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Ser is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be (permanent qualities)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for ser in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to be (permanent qualities) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ser |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está siendo) and past continuous (estaba siendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he sido and hubiera sido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been).
| Gerundio / Gerund | siendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | sido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I am” or “they am”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | soy |
| Tú | eres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | es |
| Nosotros / as | somos |
| Vosotros / as | sois |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | son |
| Vos | sos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was” or “she was” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fui | I was |
| Tú | fuiste | You was |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fue | He / she / you was |
| Nosotros / as | fuimos | We was |
| Vosotros / as | fuisteis | You was |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fueron | They / you was |
| Vos | fuiste | You was |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being” or “she was being” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | era | I was being |
| Tú | eras | You were being |
| Él / Ella / Usted | era | He was / she was / you were being |
| Nosotros / as | éramos | We were being |
| Vosotros / as | erais | You were being |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | eran | They / you were being |
| Vos | eras | You were being |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have been” and “she has been”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he sido | I have been |
| Tú | has sido | You have been |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha sido | He has / she has / you have been |
| Nosotros / as | hemos sido | We have been |
| Vosotros / as | habéis sido | You have been |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han sido | They / you have been |
| Vos | has sido | You have been |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be” or “she would be”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | sería | I would am |
| Tú | serías | You would am |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sería | He / she / you would am |
| Nosotros / as | seríamos | We would am |
| Vosotros / as | seríais | You would am |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | serían | They / you would am |
| Vos | serías | You would am |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be” or “they will be”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a ser” means “They are going to be”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | seré | I will am |
| Tú | serás | You will am |
| Él / Ella / Usted | será | He / she / you will am |
| Nosotros / as | seremos | We will am |
| Vosotros / as | seréis | You will am |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | serán | They / you will am |
| Vos | serás | You will am |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | sea |
| Tú | seas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sea |
| Nosotros / as | seamos |
| Vosotros / as | seáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sean |
| Vos | seas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | fuera | fuese |
| Tú | fueras | fuese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fuera | fuese |
| Nosotros / as | fuéramos | fuésemos |
| Vosotros / as | fuerais | fueseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fueran | fuesen |
| Vos | fueras | fuese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | fuere |
| Tú | fueres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fuere |
| Nosotros / as | fuéremos |
| Vosotros / as | fuereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fueren |
| Vos | fueres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be!” and “don’t be!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | sé | no seas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sea | no sea |
| Nosotros / as | seamos | no seamos |
| Vosotros / as | sed | no seáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sean | no sean |
| Vos | sé | no seas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya sido |
| Tú | hayas sido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya sido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos sido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis sido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan sido |
| Vos | hayas sido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera sido / hubiese sido |
| Tú | hubieras sido / hubieses sido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera sido / hubiese sido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos sido / hubiésemos sido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais sido / hubieseis sido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran sido / hubiesen sido |
| Vos | hubieras sido / hubieses sido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere sido |
| Tú | hubieres sido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere sido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos sido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis sido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren sido |
| Vos | hubieres sido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté siendo |
| Tú | estés siendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté siendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos siendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis siendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén siendo |
| Vos | estés siendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera siendo / estuviese siendo |
| Tú | estuvieras siendo / estuvieses siendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera siendo / estuviese siendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos siendo / estuviésamos siendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais siendo / estuvieseis siendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera siendo / estuviese siendo |
| Vos | estuvieras siendo / estuvieses siendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere siendo |
| Tú | estuvieres siendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere siendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos siendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis siendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere siendo |
| Vos | estuvieres siendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos sos |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos fuiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos eras |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos serías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos serás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos seas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos fueras / Vos fuese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos sé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no seas |
