Spanish Verb Tenses Explained!

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Spanish Verb Tenses Explained

Spanish verb conjugation is often referred to as the most difficult aspect of learning Spanish as conjugation can be very complex and highly irregular in some cases. What often gets overlooked are the Spanish verb tensesthemselves which is surprising as it is very important to understand when a tense is used, how it is used and when it is used.

Many students who have attacked the conjugation of Spanish verbs have done so without fully knowing about the various Spanish verb tenses they are conjugating in, this in itself, will not affect their ability to master verb conjugation but it does affect how they use their new skill. Hopefully the short glossary below will help to provide some necessary information about Spanish verb tenses:

Compound:
Compound tenses are the group of tenses that consist of more than one element. In the Spanish language, compound tenses are formed by using the auxiliary verb and the past participle, for example: ha contestado which means, ‘he has answered‘.

Past Participle:
The past participle is the form of a verb that indicates a past or completed action or time and is used after the auxiliary verb ‘to have‘ in English and ‘haber‘ in Spanish, for example: abierto - ‘opened‘ in he abierto – ‘I have opened‘

Subjunctive:
The subjunctive is not a tense, as many students believe, but a mood. Although it exists in English it goes almost unoticed as it almost always takes the same form as the indicative. However, in Spanish, it is widely used when expressing doubt, how a person feels about a possibe action, feelings, and a wish,ntent or command for a possible action.

Indicative:
As with the subjunctive the indicative is a mood. It is the most widely used mood and is used in ordinary, typical speech when making statements as in hablo - ‘I speak‘,  ha venido – ‘he has come‘, estoy probando – ‘I am trying‘

Present:
The present tense is where pretty much every student begins and for good reason, it is the most commonly used tense and is used to express an action that is currently being undertaken. hablo ‘I speak‘ or, ‘I am speaking‘

Imperfect:
One of two simple past tenses in Spanish. The imperative is used to express a past action that has not been completed, that occured frequently or that took place over an indefinite period of time eg. decía - ‘I was saying‘

Preterite:
The other simple past tense used to  express an action in the past which has been completed or occured over a definite period of time, eg; dije – ‘I said‘

Perfect:
Another past tense used to describe a completed past action. It comprises the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle, eg he visto – ‘I have seen‘

Pluperfect:
A past tense used to describe an action occurring in the past before another past action and is formed using the imperfect of haber and the past participle: había ido antes de que llegué – ‘he had gone before I arrived‘

Future:
One of the simpler tenses to understand, the future refers to an action that hasn’t happened yet but is expected: abriré mañana -  ‘I will open tomorrow‘

Present Participle or ‘Gerund’:
Not used too much apart from when attached to the verb estar - ‘to be‘ in the present continuous tense. It is the equivalent of the English verb form that ends in -ing for example; escribiendo ‘writing‘.

Present Continuous:
This tense is only used to describe actions that are actually taking place at the time of use, and is formed by using the present tense of the verb estar and the present participle: estoy escribiendo ‘I am writing‘

Conditional:
The conditional tense does not refer to a particular period of time unlike the past, present and future tenses but instead it is used, as it’s name suggests, when a condition is involved but in Spanish it is often linked to the future tense hence why it is known both as el condicional and el futuro hipotético (the hypothetical future).

In English the conditional would be formed by using the auxiliary verb would…for example: ‘I would wash if I were dirty‘, but in Spanish it is rendered by a single verb form, eg; cerraría ‘I would close‘

Imperative:
The imperative is a tense that is used when giving orders or suggestions..¡Escribe! - Write!

That should help you for the time being, however, should you need further information about any of the tenses above use the search facility at the top of this page and I am sure there will be a post on this blog somewhere that will be more than helpful.

However, if you are struggling with Spanish verb conjugation may I suggest checking out my verbarrator review. It’s a fantastic verb training program as my review explains and should you decide that it’s just what you need I’ll throw in my verb conjugation book called ‘2000+Spanish Irregular verbs‘ selling for $16 for FREE!

If you would like to read another post why not check out my previous post entitled 1001 Spanish Verbs it’s not quite as straightforward as it sounds!