Spanish / Castilian

Conjugate Verbs

Facts

More information:

    Introduction

    Spanish or Castilian is a Romance language originally from the northern area of Spain. It is the official language of Spain, most Latin American countries, and Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara, in Africa. In total, more than twenty-five nations and territories use Spanish as their primary language, which is spoken in every continent around the world. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.

    Latin is the ancestor of Spanish. It didn't develop from Classical Latin but -- like other Romance languages -- from non-literary variety of Latin, the Vulgar Latin. Vulgar Latin evolved to Old Spanish, which in turn developed into modern Spanish. In the latter development, the verb conjugations underwent only minor changes.

    Spanish Verb Types

    Spanish verbs are divided in regular and irregular verbs. The vast majority of the verbs are regular. All the verbs are also divided in conjugation groups according to the ending in the infinitive (See the groups under regular verbs).

    Note! By checking the sample verbs you also see the list of other verbs belonging to the same type of conjugation.

    Regular verbs

    Verbix shows regular forms in black. Check the verb conjugations for each verb below.

    Sample verb (1st conjugation): cantar

    Indicative Subjunctive Conditional Imperative
    Present Imperfect Preterite Future Present Imperfect Future
    Sg.1 canto cantaba canté cantará cante cantara / cantase cantare cantaría -
    Sg.2 cantas / cantás 2 cantabas cantaste cantarás cantes cantaras / cantases cantares cantarías canta!
    Sg.3 canta cantaba cantó cantará cante cantara / cantase cantare cantaría cante! 1
    Pl.1 cantamos cantabamos cantamos cantarámos cantemos cantaramos / cantasemos cantaremos cantaríamos cantemos! 1
    Pl.2 cantáis / cantan 3 cantábais cantasteis cantaréis cantéis cantárais / cantáseis cantáreis cantaríais cantad!
    Pl.3 cantan cantaban cantaron cantarán canten cantaran / cantasen cantaren cantarían canten! 1

    Notes:

    1. Form borrowed from corresponding form in subjunctive
    2. Form used in Latin America; e.g., vos cantás (Iberian Spanish: tú cantas ). See: "Voseo" chapter.
    3. Form used in Latin America; e.g., ustedes cantan (Iberian Spanish: vosotros cantáis )

    Irregular verbs

    Verbix shows irregular forms in red. Check the verb conjugations for each verb below.

    Irregularities in Present tense

    Verbs with diptongue.

    Change in the stem vocale.

    Consonants are added in the stem.

    Other irregularities.

    Irregularities in Preterite tense

    Change in stem vocale

    Strong preterites

    Irregularities in future and conditional.

    Loss of the protonic vocal

    Loss of vocal and consonant

    Loss of vocal and addition of consonant

    Ortographic modifications

    Verbix shows ortographic modifications in blue. Check the verb conjugations for each verb below.

    Modifications for preserving the pronounciation

    1st conjugation

    2nd and 3rd conjugations

    Changes due to ortographic rules

    Loss of atonic i

    Atonic i changes to y.

    Change of the ortographic accent in verbs ending in -iar and -uar

    Other changes of the ortographic accent

    Voseo

    In Spanish grammar, voseo is the use of vos as a second-person singular pronoun, along with its associated verbal forms, in certain regions where the language is spoken. In those regions it replaces tuteo, i.e. the use of the pronoun tú and its verbal forms.

    Vos is used extensively as the second-person singular in Rioplatense Spanish (Argentina and Uruguay), Eastern Bolivia, Paraguayan Spanish, and Central American Spanish (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, southern parts of Chiapas and some parts of Oaxaca in Mexico).

    Verblists

    Texts

    Paralleltexts

    References