Conjugation of the Verbs (Conjugación de los Verbos)

Simple Tenses (Tiempos Simples)

Generally, the personal endings of the Spanish verbal forms agree pretty well with the Latin prototypes. The following major changes, that occured in the evolution of Spanish, are to be mentioned:

• the final -t sound of the 3p. sg. and pl. was dropped out; cf.: L. amat (he) loves => Sp. ama, L. amant (they) love => Sp. aman.
• the intervocalic -t- in 2p. pl. was also suppressed; L. amâtis (you) love => Sp. amáis, L. amabâtis you were loving => Sp. amabais.
• in the 2p. pl. of the Imperative and in the passive perfect participles the intervocalic Latin -t- was however voiced in -d- in Spanish, cf.: L. amâte => Sp. ¡amad! love, L. amâtus beloved => Sp. amado.
• the final -m in the 1 p. sg. of the Imperfect Indicative and in all Subjunctive tenses was dropped; cf. L. amabam I loved (I was loving) => Sp. amaba, L. amem that I love => Sp. (que) (yo) ame.
• the intervocalic Latin -b- in the Imperfect Indicative of the verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations was suppressed; cf. L. valêbam, valêbas, valêbat etc. => Sp. valía, valías, valía etc.

Non-Finite Verbal Forms
 

_	I	II	III
The Present Infinitive	amar	vender	vivir
The Gerund	amando	vendiendo	viviendo
The Past Passive Participle	amado, a, os, as	vendido, a, os, as	vivido, a, os, as

 

Finite Verbal Forms

The Present Indicative (Presente del Indicativo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	amo amas ama	vendo vendes vende	vivo vives vive
Pl.	1 2 3	amamos amáis aman	vendemos vendéis venden	vivimos vivís viven

Formation: It follows pretty well the Latin pattern, except that the intervocalic and the final t in the endings are dropped out. Moreover, the thematic vowels in the 1 person sg. was lost, cf. L. debeo (I) must > Sp. debo. See the Latin Present Indicative.
 

The Imperfect Indicative (Imperfecto del Indicativo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	amaba amabas amaba	vendía vendías vendía	vivía vivías vivía
Pl.	1 2 3	amabamos amabais amaban	vendíamos vendíais vendían	vivíamos vivíais vivían

Formation: Like in the case of the Present Indicative, it follows pretty well the Latin pattern, except that the intervocalic and the final t and the final -m in the endings are dropped out, cf. L. amabam (I) was loving > Sp. amaba, L. amabat (he) was loving > Sp. amaba. Moreover, the intervocalic -b- was suppresed in the personal endings of the 2nd and 3d conjugation verbs, cf. L. vivebam (I) was living > Sp. vivía. See the Latin Imperfect Indicative.

Other Names: Pretérito Imperfecto.
 

The Past Simple Indicative (Perfecto Simple del Indicativo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	amé amaste amó	vendí vendiste vendió	viví viviste vivió
Pl.	1 2 3	amamos amasteis amaron	vendimos vendisteis vendieron	vivimos vivisteis vivieron

Formation: The Latin pattern is easily recognizable, the characteristics like -vi-, -u-, -s- etc. however being suppresed, thus establishing a paradigm of generalized terminations (note especially the -ó in the 3 p. sg., which developed from CL. amavit > VL. amau(t), due to the syncope of the short unstressed -i-, > Sp. amó). See the Latin Perfect Indicative.

Other names: Pretérito Perfecto Simple, Pretérito Perfecto or Pretérito Indefinido.
 

The Future Indicative (Futuro del Indicativo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	amaré amarás amará	venderé venderás venderá	viviré vivirás vivirá
Pl.	1 2 3	amaremos amaréis amarán	venderemos venderéis venderán	viviremos viviréis vivirán

Formation: It is derived from the Vulgar Latin modal construction infinitive +the Present Indicative of the auxiliary  habêre (Sp. haber) to have, which is of a future meaning. In Spanish writing the forms of haber were appended to the infinitive to make a whole word, cf.: amar he > amaré, amar has > amarás etc. Note that the initial h- was ommitted and that in the 2 p. pl. the verbal form habéis was shortened to -éis.

Other Names: Futuro Imperfecto.

See the List of Irregular Future Indicative and Imperfect Conditional verbal forms.
 

The Present Subjunctive (Presente del Subjuntivo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	(que) ame (que) ames (que) ame	(que) venda (que) vendas (que) venda	(que) viva (que) vivas (que) viva
Pl.	1 2 3	(que) amemos (que) améis (que) amen	(que) vendamos (que) vendáis (que) vendan	(que) vivamos (que) viváis (que) vivan

Formation: It follows pretty well the Latin pattern. See the Latin Present Subjunctive.

On the historical development see Subjunctive: Evolution from Classical Latin to Spanish.
 

The First Imperfect Subjunctive (Imperfecto Primo del Subjuntivo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	(que) amase (que) amases (que) amase	(que) vendiese (que) vendieses (que) vendiese	(que) viviese (que) vivieses (que) viviese
Pl.	1 2 3	(que) amásemos (que) amaseis (que) amasen	(que) vendiésemos (que) vendieseis (que) vendiesen	(que) viviésemos (que) vivieseis (que) viviesen

Formation: This tense developed from the Latin Pluperfect Subjunctive.

On the historical development see Subjunctive: Evolution from Classical Latin to Spanish.
 

The Second Imperfect Subjunctive (Imperfecto Segundo del Subjuntivo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	(que) amara (que) amaras (que) amara	(que) vendiera (que) vendieras (que) vendiera	(que) viviera (que) vivieras (que) viviera
Pl.	1 2 3	(que) amáramos (que) amarais (que) amaran	(que) vendiéramos (que) vendierais (que) vendieran	(que) viviéramos (que) vivierais (que) vivieran

Formation: This tense developed from the Latin Imperfect Subjunctive.

Other Names: Condicional del Subjuntivo.

On the historical development see Subjunctive: Evolution from Classical Latin to Spanish.
 

The Future Subjunctive (Futuro del Subjuntivo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	(que) amare (que) amares (que) amare	(que) vendiere (que) vendieres (que) vendiere	(que) viviere (que) vivieres (que) viviere
Pl.	1 2 3	(que) amáremos (que) amareis (que) amaren	(que) vendiéremos (que) vendiereis (que) vendieren	(que) viviéremos (que) viviereis (que) vivieren

Formation: This tense was developed from a confusion of the Latin Future Perfect Indicative and Perfect Subjunctive.

On the historical development see Subjunctive: Evolution from Classical Latin to Spanish.
 

The Imperfect Conditional (Condicional Imperfecto)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	amaría amarías amaría	vendería venderías vendería	viviría vivirías viviría
Pl.	1 2 3	amaríamos amaríais amarían	venderíamos venderíais venderían	viviríamos viviríais vivirían

Formation: It is formed by adding the endings of the Imperfect Indicative to the Present Infinitive.

Other Names: Condicional simple, Condicional del Indicativo.

See the List of Irregular Future Indicative and Imperfect Conditional verbal forms.
 

The Present Imperative (Presente del Imperativo)
 

_		I	II	III
Sg.	1 2 3	- ¡ama! ¡ame!	- ¡vende! ¡venda!	- ¡vive! ¡viva!
Pl.	1 2 3	¡amemos! ¡amad! ¡amen!	¡vendamos! ¡vended! ¡vendan!	¡vivamos! ¡vivid! ¡vivan!

Formation: The forms of the 2 p. sg. and pl. inherit the Latin Present Imperative; note that the Latin intervocalic -t- in the ending for the 2 p. pl. is voiced in Spanish in -d, cf. L. amâte! > Sp. ¡amad!
The other imperative forms are borrowed from the Present Subjunctive.

Note that in the negative are used the forms of the Present Subjunctive only, cf.:

¡No ames! Do not love (you)!
¡No ame!
¡No amemos!
¡No ameis!
¡No amen!

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