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Apetecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to long for, crave for, yearn for”.
Below are all of the conjugations for apetecer 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 long for, crave for, yearn for |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | apetecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está apeteciendo) and past continuous (estaba apeteciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. longing for).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he apetecido and hubiera apetecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have longed for).
| Gerundio / Gerund | apeteciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | apetecido |
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 long for” or “they long for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | apetezco |
| Tú | apeteces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apetece |
| Nosotros / as | apetecemos |
| Vosotros / as | apetecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecen |
| Vos | apetecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I longed for” or “she longed for” 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 | apetecí | I longed for |
| Tú | apeteciste | You longed for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apeteció | He / she / you longed for |
| Nosotros / as | apetecimos | We longed for |
| Vosotros / as | apetecisteis | You longed for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecieron | They / you longed for |
| Vos | apeteciste | You longed for |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was longing for” or “she was longing for” 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 | apetecía | I was longing for |
| Tú | apetecías | You were longing for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apetecía | He was / she was / you were longing for |
| Nosotros / as | apetecíamos | We were longing for |
| Vosotros / as | apetecíais | You were longing for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecían | They / you were longing for |
| Vos | apetecías | You were longing for |
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 longed for” and “she has longed for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he apetecido | I have longed for |
| Tú | has apetecido | You have longed for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha apetecido | He has / she has / you have longed for |
| Nosotros / as | hemos apetecido | We have longed for |
| Vosotros / as | habéis apetecido | You have longed for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han apetecido | They / you have longed for |
| Vos | has apetecido | You have longed for |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would long for” or “she would long for”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | apetecería | I would long for |
| Tú | apetecerías | You would long for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apetecería | He / she / you would long for |
| Nosotros / as | apeteceríamos | We would long for |
| Vosotros / as | apeteceríais | You would long for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecerían | They / you would long for |
| Vos | apetecerías | You would long for |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will long for” or “they will long for”.
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 apetecer” means “They are going to long for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | apeteceré | I will long for |
| Tú | apetecerás | You will long for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apetecerá | He / she / you will long for |
| Nosotros / as | apeteceremos | We will long for |
| Vosotros / as | apeteceréis | You will long for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecerán | They / you will long for |
| Vos | apetecerás | You will long for |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | apetezca |
| Tú | apetezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apetezca |
| Nosotros / as | apetezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | apetezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetezcan |
| Vos | apetezcas |
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 | apeteciera | apeteciese |
| Tú | apetecieras | apeteciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apeteciera | apeteciese |
| Nosotros / as | apeteciéramos | apeteciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | apetecierais | apetecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecieran | apeteciesen |
| Vos | apetecieras | apeteciese |
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 | apeteciere |
| Tú | apetecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apeteciere |
| Nosotros / as | apeteciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | apeteciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetecieren |
| Vos | apetecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “long for!” and “don’t long for!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | apetece | no apetezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apetezca | no apetezca |
| Nosotros / as | apetezcamos | no apetezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | apeteced | no apetezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apetezcan | no apetezcan |
| Vos | apetecé | no apetezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya apetecido |
| Tú | hayas apetecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya apetecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos apetecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis apetecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan apetecido |
| Vos | hayas apetecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera apetecido / hubiese apetecido |
| Tú | hubieras apetecido / hubieses apetecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera apetecido / hubiese apetecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos apetecido / hubiésemos apetecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais apetecido / hubieseis apetecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran apetecido / hubiesen apetecido |
| Vos | hubieras apetecido / hubieses apetecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere apetecido |
| Tú | hubieres apetecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere apetecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos apetecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis apetecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren apetecido |
| Vos | hubieres apetecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté apeteciendo |
| Tú | estés apeteciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté apeteciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos apeteciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis apeteciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén apeteciendo |
| Vos | estés apeteciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera apeteciendo / estuviese apeteciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras apeteciendo / estuvieses apeteciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera apeteciendo / estuviese apeteciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos apeteciendo / estuviésamos apeteciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais apeteciendo / estuvieseis apeteciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera apeteciendo / estuviese apeteciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras apeteciendo / estuvieses apeteciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere apeteciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres apeteciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere apeteciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos apeteciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis apeteciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere apeteciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres apeteciendo |
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 apetecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos apeteciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos apetecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos apetecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos apetecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos apetezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos apetecieras / Vos apeteciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos apetecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no apetezcas |