Unlike the Russian language, the tense system of the Spanish verb is much more complicated. The main difference is the absence of opposition of verbs by types - perfect and imperfect. Two Russian verbs "do" and "do" in Spanish correspond to one: hacer. However, Spanish has other means of expressing an ongoing or completed action.
Inclinations
There are four moods in Spanish: indicative (Indicativo), subjunctive (Subjuntivo), conditional (Potencial), imperative (Imperativo). The latter has no category of time and exists in a significantly reduced form: for Modo Imperativo Negativo, corresponding to the Russian imperative with a negative particle, the corresponding forms Subjuntivo and Modo Imperativo Afirmativo are used. The affirmative imperative retained its own endings only for the forms for "you" and "you" (as an appeal to a group of persons, with each of which the speaker"you"). For respectful forms, verbs are again used in Subjuntivo.
In the category of the conditional, Simple forms are distinguished for conveying a possible or desired action in the present and future tenses and Perfecto for the past tense.
In the remaining two moods, practically tenses of the Spanish language are realized. They are divided into two large groups: Simple, in general terms corresponding to the tenses of Russian imperfective verbs, and Perfecto or Compuesto, reminiscent of conjugations of perfective verbs. When translating, the boundaries between these two groups become shaky, so you should consider the context and be careful about the purpose of the author's statement.
Modo de Imperativo
The following tenses are distinguished in this mood:
- Presente (present);
- Pretérito imperfecto (past perfect);
- Préterito idefinido (past perfect);
- Futuro simple (future imperfect);
- Préterito perfecto (past perfect; related to moment of speech);
- Pretérito pluscuamperfecto (prepast);
- Futuro compuesto (future perfect).
All simple tenses are formed with endings attached to the stem of the verb. The only exceptions are the forms of the future tense, where the endings are attached to the infinitive. Compound tenses are formed with the help of the auxiliary verb haber, conjugated in definite tense, and the invariable past participle(Participio pasado).
There are three conjugations of Spanish verbs depending on the stem ending: -ar, -er, -ir. However, the third conjugation is realized only in the forms of the present tense. The following are sample conjugations for the verbs parar ("to stop"), temer ("to be afraid"), and subir ("to rise").
| Presente | Pretérito imperfecto | Préterito idefinido | Futuro simple | ||||||||||||
| I | II | III | I | II, III | I | II, III | I, II, III | ||||||||
| paro | -o | temo | -o | subo | -o | paraba | -aba | temía, subía | -ía | paré | -é | temí, subí | -í | pararé, temeré, subiré | -é |
| paras | -as | temes | -es | subes | -es | parabas | -abas | temías, subías | -ías | paraste | -aste | temiste, subiste | -iste | pararás, temerás, subirás | -ás |
| para | -a | teme | -e | sube | -e | paraba | -aba | temía, subía | -ía | paro | -ó | temió, subió | -ió | parará, temerá, subirá | -á |
| paramos | -amos | tememos | -emos | subimos | -imos | parábamos | -ábamos | temíamos, subíamos | -íamos | paramos | -amos | temimos, subimos | -imos | pararemos, temeremos, subiremos | -emos |
| paráis | -áis | teméis | -éis | subís | -ís | parabais | -abais | temíais, subíais | -íais | parasteis | -asteis | temisteis, subisteis | -isteis | pararéis, temeréis, subiréis | -éis |
| paran | -an | temen | -en | suben | -en | paraban | -aban | temían, subían | -ían | pararon | -aron | temieron, subieron | -ieron | pararán, temerán, subirán | -án |
To conjugate Spanish verbs in Perfecto tenses, you need to know the rules for forming the past participle. For the first conjugation, you need to add the ending -ado (parar - parado) to the stem of the verb, and for the second and third -ido (temer - temido, subir - subido).
However, to the disappointment of beginners, there is a group of irregular verbs in Spanish that form the participle from a different stem (escribir - escrito, romper - roto, cubrir - cubierto). These forms of participles must be memorized. Differences in conjugations in compound tenses occur only in the formation of the participle.
| Préterito perfecto | Pretérito pluscuamperfecto | Futuro compuesto |
| he parado (temido, subido) | había parado (temido, subido) | habré parado (temido, subido) |
| has parado (temido, subido) | habías parado (temido, subido) | habrás parado (temido, subido) |
| ha parado (temido, subido) | había parado (temido, subido) | habrá parado (temido, subido) |
| hemos parado (temido, subido) | habíamos parado (temido, subido) | habremos parado (temido, subido) |
| habéis parado (temido, subido) | habíais parado (temido, subido) | habréis parado (temido, subido) |
| han parado (temido, subido) | habían parado (temido, subido) | habrán parado (temido, subido) |
It is easy to see that the auxiliary verb is conjugated in Perfecto, Pretérito imperfecto and Futuro simple tenses to form Préterito perfecto, Pretérito pluscuamperfecto and Futuro compuesto tenses respectively. The same rule will apply to the subjunctive.
Declining verbs
Spanish is characterized by the presence of several groups of declining verbs. Of these, three are the most important, in which at some times, under the influence of stress, a change in the rootvowel:
- "e" is replaced by "ie";
- "o" becomes "ue";
- "e" shrinks to "i".
Because in the tenses described above, the stress goes to the root only in all persons and numbers (except 1 and 2 plural) Presente, these root vowel changes occur only in this form. The first group of declining verbs is present in all conjugations, the second - only in the verbs of the second conjugation and one verb of the first (jugar), the third - only in the third conjugation. The following is a sample conjugation of the verbs cerrar ("to close"), jugar ("to play"), and pedir ("to ask").
| 1 group | 2 group | 3 group |
| cierro | juego | pido |
| cierras | juegas | pides |
| cierra | juega | pise |
| cerramos | jugamos | pedimos |
| cerráis | jugáis | pedis |
| cierran | juegan | piden |
Irregular verbs
There is also a small group of irregular verbs. The forms of their tenses in Spanish are often formed from other stems with the addition of special endings. As a rule, these are the most frequent verbs. As an example, consider the conjugation of the verb ser in all simple indicative tenses.
| Presente | Pretérito imperfecto | Pretérito indefinido | Futuro simple |
| soy | era | fui | seré |
| eres | eras | fuimos | serás |
| es | era | fue | será |
| somos | eramos | fuimos | seremos |
| sois | erais | fuisteis | seréis |
| son | eran | fueron | seran |
Modo de Subjuntivo
The number of tenses of this mood is much less than that of the indicative.
- Presente.
- Pretérito imperfecto.
- Préterito perfecto.
- Pretérito pluscuamperfecto.
The subjunctive mood is characterized by the same patterns as the indicative mood: three conjugations (the second and third do not differ), changes in the root under the influence of stress and the formation of complex tenses with the help of an auxiliary verb and the past participle.
| Presente | Pretérito imperfecto | Préterito perfecto | Pretérito pluscuamperfecto | ||||||||||
| I | II, III | Form on -ra- | Form on -se- | ||||||||||
| I | II, III | I | II, III | ||||||||||
| pare | -e | tema, suba | -a | parara | -ara | temiera, subiera | -iera | parase | -ase | temiese, subiese | -iese | haya parado (temido, subido) | hubiera parado (temido, subido) |
| pares | -es | temas, subas | -as | pararas | -aras | temieras, subieras | -ieras | parases | -ases | temieses, subieses | -ieses | hayas parado (temido, subido) | hubieras parado (temido, subido) |
| pare | -e | tema, suba | -a | parara | -ara | temiera, subiera | -iera | parase | -ase | temiese, subiese | -iese | haya parado (temido, subido) | hubiera parado (temido, subido) |
| paremos | -emos | temamos, subamos | -amos | paráramos | -áramos | temiéramos, subiéramos | -iéramos | parásemos | -ásemos | temiésemos, subiésemos | -iésemos | hayamos parado (temido, subido) | hubiéramos parado (temido, subido) |
| paréis | -éis | temáis, subáis | -áis | pararais | -arais | temierais, subierais | -ierais | paraseis | -aseis | temieseis, subieseis | -ieseis | hayáis parado (temido, subido) | hubierais parado (temido, subido) |
| paren | -en | teman, suban | -an | pararan | -aran | temieran, subieran | -ieran | parasen | -asen | temiesen, subiesen | -iesen | hayan parado (temido, subido) | hubieran parado (temido, subido) |
As you can see, in Spanish, the present subjunctive is formed by rearranging the endings: those that were used in the indicative mood for verbs of the first conjugation are now attached to the stems of verbs of the second and third conjugations and vice versa.
The "-ra-" and "-se-" forms in Spanish are considered full-fledged, and their use depends on the choice of the speaker. In Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, they sometimes replace the indicative tenses (for example, the form on "-se-" is actively used in the meaning of the past tense of the indicative mood).
Uncommon tenses in Spanish
There is a group of tenses that are not used in everyday communication. An example is Préterito anterior, denoting a completed action preceding an action that took place in the past. This form is not taught in Spanish for beginners, but it is quite common in fiction or non-fiction, especially in older books, so it is worth familiarizing yourself with it. It is formed using the auxiliary verb haber (hube, hubiste, hubo, hubimos, hubisteis, hubieron) in the form Pretérito indefenido and the past participle.
There are also forms of simple and complex future subjunctive. They are used primarily in legal texts. In modern fiction and scientific literature, these tenses practically do not occur and are replaced by the forms of the present subjunctive.
