Spanish verbs are conjugated according to a particular patterns. Learning the pattern behind the conjugations can make learning Spanish verbs easy, because it will give you the instant ability to conjugation hundreds of Spanish verbs.
Let’s visualize the pattern and see if you can remember the tenses one by one. Starting obviously with the present tense and slowly making our way up to the subjunctive tenses.
Here is how to conjugation the indicative tenses in Spanish:
How to conjugate -AR verbs in the indicative mood:
Conjugate -AR verbs in the present tense:
| Present | |
| simple present | |
| yo | stem + o |
| tú | stem + as |
| él | stem + a |
| nosotros | stem + amos |
| vosotros | stem + áis |
| ellos | stem + an |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the past tense:
| Preterite | |
| simple past | |
| yo | stem + é |
| tú | stem + aste |
| él | stem + ó |
| nosotros | stem + amos |
| vosotros | stem + asteis |
| ellos | stem + aron |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the future tense:
| Future | |
| will + verb | |
| yo | stem + aré |
| tú | stem + arás |
| él | stem + ará |
| nosotros | stem + aremos |
| vosotros | stem + aréis |
| ellos | stem + arán |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the imperfect tense:
| Imperfect | |
| was + gerund | |
| yo | stem + aba |
| tú | stem + abas |
| él | stem + aba |
| nosotros | stem + ábamos |
| vosotros | stem + abais |
| ellos | stem + aban |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the conditional/potential tense:
| Potential simple | |
| would + verb | |
| yo | stem + aría |
| tú | stem + arías |
| él | stem + aría |
| nosotros | stem + aríamos |
| vosotros | stem + aríais |
| ellos | stem + arían |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the Present perfect tense:
Present perfect
have + participle
yo he + participle
tú has + participle
él ha + participle
nosotros hemos + participle
vosotros habéis + participle
ellos han + participle
Conjugate -AR verbs in the Past Perfect tense:
Past perfect
had + participle
yo había + participle
tú habías + participle
él había + participle
nosotros habíamos + participle
vosotros habíais + participle
ellos habían + participle
Conjugate -AR verbs in the Future tense:
Future perfect
will have + participle
yo habré + participle
tú habrás + participle
él habrá + participle
nosotros habremos + participle
vosotros habréis + participle
ellos habrán + participle
Conjugate -AR verbs in the Anterior preterite tense:
Anterior preterite
had + participle
yo hube + participle
tú hubiste + participle
él hubo + participle
nosotros hubimos + participle
vosotros hubisteis + participle
ellos hubieron + participle
Conjugate -AR verbs in the potential perfect tense:
Potential perfect
would have + participle
yo habría + participle
tú habrías + participle
él habría + participle
nosotros habríamos + participle
vosotros habríais + participle
ellos habrían + participle
These are the 10 tenses that make up the indicative tenses. The indicative mood is used to communicate facts and questions.
If we these 10 tenses together in a more compact cheat sheet it would make the following graphic:
| Present | Preterite | Future | Imperfect | Potential simple | |||||
| simple present | simple past | will + verb | was + gerund | would + verb | |||||
| yo | stem + o | yo | stem + é | yo | stem + aré | yo | stem + aba | yo | stem + aría |
| tú | stem + as | tú | stem + aste | tú | stem + arás | tú | stem + abas | tú | stem + arías |
| él | stem + a | él | stem + ó | él | stem + ará | él | stem + aba | él | stem + aría |
| nosotros | stem + amos | nosotros | stem + amos | nosotros | stem + aremos | nosotros | stem + ábamos | nosotros | stem + aríamos |
| vosotros | stem + áis | vosotros | stem + asteis | vosotros | stem + aréis | vosotros | stem + abais | vosotros | stem + aríais |
| ellos | stem + an | ellos | stem + aron | ellos | stem + arán | ellos | stem + aban | ellos | stem + arían |
| Present perfect | Past perfect | Future perfect | Anterior preterite | Potential perfect | |||||
| have + participle | had + participle | will have + participle | had + participle | would have + participle | |||||
| yo | he + part. | yo | había + part. | yo | habré + part. | yo | hube + part. | yo | habría + part. |
| tú | has + part. | tú | habías + part. | tú | habrás + part. | tú | hubiste + part. | tú | habrías + part. |
| él | ha + part. | él | había + part. | él | habrá + part. | él | hubo + part. | él | habría + part. |
| nosotros | hemos + part. | nosotros | habíamos + part. | nosotros | habremos + part. | nosotros | hubimos + part. | nosotros | habríamos + part. |
| vosotros | habéis + part. | vosotros | habíais + part. | vosotros | habréis + part. | vosotros | hubisteis + part. | vosotros | habríais + part. |
| ellos | han + part. | ellos | habían + part. | ellos | habrán + part. | ellos | hubieron + part. | ellos | habrían + part. |
“part.” Stands for participle. Spanish -AR verbs form their participle by taking the stem and add “ado”. Meaning that the participle for: trabajar is trabajado, parar is parado, senar is sentado etc.
How to conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive mood:
Lets now take it to the next level and start learning conjugation in the subjuntive mood.
This mood is used for communication wishes, desires and possibility. It consists of 6 tenses. Let’s look at what they are:
Conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive present tense:
| Present | |
| subjuntive present | |
| yo | stem + e |
| tú | stem + es |
| él | stem + e |
| nosotros | stem + emos |
| vosotros | stem + éis |
| ellos | stem + en |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive present perfect tense:
| Present perfect | |
| have + participle | |
| yo | haya + part. |
| tú | hayas + part. |
| él | haya + part. |
| nosotros | hayamos + part. |
| vosotros | hayáis + part. |
| ellos | hayan + part. |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive past perfect 1st option tense:
| Past perfect (1) | |
| had + participle | |
| yo | hubiera + part. |
| tú | hubieras + part. |
| él | hubiera + part. |
| nosotros | hubiéramos + part. |
| vosotros | hubierais + part. |
| ellos | hubieran + part. |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive past perfect 2nd option tense:
| Past perfect (1) | |
| had + participle | |
| yo | hubiera + part. |
| tú | hubieras + part. |
| él | hubiera + part. |
| nosotros | hubiéramos + part. |
| vosotros | hubierais + part. |
| ellos | hubieran + part. |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive imperfect 1st option tense:
| Imperfect (1) | |
| would + verb | |
| yo | stem + ara |
| tú | stem + aras |
| él | stem + ara |
| nosotros | stem + áramos |
| vosotros | stem + arais |
| ellos | stem + aran |
Conjugate -AR verbs in the subjunctive imperfect 2nd option tense:
| Imperfect (2) | |
| would + verb | |
| yo | stem + ase |
| tú | stem + ases |
| él | stem + ase |
| nosotros | stem + ásemos |
| vosotros | stem + aseis |
| ellos | stem + asen |
If we were to put these these tenses together you would end up with a visual overview of the Spanish subjunctive mood that would look like this:
| Present | Past perfect (1) | Imperfect (1) | |||
| subjuntive present | had + participle | would + verb | |||
| yo | stem + e | yo | hubiera + part. | yo | stem + ara |
| tú | stem + es | tú | hubieras + part. | tú | stem + aras |
| él | stem + e | él | hubiera + part. | él | stem + ara |
| nosotros | stem + emos | nosotros | hubiéramos + part. | nosotros | stem + áramos |
| vosotros | stem + éis | vosotros | hubierais + part. | vosotros | stem + arais |
| ellos | stem + en | ellos | hubieran + part. | ellos | stem + aran |
| Present perfect | Past perfect (2) | Imperfect (2) | |||
| have + participle | had + participle | would + verb | |||
| yo | haya + part. | yo | hubiese + part. | yo | stem + ase |
| tú | hayas + part. | tú | hubieses + part. | tú | stem + ases |
| él | haya + part. | él | hubiese + part. | él | stem + ase |
| nosotros | hayamos + part. | nosotros | hubiésemos + part. | nosotros | stem + ásemos |
| vosotros | hayáis + part. | vosotros | hubieseis + part. | vosotros | stem + aseis |
| ellos | hayan + part. | ellos | hubiesen + part. | ellos | stem + asen |
The Spanish language is known for having lots of different tenses and obviously it does not stop with these 10 tenses. There are more to learn. However we leave this to the “151 Spanish verb conjugations bundle”. This bundle contains the 151 most used Spanish verb conjugated in every way possible.
It also comes with 3 conjugation blueprints, visualizing in 1 overview how to conjugate the tenses of the -AR, -IR and -ER verbs.
Practice with these Spanish regular -AR verbs:
Hablar – to speak
Cantar – to sing
Bailar – to dance
Trabajar – to work
Estudiar – to study
Comprar – to buy
Escuchar – to listen
Llamar – to call
Mirar – to look/watch
Caminar – to walk
Llevar – to carry/wear
Esperar – to wait/hope
Nadar – to swim
Buscar – to look for
Visitar – to visit
Other useful resources:
List of all -AR verbs
All regular Spanish verbs
All irregular Spanish verbs
List of all Spanish verbs
List of all – IR verbs
List of all – ER verbs