Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Servir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be useful / to serve”.
Below are all of the conjugations for servir 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 useful / to serve |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | servir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está sirviendo) and past continuous (estaba sirviendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. serving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he servido and hubiera servido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have served).
| Gerundio / Gerund | sirviendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | servido |
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 serve” or “they serve”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | sirvo |
| Tú | sirves |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sirve |
| Nosotros / as | servimos |
| Vosotros / as | servís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sirven |
| Vos | servís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I served” or “she served” 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 | serví | I served |
| Tú | serviste | You served |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sirvió | He / she / you served |
| Nosotros / as | servimos | We served |
| Vosotros / as | servisteis | You served |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sirvieron | They / you served |
| Vos | serviste | You served |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was serving” or “she was serving” 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 | servía | I was serving |
| Tú | servías | You were serving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | servía | He was / she was / you were serving |
| Nosotros / as | servíamos | We were serving |
| Vosotros / as | servíais | You were serving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | servían | They / you were serving |
| Vos | servías | You were serving |
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 served” and “she has served”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he servido | I have served |
| Tú | has servido | You have served |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha servido | He has / she has / you have served |
| Nosotros / as | hemos servido | We have served |
| Vosotros / as | habéis servido | You have served |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han servido | They / you have served |
| Vos | has servido | You have served |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would serve” or “she would serve”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | serviría | I would serve |
| Tú | servirías | You would serve |
| Él / Ella / Usted | serviría | He / she / you would serve |
| Nosotros / as | serviríamos | We would serve |
| Vosotros / as | serviríais | You would serve |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | servirían | They / you would serve |
| Vos | servirías | You would serve |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will serve” or “they will serve”.
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 servir” means “They are going to serve”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | serviré | I will serve |
| Tú | servirás | You will serve |
| Él / Ella / Usted | servirá | He / she / you will serve |
| Nosotros / as | serviremos | We will serve |
| Vosotros / as | serviréis | You will serve |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | servirán | They / you will serve |
| Vos | servirás | You will serve |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | sirva |
| Tú | sirvas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sirva |
| Nosotros / as | sirvamos |
| Vosotros / as | sirváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sirvan |
| Vos | sirvas |
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 | sirviera | sirviese |
| Tú | sirvieras | sirviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sirviera | sirviese |
| Nosotros / as | sirviéramos | sirviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | sirvierais | sirvieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sirvieran | sirviesen |
| Vos | sirvieras | sirviese |
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 | sirviere |
| Tú | sirvieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sirviera |
| Nosotros / as | sirviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | sirviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sirvieren |
| Vos | sirvieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “serve!” and “don’t serve!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | sirve | no sirvas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sirva | no sirva |
| Nosotros / as | sirvamos | no sirvamos |
| Vosotros / as | servid | no sirváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sirvan | no sirvan |
| Vos | serví | no sirvas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya servido |
| Tú | hayas servido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya servido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos servido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis servido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan servido |
| Vos | hayas servido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera servido / hubiese servido |
| Tú | hubieras servido / hubieses servido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera servido / hubiese servido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos servido / hubiésemos servido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais servido / hubieseis servido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran servido / hubiesen servido |
| Vos | hubieras servido / hubieses servido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere servido |
| Tú | hubieres servido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere servido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos servido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis servido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren servido |
| Vos | hubieres servido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté sirviendo |
| Tú | estés sirviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté sirviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos sirviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis sirviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén sirviendo |
| Vos | estés sirviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera sirviendo / estuviese sirviendo |
| Tú | estuvieras sirviendo / estuvieses sirviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera sirviendo / estuviese sirviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos sirviendo / estuviésamos sirviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais sirviendo / estuvieseis sirviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera sirviendo / estuviese sirviendo |
| Vos | estuvieras sirviendo / estuvieses sirviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere sirviendo |
| Tú | estuvieres sirviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere sirviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos sirviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis sirviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere sirviendo |
| Vos | estuvieres sirviendo |
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 servís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos serviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos servías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos servirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos servirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos sirvas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos sirvieras / Vos sirviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos serví |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no sirvas |
