Spanish Tenses

Spanish Tenses

Table of contents

Simple Tenses	Compound Tenses/Perfect Tenses
Present Future Imperfect Preterit/Past Tense	Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect

Present Tense

Uses:       Actions happening right now

                            I speak – Yo Hablo

              Habitual actions

                            I walk 10 km every day –Yo camino 10 km todos los días

              Things happening in the near future

                            I start next week – Yo empiezo la semana que viene

Conjugations-

              To form the present tense remove the infinitive ending (-ar,-er, or –ir) and replace it with the personal ending

	-ar	-er	-ir
yo	-o	-o	-o
tú	-as	-es	-es
él/ella/usted	-a	-e	-e
Nosotros	-amos	-emos	-imos
Vosotros	-áis	- éis	- ís
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	-an	-en	-en

 Demonstration

              To speak –Hablar (remove the –ar and you are left with habl)

              Now just add the ending of your choice

              I speak-Yo hablar

              They speak-Ellos hablan

Future Tense

Uses:       Things that will/shall happen

I will go to the office tomorrow- Iré a la oficina mañana

              Uncertainty in the present

                            He must be hungry -Tendrá hambre

                            I wonder who she is?- ¿Quién será ella?

                            He is probably traveling alone.- Estará viajando solo.

               Note-Things that happen in the near future use present tense, but things that occur further in the future use future tense.

              (Present Tense) Tonight, I’m going to Spain-Esta noche voy a España.

              (Future Tense) Next year, I’m going to Spain - El año que viene iré a España.

Conjugation- Add an ending after the infinitive ending of a verb

	all
yo	-é
tú	-ás
él/ella/usted	-á
Nosotros	-emos
Vosotros	-éis
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	-án

Demonstration-

              I will speak – Yo hablaré

             

Imperfect Tense

Uses:

              Something that happened in the past that doesn’t have a definite beginning or end.

              Something that occured in the past habitually

                            I used to run 10 km everyday - Corría 5 km cada día

                            We would lunch together every day. - Almorzábamos juntos todos los días

                            The ladies would always chat in the mornings.- Las señoras siempre charlaban por las mañanas

              Something that happened in the past over an extended period of time or set the scene for something else.

                            I was reading when ___- Yo leía cuando ___

              Expressing time or age I the past

                            he was 3 when___ - tenía 3 años cuando___

                            it was 9 pm- era las nueve de la noche

              Describe a scene in the past

                            the palace was gorgeous - el palacio era maravilloso

Conjugations

              Drop the –ar/-er/-ir endings and add a personal ending

	-ar	-er / -ir
yo	-aba	-ía
tú	-abas	-ías
él/ella/usted	-aba	-ía
Nosotros	-ábamos	-íamos
Vosotros	-abais	-íais
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	-aban	-ían

Spanish Preterite (Past Tense)

Uses:       Actions competed in the past

              I spoke with him-yo hablé con él

              To indicate an event or action that took place while another was taking place (the other action would use imperfect)

              I was reading when my dad entered-Yo leía cuando entró mi papá. (in this example reading is in imperfect, entered is in preterit)

Conjugations:

              To form a preterit verb, drop the infinitive ending and add a personal ending

	-ar	-er / -ir
yo	-é	-í
tú	-aste	-iste
él/ella/usted	-ó	-ió
Nosotros	-amos	-imos
Vosotros	-asteis	-isteis
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	-aron	-ieron

Demonstration

              I lived – Yo viví

              He lived – él vivió

Compound Tenses/Perfect Tenses

Tenses that are formed with the helping vierb and the past participle of the main verb.

These are used to indicate an action or state as completed/not in progress, with respect to the present future or past.

Conjugation

1.       Use the helping verb haber formed for the appropriate tense and mood

2.       Use the masculine singular for of the past participle

	-ar	-er / -ir
yo/ tú/ él/ella/usted/ Nosotros/ Vosotros/ Ellos/ellas/ustedes	-ado	-ido

Present Perfect Tense

Uses:      Indicate an action or state as having occurred and have been completed

(note unlike English it cannot be used for actions that are ongoing I have been living here for 9 years, it also cannot be used for the idea I have just___ as in I just heard the news)

We have already seen the film - Ya hemos visto la película

Conjugation

1.       Conjugate haber for present tense

2.       Use the masculine singular form of the past participle.

	-ar	-er / -ir
yo	he ___- ado	he ___- ido
tú	has ___ - ado	has ___ - ido
él/ella/usted	ha ___- ado	ha ___- ido
Nosotros	hemos ___- ado	hemos ___- ido
Vosotros	habéis ___- ado	habéis ___- ido
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	han ___- ado	han ___- ido

Examples:

              I have spoken-he hablado

Past Perfect

Uses:      An action in the past that started in the past, and was completed in the past (prior to another action)

                            John said that he had traveled to Mexico.- Juan dijo que había viajado a México.

	-ar	-er / -ir
yo	había___- ado	había___- ido
tú	habías ___ - ado	habías ___ - ido
él/ella/usted	había ___- ado	había ___- ido
Nosotros	habíamos ___- ado	habíamos ___- ido
Vosotros	habréis ___- ado	habréis ___- ido
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	habrán ___- ado	habrán ___- ido

Demonstration

              I will have spoken- había hablado

Future Perfect

Uses:      To indicate an action as having occurred and been completed in the future (We use “will have”)

                            John will have left by 8:00 - Juan habrá salido para las ocho.

              To indicate conjecture (when using words like probably)

                            That noise? It must have been the cat. -¿Ese ruido? Habrá sido el gato.

	-ar	-er / -ir
yo	-ar	-er / -ir
tú	habré ___- ado	habré ___- ido
él/ella/usted	habrás ___ - ado	Habrás  ___ - ido
Nosotros	habrá ___- ado	habrá ___- ido
Vosotros	Habremos ___- ado	Habremos ___- ido
Ellos/ellas/ustedes	habíais ___- ado	Habíais  ___- ido

Demonstration

              I will have spoken-habré hablado