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Pensar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to think”.
Below are all of the conjugations for pensar 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 think |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | pensar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está pensando) and past continuous (estaba pensando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. thinking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he pensado and hubiera pensado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have thought).
| Gerundio / Gerund | pensando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | pensado |
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 think” or “they think”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pienso |
| Tú | piensas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | piensa |
| Nosotros / as | pensamos |
| Vosotros / as | pensáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | piensan |
| Vos | pensás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I thought” or “she thought” 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 | pensé | I thought |
| Tú | pensaste | You thought |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pensó | He / she / you thought |
| Nosotros / as | pensamos | We thought |
| Vosotros / as | pensasteis | You thought |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pensaron | They / you thought |
| Vos | pensaste | You thought |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was thinking” or “she was thinking” 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 | pensaba | I was thinking |
| Tú | pensabas | You were thinking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pensaba | He was / she was / you were thinking |
| Nosotros / as | pensábamos | We were thinking |
| Vosotros / as | pensabais | You were thinking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pensaban | They / you were thinking |
| Vos | pensabas | You were thinking |
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 thought” and “she has thought”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he pensado | I have thought |
| Tú | has pensado | You have thought |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha pensado | He has / she has / you have thought |
| Nosotros / as | hemos pensado | We have thought |
| Vosotros / as | habéis pensado | You have thought |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han pensado | They / you have thought |
| Vos | has pensado | You have thought |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would think” or “she would think”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pensaría | I would think |
| Tú | pensarías | You would think |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pensaría | He / she / you would think |
| Nosotros / as | pensaríamos | We would think |
| Vosotros / as | pensaríais | You would think |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pensarían | They / you would think |
| Vos | pensarías | You would think |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will think” or “they will think”.
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 pensar” means “They are going to think”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pensaré | I will think |
| Tú | pensarás | You will think |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pensará | He / she / you will think |
| Nosotros / as | pensaremos | We will think |
| Vosotros / as | pensaréis | You will think |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pensarán | They / you will think |
| Vos | pensarás | You will think |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | piense |
| Tú | pienses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | piense |
| Nosotros / as | pensemos |
| Vosotros / as | penséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | piensen |
| Vos | pienses |
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 | pensara | pensase |
| Tú | pensaras | pensase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pensara | pensase |
| Nosotros / as | pensáramos | pensásemos |
| Vosotros / as | pensarais | pensaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pensaran | pensasen |
| Vos | pensaras | pensase |
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 | pensare |
| Tú | pensares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pensare |
| Nosotros / as | pensáremos |
| Vosotros / as | pensareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pensaren |
| Vos | pensares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “think!” and “don’t think!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | piensa | no pienses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | piense | no piense |
| Nosotros / as | pensemos | no pensemos |
| Vosotros / as | pensad | no penséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | piensen | no piensen |
| Vos | pensá | no pienses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya pensado |
| Tú | hayas pensado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya pensado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos pensado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis pensado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan pensado |
| Vos | hayas pensado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera pensado / hubiese pensado |
| Tú | hubieras pensado / hubieses pensado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera pensado / hubiese pensado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos pensado / hubiésemos pensado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais pensado / hubieseis pensado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran pensado / hubiesen pensado |
| Vos | hubieras pensado / hubieses pensado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere pensado |
| Tú | hubieres pensado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere pensado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos pensado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis pensado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren pensado |
| Vos | hubieres pensado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté pensando |
| Tú | estés pensando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté pensando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos pensando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis pensando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén pensando |
| Vos | estés pensando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera pensando / estuviese pensando |
| Tú | estuvieras pensando / estuvieses pensando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera pensando / estuviese pensando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos pensando / estuviésamos pensando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais pensando / estuvieseis pensando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera pensando / estuviese pensando |
| Vos | estuvieras pensando / estuvieses pensando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere pensando |
| Tú | estuvieres pensando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere pensando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos pensando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis pensando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere pensando |
| Vos | estuvieres pensando |
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 pensás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos pensaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos pensabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos pensarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos pensarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos pienses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos pensaras / Vos pensase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos pensá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no pienses |
