There are 18 Spanish verb tenses\u2014some used daily, and others only in literature and legal documents.\u00a0You likely already know some, like the present simple tense (and maybe even the preterite and imperfect).<\/p>\n
But others, like the subjunctive, might have you scratching your head. Below we’ll explain all 18 tenses with the help of conjugation tables and examples provided by an hispanohablante\u00a0<\/em>(Spanish speaker).<\/p>\n [fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spanish uses both moods (a feature used for signaling modality) and tenses (a category that expresses time) to talk about time and events.<\/p>\n There are three moods:<\/p>\n There are 18 tenses in total<\/strong> that allow you to convey different shades of meaning, and we’ll go over each one in this post.\u00a0<\/p>\n But before we continue, make sure you either understand (or brush up on):<\/p>\n A Spanish tense describes when<\/em> the action took place\u2014past, present or future.<\/p>\n The Spanish moods, on the other hand, determine how the verb will be conjugated\u2014because, unlike the tense, it describes how<\/em> the action took place.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n To fully understand how each mood affects the conjugations, you’ll first learn the tenses in the indicative mood, then the subjective and finally, the imperative.<\/p>\n The tables will teach you how to form the correct conjugations for –ar,\u00a0<\/em>–er<\/em> and –ir<\/em> verbs and you’ll see them in action with the example sentences.<\/p>\n It’s important to note, too, that not all verbs are equal:\u00a0There’s a handful of irregular verbs in Spanish<\/a> (such as\u00a0ser<\/em>, estar<\/em> and tener<\/em>), so once you’ve mastered the regulars with the tables here, you can level up by becoming confident in those.<\/p>\n The indicative mood is the most common in Spanish and the first one you learn when starting your Spanish journey.<\/p>\n It includes all the simple tenses (such as future simple and present simple) and you can use it to talk about anything factual<\/strong> (such as observable features and true events, like “she is tall” or “I went to the store yesterday”).<\/p>\n There are 10 total Spanish verb tenses in the indicative mood, each of which we will explain: present simple, imperfect, preterite, future simple, simple conditional, present perfect, past perfect, past anterior, future perfect and conditional perfect.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, we use the simple present tense<\/a> to talk about facts and descriptions.<\/strong> For example:<\/p>\n Los p\u00e1jaros vuelan<\/strong>. Vivo<\/strong> en Polonia. Juan es<\/strong> alto y tiene<\/strong> los ojos azules. The present simple tense is used a lot more in Spanish than it is in English though, which might not come as natural for you at first.<\/p>\n Such instances include any time you’re talking about:<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n Ahora viven<\/strong> en un hotel. Viajo<\/strong> a Espa\u00f1a el martes. Vivo<\/strong> en Polonia desde 2006. A helpful tip: any time you see the words desde, <\/em>desde que<\/em> and\u00a0desde hace<\/em><\/a> and the verbal periphrasis<\/a> llevar + <\/em>gerund, you’ll most likely want to use the present simple tense!<\/p>\n\nWhat Are the 18 Spanish Tenses?<\/h2>\n
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Spanish Moods vs. Spanish Tenses<\/h2>\n
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The Spanish Indicative Mood<\/h2>\n
1.\u00a0<\/em>Present Simple Tense<\/h3>\n
\n<\/em>Birds fly.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>I live in Poland.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>Juan is tall and has blue eyes.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/em>They are living in a hotel now.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>I’m traveling to Spain on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>I have been living in Poland since 2006.<\/p>\n