma, comamos, comáis, coman
vivir: viva, vivas, viva, vivamos, viváis, vivan
Imperative Tú (copy 3rd person singular present):
Tú-Command (informal-2nd person-singular): camina, come, vive
Imperative Vos (Change 'r' to 'd'):
Vos-Command (informal-2nd person-plural): caminad, comed, vivid
Automated-Derived Part (NO-MEMORIZATION!):
Imperfect Tense:
Does not have any irregular verbs - EXCEPT 3 - IN ENTIRE SPANISH LANGUAGE!
- Endings for AR: aba, abas, aba, ábamos, abais, aban
- Endings for ER-IR: ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían
- In all of Spanish *only* these 3 verbs have an irregular imperfect tense:
- ser: era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran
- ir: iba, ibas, iba, ibamos, ibais, iban
- ver: veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían
AR, ER & IR examples:
estar: estaba, estabas, estaba, estábamos, estabais, estaban
comer: comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían
vivir: vivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivíais, vivían
Future Tense:
100% of regular & irregular AR, ER & IR verbs have same endings!
Most verbs are regular in the future tense.
- Endings are always: é, ás, á, emos, éis, án
- Irregular verbs only have a (single word to memorize) stem change!
- REGULAR is always INFINITIVE + ENDING.
- IRREGULAR is always STEM-CHANGE + ENDING.
irregular example: TENER [stem-change: tendr]
tendré, tendrás, tendrá, tendremos, tendréis, tendrán
regular example: CAMINAR [use infinitive: caminar]
caminaré, caminarás, caminará, caminaremos, caminaréis, caminarán
Conditional Tense:
100% of regular & irregular AR, ER & IR verbs have same endings!
Most verbs are regular in the conditional tense.
- Endings are always: ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían
- Irregular verbs only have a (single word to memorize) stem change!
- REGULAR is always INFINITIVE + ENDING.
- IRREGULAR is always STEM-CHANGE + ENDING.
irregular example: TENER [stem-change: tendr]
tendría, tendrías, tendría, tendríamos, tendríais, tendrían
regular example: CAMINAR [use infinitive: caminar]
caminaría, caminarías, caminaría, caminaríamos, caminaríais, caminarían
The 3 remaining subjunctive tense are:
- 100% DERIVED ... No Memorization!
- have same endings regardless of AR/ER/IR.
- are "built" using the 3RD-PERSON-PLURAL-PRETERITE form.
- sort of: "aron" and "ieron" ==> "ara" and "iera"
Imperfect Subjunctive Tense 1:
ra, ras, ra, ramos, rais, ran
Imperfect Subjunctive Tense 2:
se, ses, se, semos, seis, sen
FUTURE SUBJUNCTIVE:
re, res, re, remos, reis, ren
Use the 3rd-person-plural-preterite form and remove "ron":
- trabajaron ==> trabaja[remove the: ron] + ENDING
- estuvieron ==> estuvie[remove the: ron] + ENDING
- caminaron ==> camina [remove the: ron] + ENDING
IS1: trabajara, trabajaras, trabajara, trabajaramos, trabajarais, trabajaran
IS2: trabajase, trabajases, trabajase, trabajasemos, trabajaseis, trabajasen
FS: trabajare, trabajares, trabajare, trabajaremos, trabajareis, trabajaren
IS1: estuviera, estuvieras, estuviera, estuvieramos, estuvierais, estuvieran
IS2: estuviese, estuvieses, estuviese, estuviesemos, estuvieseis, estuviesen
FS: estuviere, estuvieres, estuviere, estuvieremos, estuviereis, estuvieren
IS1: caminara, caminaras, caminara, caminaramos, caminarais, caminaran
IS2: caminase, caminases, caminase, caminasemos, caminaseis, caminasen
FS: caminare, caminares, caminare, caminaremos, caminareis, caminaren
Here are the "Wal-Mart Webster's New Spanish-English Dictionary" pages about these (sort of) "automatic" (no-memorization) Irregular Verb Rules:
- Imperfect Subjunctive 1
- Imperfect Subjunctive 2
- Future Subjunctive
- Future Tense
- Conditional Tense
Imperfect Tense: SPANISH HAS NO VERBS THAT ARE IRREGULAR IN THE IMPERFECT TENSE (except three: ser, ir, ver)