Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Mamar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to suckle, nurse”.
Below are all of the conjugations for mamar 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 suckle, nurse |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | mamar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está mamando) and past continuous (estaba mamando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. suckling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he mamado and hubiera mamado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have suckled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | mamando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | mamado |
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 suckle” or “they suckle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | mamo |
| Tú | mamas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mama |
| Nosotros / as | mamamos |
| Vosotros / as | mamáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | maman |
| Vos |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I suckled” or “she suckled” 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 | mamé | I suckled |
| Tú | mamaste | You suckled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mamó | He / she / you suckled |
| Nosotros / as | mamamos | We suckled |
| Vosotros / as | mamasteis | You suckled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamaron | They / you suckled |
| Vos | mamaste | You suckled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was suckling” or “she was suckling” 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 | mamaba | I was suckling |
| Tú | mamabas | You were suckling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mamaba | He was / she was / you were suckling |
| Nosotros / as | mamábamos | We were suckling |
| Vosotros / as | mamabais | You were suckling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamaban | They / you were suckling |
| Vos | mamabas | You were suckling |
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 suckled” and “she has suckled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he mamado | I have suckled |
| Tú | has mamado | You have suckled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha mamado | He has / she has / you have suckled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos mamado | We have suckled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis mamado | You have suckled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han mamado | They / you have suckled |
| Vos | has mamado | You have suckled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would suckle” or “she would suckle”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | mamaría | I would suckle |
| Tú | mamarías | You would suckle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mamaría | He / she / you would suckle |
| Nosotros / as | mamaríamos | We would suckle |
| Vosotros / as | mamaríais | You would suckle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamarían | They / you would suckle |
| Vos | mamarías | You would suckle |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will suckle” or “they will suckle”.
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 mamar” means “They are going to suckle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | mamaré | I will suckle |
| Tú | mamarás | You will suckle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mamará | He / she / you will suckle |
| Nosotros / as | mamaremos | We will suckle |
| Vosotros / as | mamaréis | You will suckle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamarán | They / you will suckle |
| Vos | mamarás | You will suckle |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | mame |
| Tú | mames |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mame |
| Nosotros / as | mamemos |
| Vosotros / as | maméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamen |
| Vos | mames |
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 | mamara | mamase |
| Tú | mamaras | mamase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mamara | mamase |
| Nosotros / as | mamáramos | mamásemos |
| Vosotros / as | mamarais | mamaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamaran | mamasen |
| Vos | mamaras | mamase |
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 | mamare |
| Tú | mamares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mamare |
| Nosotros / as | mamáremos |
| Vosotros / as | mamareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamaren |
| Vos | mamares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “suckle!” and “don’t suckle!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | mama | no mames |
| Él / Ella / Usted | mame | no mame |
| Nosotros / as | mamemos | no mamemos |
| Vosotros / as | mamad | no maméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | mamen | no mamen |
| Vos | no mames |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya mamado |
| Tú | hayas mamado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya mamado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos mamado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis mamado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan mamado |
| Vos | hayas mamado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera mamado / hubiese mamado |
| Tú | hubieras mamado / hubieses mamado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera mamado / hubiese mamado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos mamado / hubiésemos mamado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais mamado / hubieseis mamado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran mamado / hubiesen mamado |
| Vos | hubieras mamado / hubieses mamado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere mamado |
| Tú | hubieres mamado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere mamado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos mamado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis mamado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren mamado |
| Vos | hubieres mamado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté mamando |
| Tú | estés mamando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté mamando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos mamando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis mamando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén mamando |
| Vos | estés mamando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera mamando / estuviese mamando |
| Tú | estuvieras mamando / estuvieses mamando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera mamando / estuviese mamando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos mamando / estuviésamos mamando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais mamando / estuvieseis mamando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera mamando / estuviese mamando |
| Vos | estuvieras mamando / estuvieses mamando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere mamando |
| Tú | estuvieres mamando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere mamando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos mamando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis mamando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere mamando |
| Vos | estuvieres mamando |
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 |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos mamaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos mamabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos mamarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos mamarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos mames |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos mamaras / Vos mamase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no mames |