The Spanish Verb Tenses That You Need to Know

Spanish has 20 verb tenses (compare with English's 4 or 5). This can be an intimidating fact for someone new to the language.

However, they are not all equally important. This guide will help you prioritize. It will also show you useful verbal phrases that will help you avoid conjugation as much as possible.

NOTE: This page covers South American Spanish.

Talking about the Present

The simple present tense is the most common, and lets you talk generally about what happens, or the nature of things.

AR: -o, -as, -a, -amos, -an
ER: -o, -es, -e, -emos, -en
IR: -o, -es, -e, -imos, -en

Examples:

Habla mucho.
He talks a lot.

Bebo cerveza todos los dias.
I drink beer every day.

Sabes como ...?
Do you know how ...?

No hablo Español.
I don't speak Spanish.

When asking questions like "Does anybody want...?" you use the third person present tense form. Example:

Alguien quiere cerveza?
Does anybody want beer? (Literally: Someone wants beer?)

Talking about the Future

The easiest way to discuss what will happen (soonish) is to use this verbal phrase:

ir (conjugated in the present tense) + a + infinitive
To be going to do something.

(Remember, ir is an irregular verb and is conjugated as voy, vas, va, vamos, van in the present tense.)

Examples:

Voy a comer.
I am going to eat.

Vas a comer?
Are you going to eat?

Talking about the Past

To discuss the recent past, the easiest way (although not the most commonly heard) is this verbal phrase:

acabar (conjugated in the present tense) + de + infinitive
To have just finished doing something.

(Remember, acabar is conjugated as acabo, acabas, acaba, acabamos, acaban in the present tense.)

Example:

Acabo de comer.
I just ate. / I just finished eating.

Another easy way to discuss what has happened in the past is this verbal phrase:

haber (conjugated) + past particple of verb
To have done something.

(Remember, haber is conjugated here as he, has, ha, hemos, han.)

And lucky for us, the past particle is quite easy to create, and each verb only has one. Just drop the verb ending (ar/er/ir) and add -ado for ar verbs and -ido for er and ir verbs.

Examples:

He comido.
I have eaten.

Has comido?
Have you eaten?

Unfortunately, sometimes actual conjugation is called for. To describe a specific point in the past when an action occurred:

   AR: -é, -aste, -ó,  -amos, -aron
ER/IR: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -ieron

To state that something used to take place, or was taking place when something else happened ("I was reading the newspaper, when..."), use:

   AR: -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -aban
ER/IR: -ía,  -ías,  -ía,  -íamos,  -ían

More Ways to Talk About the Future

There is an easy but uncommon way to say something will happen:

AR/ER/IR: +é, +ás, +á, +emos, +án

Did you notice that these endings have a + in front of them? That is because they are added on to the end of the infinitive:

que será, será
what(ever) will be, will be

To say that something would happen, we don't translate "would" at all, but instead conjugate the main verb like this:

AR/ER/IR: +ía, +ías, +ía, +íamos, +ían

Examples:

hablaría
I would speak / He would speak

comerías
You would eat

Other Verb Forms

Just like English, Spanish has a progressive ("Gerund") form. In English we add -ing to the end of the infinitive (talk_ing). In Spanish, we drop the verb ending (ar/er/ir) and add -ando for ar verbs and -iendo for er and ir verbs. Note:_ If the verb ends in a vowel after removing the ar/er/ir, we add -yendo instead.

Some examples:

hablando (from hablar)
speaking

comiendo (from comer)
eating

leyendo (from leer, this is a special case as described above)
reading

To talk about what someone or something is currently doing, use this verbal phrase:

estar (conjugated in the present tense) + verb in progressive ("Gerund") form

Some examples:

Estoy mirando...
I am watching...

Estas comiendo?
Are you eating?

To talk about what someone/something was doing when another action took place, combine estar ("to be") in the "was taking place" tense shown above with a verb in the progressive ("Gerund") tense:

Yo estaba caminando cuando...
I was walking when...