Spanish Verb Tables: The 20 Most Common Verbs

Spanish verb tables: the 20 most common verbs

These twenty verbs make up a large share of everything said in Spanish. Each table gives six tenses and moods for all six persons, with pronunciation for the present. Pick a verb below, or type its Spanish or English meaning. Irregular forms are marked in red.

The tables

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ser to be (identity) irregular

Ser shares its preterite with ir. Used for what something is.

	PresentI speak	PreteriteI spoke	ImperfectI was speaking	FutureI will speak	ConditionalI would speak	Subjunctive(that) I speak
yo	soysoy	fui	era	seré	sería	sea
tú	eresEH-res	fuiste	eras	serás	serías	seas
él, ella, usted	eses	fue	era	será	sería	sea
nosotros	somosSOH-mohs	fuimos	éramos	seremos	seríamos	seamos
vosotros	soissoys	fuisteis	erais	seréis	seríais	seáis
ellos, ustedes	sonson	fueron	eran	serán	serían	sean

Somos(we) areamigos.friends

“We’re friends.”

How each tense is built

Every column in the tables follows one of these recipes. Once you know the recipe, a regular verb needs no table at all.

Tense	Built from	hablar, “I…”	Lesson
Present	Stem + present endings	hablo	Present tense
Preterite	Stem + preterite endings	hablé	Preterite and imperfect
Imperfect	Stem + -aba / -ía endings	hablaba	Preterite and imperfect
Future	Whole infinitive + -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án	hablaré	Verb tables (below)
Conditional	Whole infinitive + -ía endings	hablaría	Verb tables (below)
Present subjunctive	“I” form minus -o + opposite vowel endings	hable	The subjunctive

Twelve irregular future and conditional stems

The future (I will speak) and the conditional (I would speak) add their endings to the whole infinitive: hablar-é, hablar-ía. Twelve common verbs use a shortened stem instead, and the same stem serves both tenses. The endings never change.

tenerto havetendr-

venirto comevendr-

ponerto putpondr-

salirto leavesaldr-

valerto be worthvaldr-

podercanpodr-

saberto knowsabr-

haberto havehabr-

caberto fitcabr-

quererto wantquerr-

hacerto dohar-

decirto saydir-

So tener gives tendré (I will have) and tendría (I would have); decir gives diré and diría. Verbs built on these, like mantener (to maintain) or componer (to compose), share the same stem.

Compound tenses: haber + past participle

A compound tense is made of two words, like English “I have spoken”. Spanish uses a form of haber plus the past participle (the “spoken” form): -ar verbs add -ado, -er and -ir verbs add -ido. The participle never changes its ending in these tenses.

This differs from English, where words can sit between “have” and the participle. In Spanish the pair never splits: object pronouns, no and adverbs like ya go in front of haber.

Present perfecthe habladoI have spoken

Pluperfecthabía habladoI had spoken

Future perfecthabré habladoI will have spoken

Conditional perfecthabría habladoI would have spoken

Irregular past participles

hechohacer · donedichodecir · saidvistover · seenpuestoponer · putescritoescribir · writtenabiertoabrir · openedvueltovolver · returnedmuertomorir · diedrotoromper · brokenidoir · gone

Where to go next

Next guideThe present tenseHow the endings work, with stem changes. Next guidePreterite and imperfectWhen to use each past tense. Next guideThe subjunctiveWhen the last column is needed. Next guideCore vocabularyThe words to use these verbs with.