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Empezar Conjugation

empezar means "to begin" in Spanish. Present: yo empiezo, tú empiezas, él / ella / usted empieza, nosotros empezamos, vosotros (Spain) empezáis, ellos / ellas / ustedes empiezan. Below: all 21 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present Presente

The base tense for habitual actions, general truths and things happening right now; formed by replacing the infinitive ending with the present endings.

Present continuous Presente progresivo

estar (present) + gerund; emphasizes an action happening right now, more vivid and immediate than the simple present.

Simple past (preterite) Pretérito indefinido (perfecto simple)

A completed action seen as a finished whole at a specific point in the past; the main narrative past tense.

Imperfect Pretérito imperfecto

Describes ongoing or habitual past actions, background description, age and time in the past, with no defined endpoint.

Present perfect Pretérito perfecto compuesto

haber (present) + past participle; a past action linked to the present moment or a very recent past (strongly preferred over the preterite in Spain for "today" events).

Pluperfect Pretérito pluscuamperfecto

haber (imperfect) + past participle; a past action completed before another past action.

Preterite anterior (literary) Pretérito anterior

haber (preterite) + past participle; a literary tense for an action completed immediately before another past action, used only after conjunctions like cuando, apenas, en cuanto in formal/literary writing; almost entirely replaced by the pluperfect or simple preterite in everyday speech.

Simple future Futuro simple

Infinitive + future endings; predictions, promises and future facts; also used to express probability about the present ("será" = "it's probably").

Periphrastic future (going to) Futuro perifrástico (ir a + infinitivo)

ir (present) + a + infinitive; the everyday way to talk about the future, especially near or planned future, far more common in speech than the simple future.

Future perfect Futuro compuesto

haber (future) + past participle; an action that will be completed before a future point; also expresses probability about the past ("habrá hablado" = "he probably spoke").

Conditional Condicional simple

Infinitive + conditional endings; hypothetical actions, polite requests, and "future in the past"; also expresses probability about the past ("sería" = "it was probably").

Conditional perfect Condicional compuesto

haber (conditional) + past participle; what would have happened, used for hypothetical past actions, often with an imperfect-subjunctive "if" clause.

Present subjunctive Presente de subjuntivo

Used for present or future subjective/uncertain actions in the dependent clause; triggered by verbs of wish, doubt, emotion and impersonal expressions, and after certain conjunctions.

Imperfect subjunctive Pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)

Used for past subjective actions and in most contrary-to-fact "if" clauses. Spanish has two equally correct sets of endings, -ra and -se; the -ra form is more common in speech (and doubles as a literary alternative to the conditional), while -se is more common in formal writing, especially in Spain. Forms below show the -ra set; replace -ra- with -se- for the -se set (hablase, hablases, hablase, hablásemos, hablaseis, hablasen).

Present perfect subjunctive Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo

haber (present subjunctive) + past participle; a subjective action seen as completed relative to the present or near future.

Pluperfect subjunctive Pretérito pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo

haber (imperfect subjunctive) + past participle; a subjective action completed before another past action, and the standard form for the "if" clause of a past contrary-to-fact conditional (paired with the conditional perfect).

Affirmative imperative Imperativo afirmativo

Direct commands and requests. tú/vos, usted, nosotros ('let's'), vosotros and ustedes all have their own forms; there is no yo form.

Negative imperative Imperativo negativo

Negative commands always use the present subjunctive form after no, for every person including tú.

Infinitive Infinitivo

The unconjugated dictionary form, ending in -ar, -er or -ir; used after prepositions and modal/auxiliary verbs.

Gerund Gerundio

-ando (-ar verbs) / -iendo (-er/-ir verbs); forms the progressive tenses with estar and expresses manner, cause or simultaneity on its own.

Past participle Participio

-ado (-ar verbs) / -ido (-er/-ir verbs); invariable in compound tenses with haber, but agrees like an adjective when used with ser/estar or as a modifier.

Examples

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