This is a reference for Spanish verbs: 137 of the most useful ones, each conjugated in every tense a learner needs up to the intermediate stage, with the irregular forms marked in red and a play button on every form. Search for a verb or pick one from the list, read its table, and when a form will not stick, press Train this verb for a short typing drill.
Your device has no Spanish voice, so the play buttons are hidden.
- Who it is for
- Learners of Spanish (español) from English who know what a verb ending is and want to look one up fast.
- What it gives you
- 137 verbs, 5,476 forms in 7 tenses and moods, participles and gerunds, a one-line note per verb, and a typing drill for any one of them.
- Comes after
- Any time; the patterns are explained in Spanish 1: Sounds & Spelling (37/03), Spanish 2: The Present Tense (37/04), Spanish 3: Irregular Verbs, Ser & Estar (37/05), Spanish 4: Your First 150 Words (37/06).
- Leads to
- Words by Level for vocabulary and How to Say It for phrases and sentence patterns.
- Honest line
- Tables are for checking. Fluency comes from meeting the forms in sentences again and again; use this page to settle a doubt, then go back to reading and listening.
Find a verb
Type an infinitive or an English meaning. Accents are optional in the search box. Every form is a button: tap it to hear it.
The tables need JavaScript to show.
Tenses to practise:
All the verbs
Filter by level or by family, then pick one. The families group verbs that change in the same way, so learning one teaches you the rest.
| Family | Verbs | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | 52 | hablar, comprar, trabajar, estudiar |
| Spelling change | 8 | buscar, llegar, pagar, sacar |
| Stem-changing | 34 | pensar, empezar, comenzar, cerrar |
| Yo change | 10 | conocer, parecer, ofrecer, nacer |
| Accent or y | 8 | leer, creer, construir, incluir |
| Irregular | 25 | valer, salir, ser, estar |
The tenses on this page
You do not need every tense at once. The present comes first, then one past and the near future; the rest arrive as you need them.
| Tense | When it is used |
|---|---|
| Present presente | What is true now, habits, and often the near future: hablo, I speak. |
| Preterite (simple past) pretérito indefinido | Finished events at a point in the past: ayer hablé, I spoke yesterday. |
| Imperfect pretérito imperfecto | Background, habits and descriptions in the past: hablaba, I used to speak / I was speaking. |
| Future futuro | Will: hablaré. Everyday speech often uses ir a + infinitive instead. |
| Conditional condicional | Would: hablaría. Also polite requests: ¿podría…? |
| Present subjunctive presente de subjuntivo | After wishes, doubts and que + another subject: quiero que hables. |
| Imperative (commands) imperativo | Telling someone to do something. Negative commands use the subjunctive: no hables. |
Vos replaces tú in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and is common in much of Central America; the present is shown here. It appears in the tables as its own row, under the person it replaces.
How the tables were made
Spanish verbs fall into three families by the end of the infinitive: -ar, -er and -ir. The ending of each form tells you who is acting, so the subject is usually left out: hablo is "I speak". Most irregular verbs are irregular in the same few ways: a stem that changes when it is stressed (pienso, duermo, pido), a yo form with a g (tengo, hago, salgo), a new stem in the preterite (tuve, hice, dije) and a shortened one in the future (tendré, haré, diré). Learn those patterns once and most red forms stop being surprises.
Every form on this page was produced by rule: the regular endings of each family, plus a short list of irregular stems and forms. The output was then checked form by form against a published conjugation reference (see Sources), and every difference was fixed until none was left.
Red is a strict test. A form is red when it differs from what the plain regular pattern of its family would give: a new stem, a changed vowel, a spelling change or a moved accent. Some forms that grammar books call regular, because they only change their spelling to keep a sound, are red here too, because they are exactly the forms people misspell.
Reading a table well
- Look for the pattern first. Most verbs follow their family. Learn one regular verb of each family by heart and the tables become a check, not a list.
- Red marks the surprise. A red form is one the regular rule would get wrong. Those are the forms worth drilling; the rest you can work out.
- Say the forms aloud in order. Six forms in rhythm stick better than six forms read silently.
- Then put one in a sentence. A form you have used in a sentence about your own day is a form you will find again when you speak.
What sticks
- Verbs come in families; learn one model verb per family and most tables follow.
- The irregular forms are few and very common: they are the ones to drill.
- Present first, then one past and the near future; the other tenses as you meet them.
- Tap a form to hear it; say it back before you move on.
- Use the drill for one verb at a time, a few minutes a day, until the red forms come without thinking.
Use the tables to settle doubts and the drill to fix the few forms that keep slipping. Everything else comes from meeting verbs in real sentences.
Try this: open the most common irregular verb you know, press Train this verb, and get ten in a row right in the present and the past.
Sources. Every form was generated by rule from a short list of irregular stems, then checked one by one against the conjugation tables on English Wiktionary: 137 verbs, every tense on this page, with no differences left.