University:
Concordia University Texas
Course:
SPN 1401 | Spanish I
Academic year:

2021
Views:

292

Pages:

4
Author:

esfredint7qo

Just a warning, this post is super long since it introduces all the Spanish verb tenses! But it’s a great place to start when you want to compare them and decide which is right for your context. For deeper explanations we have dedicated posts for each tense, which are linked in each section. Happy learning! Four Spanish moods for conjugation In Spanish, verb conjugation falls into four moods, depending on what we’re trying to express, with each mood having its own tenses. Don’t worry, we’ll get into each tense further along. For now let’s just have an overview of the four moods: 1. Indicative ● I study Spanish. – Yo estudio español. ● You ate a lot of pasta. – Tú comiste mucha pasta. ● She will work tomorrow. – Ella trabajará mañana. 2. Subjunctive ● Maybe he’ll call later. – Quizás él llame más tarde. ● It is so good that you went to the party. – Es bueno que ustedes hayan ido a la fiesta. ● Maybe we’ll go to the cinema later. – Tal vez vayamos al cine más tarde. 3. Imperative ● Cook the dinner! – ¡Cocina la cena! ● Wash your hands! – ¡Lava tus manos! ● Clean your room! – ¡Limpia tu cuarto! 4. Conditional ● If you do your homework, you can go out. – Si haces la tarea, podrías salir. ● If I buy the ingredients, would you cook pizza? – Si compro los ingredientes, ¿cocinarías pizza? ● Would you dance with me? – ¿Bailarías conmigo? Now that you have an idea of what sort of sentences fall into each mood, we can consider the different tenses each mood uses. Next, we’ll go through each of the Spanish verb tenses mood by mood. Don’t worry, we’re not going through all of the conjugations for every tense here. We have specific posts which treat each tense in more detail, including conjugations: we include links to each one in their respective sections below. This post is rather intended to provide a good overview of all the different tenses and their differences so you can recognize each and choose the right one when speaking and writing in Spanish. Nonetheless, we’ll provide first person singular (yo) conjugations for two common verbs in each tense to give as examples: ir and comprar. At the end of the post we give example sentences for both of these words with every one of the tenses. All the Spanish Verb Tenses Here’s the list of All the Spanish Verb Tenses, with quick links to their respective sections below. ● Indicative mood Indicative mood: Simple tenses ■ Present ■ Imperfect past ■ Simple past ■ Future Indicative mood: Perfect tenses ■ Present perfect ■ Past perfect ■ Future perfect Indicative mood: Progressive tenses ■ Present progressive ■ Past progressive ● Subjunctive mood Subjunctive mood: Simple tenses ■ Present subjunctive ■ Imperfect subjunctive Subjunctive mood: Perfect tenses ■ Present perfect subjunctive ■ Past perfect subjunctive ● Imperative mood ■ Imperative affirmative ■ Imperative negative ● Conditional mood ■ Conditional ■ Conditional compound Now let’s get started! Recommended: How to Learn Spanish Fast in 2024 Indicative mood This mood is used to talk about reality or facts. This is always the case, regardless of the tense (simple, perfect, or progressive). Using the indicative mood we can talk about and describe actions at the moment they occur, whether it’s the past, present, or future.