100 Examples of Verb Tenses in Spanish

Verb Tenses in Spanish

The verbal tense is the grammatical category that locates the performance of an action or locates a state, either in the present tense (hug, run, gather), past time (hugged, ran, met) or future tense (will hug, run, gather).

Verb tenses can be simple, if the action is expressed with a single word (we hug), or compounds, if they are expressed with more than one word, in general, a Auxiliar verb and a participle (we have embraced).

Verbs are a class of words that express actions, processes, states or existence. Syntactically, verbs form verb phrases and are the core of predicate.

Verb categories

Morphologically, the verb is the part of the sentence that has more grammatical accidents, that is, variations in its ending corresponding to:

• Weather. The verb tense is the variation that places the facts in relation to the moment in which it is spoken (now).
  • Last (before now). It is the one that offers more nuances, since the speaker fixes its proximity and extension with respect to the present. For instance:
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    Solitude last night ate popcorn at the cinema. / They have lost the opportunity to meet.
  • Present (takes place now, at the moment the first person speaks). It also has some special uses:

- Present usual. When something that usually happens is expressed in the present, something that is habit or custom. For instance: Walk to my dog ​​every afternoon. / Juan it is very studious.

- Historical present. It is a very used way in the narration, by means of which the narrator and the interlocutors identify with the narrated events. They revive them and that is why they are enunciated in the present, even if they are events of the past. It is also used to give emphasis and arouse interest in what is narrated. For instance: Without a doubt, the final scene of gone With the Wind it is the most dramatic part of the film, when Rett He says to Scarlett who no longer it matters her marriage, and she gobe lost in the haze while swears who will do everything to get it back.

- The present for the future. It is used as a way to anticipate the facts, to live them in advance. For instance: Tomorrow we we go Travel.

• • Future (passes after now). Sometimes, in addition to expressing future actions, it is used to propose possibilities, make assumptions, make hypotheses about something that may be happening. For instance: Grandpa will be to arrive at any time. / ¿Will be eight o'clock already?
• Mode. Indicates the attitude of the speaker.
  • Indicative mode. The speaker presents the stated fact as real. For instance: Tomorrow I'll buy a book.
  • Subjunctive mode. The speaker presents the stated fact as the expression of a wish or as a possibility. For instance: I would like to buy a book / I don't think canto buy a book.
  • Imperative mode. The speaker expresses an order, request or advice. For instance: Purchase a book.
• Person. Indicates the relationship between the entities that make up the speech act and this act. It is possible to identify three situations and the verbal endings vary according to the person.
  • First person. The person who talks about himself. For instance: I (himor).
  • Second person. The person to whom you are speaking. For instance: You / youit is/leand).
  • Third person. The one that does not intervene in the dialogue. For instance: He / she (youand).
• Number. This variation refers to the special forms that the verb has for the three persons in the singular and the three persons in the plural. The number is also indicated by a change in the verbal ending. For instance: I hugor - We embraceyou / You hugace - You hugan / He / she huggedto - They / They huggedan.
• Appearance. It is the one that indicates the phase of the action expressed by the verb.
  • Appearance perfective. It expresses a completed action. For instance: I lookedó.
  • Appearance imperfective. It expresses an action in progress. For instance: lookto.

In both cases, the time for action is in the past. What differentiates one from the other is the internal time of the action, that is, the aspect.

Paradigm and uses of verb tenses

Regular conjugation of three type verbs (jump - eat - attend).

INDICATIVE MODE - SIMPLE SHAPES

PRESENT

Applications:

• State an action in the present.
• Describe a state.
• Describe an everyday habit or action.

IMPERFECT / PRETERITE IMPERFECT / CO-REPRESENTATIVE

Applications:

• Talk about habits and routines in the past.
• Describe actions, places, and people that existed or took place in the past.

PRETERIT / SIMPLE PERFECT PRETERITE / UNDEFINED PRETERITE

Use: to express finished actions of the past, not linked to the present.

FUTURE / SIMPLE FUTURE / IMPERFECT FUTURE

Use: to express an action to come, an intention or a probability.

CONDITIONAL / SIMPLE CONDITIONAL / POST PERFORMANCE

Applications:

• Ask for things politely.
• Express wishes.

INDICATIVE MODE - COMPOUND FORMS

PERFECT TENSE / PERFECT COMPOSITE PRETERIT

Use: to talk about past events with which the speaker still maintains a close relationship.

PRETERITE PLUSCUAMPERFECT / ANTECOPRETÉRITO

Use: to express a past action, occurred before another action in the past.

PAST PERFECT

Use: to express a past action, prior to another that is also from the past, immediately after. Currently in disuse in colloquial Spanish.

PERFECT FUTURE / COMPOSITE FUTURE

Applications:

• Mention actions that will occur after the moment of speaking.
• Make conjectures or express probabilities regarding a state or situation prior to the moment it is stated.

CONDITIONAL COMPOUND

Applications:

• Form compound sentences with "If ..."
• Formulate conjectures or rhetorical questions in the past tense.

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE - SIMPLE FORMS

PRESENT

Applications:

• Indicate probability or doubt.
• Express requests, commands or advice, using the formula: indicative + that + subjunctive.
• Give your opinion using verbs like believe think in negative sentences.
• Express wishes or likes about something that happens to another person.
• After markers such as "as soon as" or "when", with a nuance of the future.

IMPERFECT / PRETERITE / IMPERFECT PRETERIT

Usage: to state imaginary or improbable conditional sentences.

FUTURE / SIMPLE FUTURE / IMPERFECT FUTURE

Use: to refer to a future and hypothetical action or situation.

SUBJUNCTIVE MODE - COMPOUND FORMS

PERFECT TENSE

Applications:

• Refer actions from the past that have concluded, but whose effect is maintained in the present.
• Express an action that will be finished in the future.

PRETERITE PLUSCUAMPERFECT

Applications:

• In subordinate clauses, when a completed action is expressed in the past, prior to that indicated in the subordinate clause.
• To express actions that could have occurred in the past, but did not happen.
• In conditional sentences formed with the subjunctive pluperfect + compound conditional.
• Enunciate actions that are impossible to fulfill or express something that could not be.

PERFECT FUTURE

Use: to express a future action, with respect to another future action that will have already occurred. They are unreal actions that have not occurred and it is not known if they will occur.

IMPERATIVE MODE

Use: to express commands, orders, requests, requests or wishes.

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