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Esperar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to wait”.
Below are all of the conjugations for esperar 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 wait |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esperar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esperando) and past continuous (estaba esperando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. waiting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esperado and hubiera esperado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have waited).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esperando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esperado |
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 wait” or “they wait”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | espero |
| Tú | esperas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | espera |
| Nosotros / as | esperamos |
| Vosotros / as | esperáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperan |
| Vos | esperás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I waited” or “she waited” 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 | esperé | I waited |
| Tú | esperaste | You waited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esperó | He / she / you waited |
| Nosotros / as | esperamos | We waited |
| Vosotros / as | esperasteis | You waited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperaron | They / you waited |
| Vos | esperaste | You waited |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was waiting” or “she was waiting” 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 | esperaba | I was waiting |
| Tú | esperabas | You were waiting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esperaba | He was / she was / you were waiting |
| Nosotros / as | esperábamos | We were waiting |
| Vosotros / as | esperabais | You were waiting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperaban | They / you were waiting |
| Vos | esperabas | You were waiting |
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 waited” and “she has waited”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he esperado | I have waited |
| Tú | has esperado | You have waited |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha esperado | He has / she has / you have waited |
| Nosotros / as | hemos esperado | We have waited |
| Vosotros / as | habéis esperado | You have waited |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han esperado | They / you have waited |
| Vos | has esperado | You have waited |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would wait” or “she would wait”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esperaría | I would wait |
| Tú | esperarías | You would wait |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esperaría | He / she / you would wait |
| Nosotros / as | esperaríamos | We would wait |
| Vosotros / as | esperaríais | You would wait |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperarían | They / you would wait |
| Vos | esperarías | You would wait |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will wait” or “they will wait”.
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 esperar” means “They are going to wait”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | esperaré | I will wait |
| Tú | esperarás | You will wait |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esperará | He / she / you will wait |
| Nosotros / as | esperaremos | We will wait |
| Vosotros / as | esperaréis | You will wait |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperarán | They / you will wait |
| Vos | esperarás | You will wait |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | espere |
| Tú | esperes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | espere |
| Nosotros / as | esperemos |
| Vosotros / as | esperéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperen |
| Vos | esperes |
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 | esperara | esperase |
| Tú | esperaras | esperase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esperara | esperase |
| Nosotros / as | esperáramos | esperásemos |
| Vosotros / as | esperarais | esperaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperaran | esperasen |
| Vos | esperaras | esperase |
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 | esperare |
| Tú | esperares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esperare |
| Nosotros / as | esperáremos |
| Vosotros / as | esperareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperaren |
| Vos | esperares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “wait!” and “don’t wait!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | espera | no esperes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | espere | no espere |
| Nosotros / as | esperemos | no esperemos |
| Vosotros / as | esperad | no esperéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esperen | no esperen |
| Vos | esperá | no esperes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esperado |
| Tú | hayas esperado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esperado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esperado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esperado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esperado |
| Vos | hayas esperado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esperado / hubiese esperado |
| Tú | hubieras esperado / hubieses esperado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esperado / hubiese esperado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esperado / hubiésemos esperado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esperado / hubieseis esperado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esperado / hubiesen esperado |
| Vos | hubieras esperado / hubieses esperado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esperado |
| Tú | hubieres esperado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esperado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esperado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esperado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esperado |
| Vos | hubieres esperado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esperando |
| Tú | estés esperando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esperando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esperando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esperando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esperando |
| Vos | estés esperando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esperando / estuviese esperando |
| Tú | estuvieras esperando / estuvieses esperando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esperando / estuviese esperando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esperando / estuviésamos esperando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esperando / estuvieseis esperando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esperando / estuviese esperando |
| Vos | estuvieras esperando / estuvieses esperando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esperando |
| Tú | estuvieres esperando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esperando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esperando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esperando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esperando |
| Vos | estuvieres esperando |
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 esperás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos esperaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos esperabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos esperarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos esperarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos esperes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos esperaras / Vos esperase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esperá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no esperes |
