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Oír is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to hear”.
Below are all of the conjugations for oír 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 hear |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | oír |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está oyendo) and past continuous (estaba oyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. hearing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he oído and hubiera oído. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have heard).
| Gerundio / Gerund | oyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | oído |
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 hear” or “they hear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | oigo |
| Tú | oyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oye |
| Nosotros / as | oimos |
| Vosotros / as | oís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oyen |
| Vos | oís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I heard” or “she heard” 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 | oí | I heard |
| Tú | oíste | You heard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oyó | He / she / you heard |
| Nosotros / as | oímos | We heard |
| Vosotros / as | oísteis | You heard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oyeron | They / you heard |
| Vos | oíste | You heard |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was hearing” or “she was hearing” 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 | oía | I was hearing |
| Tú | oías | You were hearing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oía | He was / she was / you were hearing |
| Nosotros / as | oíamos | We were hearing |
| Vosotros / as | oíais | You were hearing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oían | They / you were hearing |
| Vos | oías | You were hearing |
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 heard” and “she has heard”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he oído | I have heard |
| Tú | has oído | You have heard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha oído | He has / she has / you have heard |
| Nosotros / as | hemos oído | We have heard |
| Vosotros / as | habéis oído | You have heard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han oído | They / you have heard |
| Vos | has oído | You have heard |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would hear” or “she would hear”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | oiría | I would hear |
| Tú | oirías | You would hear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oiría | He / she / you would hear |
| Nosotros / as | oiríamos | We would hear |
| Vosotros / as | oiríais | You would hear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oirían | They / you would hear |
| Vos | oirías | You would hear |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will hear” or “they will hear”.
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 oír” means “They are going to hear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | oiré | I will hear |
| Tú | oirás | You will hear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oirá | He / she / you will hear |
| Nosotros / as | oiremos | We will hear |
| Vosotros / as | oiréis | You will hear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oirán | They / you will hear |
| Vos | oirás | You will hear |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | oiga |
| Tú | oigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oiga |
| Nosotros / as | oigamos |
| Vosotros / as | oigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oigan |
| Vos | oigas |
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 | oyera | oyese |
| Tú | oyeras | oyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oyera | oyese |
| Nosotros / as | oyéramos | oyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | oyerais | oyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oyeran | oyesen |
| Vos | oyeras | oyese |
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 | oyere |
| Tú | oyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oyera |
| Nosotros / as | oyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | oyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oyeren |
| Vos | oyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “hear!” and “don’t hear!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | oye | no oigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | oiga | no oiga |
| Nosotros / as | oigamos | no oigamos |
| Vosotros / as | oíd | no oigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | oigan | no oigan |
| Vos | oí | no oigas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya oído |
| Tú | hayas oído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya oído |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos oído |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis oído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan oído |
| Vos | hayas oído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera oído / hubiese oído |
| Tú | hubieras oído / hubieses oído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera oído / hubiese oído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos oído / hubiésemos oído |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais oído / hubieseis oído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran oído / hubiesen oído |
| Vos | hubieras oído / hubieses oído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere oído |
| Tú | hubieres oído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere oído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos oído |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis oído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren oído |
| Vos | hubieres oído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté oyendo |
| Tú | estés oyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté oyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos oyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis oyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén oyendo |
| Vos | estés oyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera oyendo / estuviese oyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras oyendo / estuvieses oyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera oyendo / estuviese oyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos oyendo / estuviésamos oyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais oyendo / estuvieseis oyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera oyendo / estuviese oyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras oyendo / estuvieses oyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere oyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres oyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere oyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos oyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis oyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere oyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres oyendo |
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 oís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos oíste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos oías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos oirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos oirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos oigas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos oyeras / Vos oyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos oí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no oigas |