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Arder is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to burn, sting”.
Below are all of the conjugations for arder 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 burn, sting |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | arder |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ardiendo) and past continuous (estaba ardiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. burning).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ardido and hubiera ardido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have burned).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ardiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ardido |
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 burn” or “they burn”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | ardo |
| Tú | ardes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arde |
| Nosotros / as | ardemos |
| Vosotros / as | ardéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arden |
| Vos | ardés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I burned” or “she burned” 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 | ardí | I burned |
| Tú | ardiste | You burned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ardió | He / she / you burned |
| Nosotros / as | ardimos | We burned |
| Vosotros / as | ardisteis | You burned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ardieron | They / you burned |
| Vos | ardiste | You burned |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was burning” or “she was burning” 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 | ardía | I was burning |
| Tú | ardías | You were burning |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ardía | He was / she was / you were burning |
| Nosotros / as | ardíamos | We were burning |
| Vosotros / as | ardíais | You were burning |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ardían | They / you were burning |
| Vos | ardías | You were burning |
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 burned” and “she has burned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he ardido | I have burned |
| Tú | has ardido | You have burned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha ardido | He has / she has / you have burned |
| Nosotros / as | hemos ardido | We have burned |
| Vosotros / as | habéis ardido | You have burned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han ardido | They / you have burned |
| Vos | has ardido | You have burned |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would burn” or “she would burn”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | ardería | I would burn |
| Tú | arderías | You would burn |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ardería | He / she / you would burn |
| Nosotros / as | arderíamos | We would burn |
| Vosotros / as | arderíais | You would burn |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arderían | They / you would burn |
| Vos | arderías | You would burn |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will burn” or “they will burn”.
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 arder” means “They are going to burn”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | arderé | I will burn |
| Tú | arderás | You will burn |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arderá | He / she / you will burn |
| Nosotros / as | arderemos | We will burn |
| Vosotros / as | arderéis | You will burn |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arderán | They / you will burn |
| Vos | arderás | You will burn |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | arda |
| Tú | ardas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arda |
| Nosotros / as | ardamos |
| Vosotros / as | ardáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ardan |
| Vos | ardas |
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 | ardiera | ardiese |
| Tú | ardieras | ardiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ardiera | ardiese |
| Nosotros / as | ardiéramos | ardiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | ardierais | ardieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ardieran | ardiesen |
| Vos | ardieras | ardiese |
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 | ardiere |
| Tú | ardieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ardiere |
| Nosotros / as | ardiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | ardiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ardieren |
| Vos | ardieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “burn!” and “don’t burn!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | arde | no ardas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arda | no arda |
| Nosotros / as | ardamos | no ardamos |
| Vosotros / as | arded | no ardáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | ardan | no ardan |
| Vos | ardé | no ardas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ardido |
| Tú | hayas ardido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ardido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ardido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ardido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ardido |
| Vos | hayas ardido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ardido / hubiese ardido |
| Tú | hubieras ardido / hubieses ardido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ardido / hubiese ardido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ardido / hubiésemos ardido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ardido / hubieseis ardido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ardido / hubiesen ardido |
| Vos | hubieras ardido / hubieses ardido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ardido |
| Tú | hubieres ardido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ardido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ardido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ardido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ardido |
| Vos | hubieres ardido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ardiendo |
| Tú | estés ardiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ardiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ardiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ardiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ardiendo |
| Vos | estés ardiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ardiendo / estuviese ardiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras ardiendo / estuvieses ardiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ardiendo / estuviese ardiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ardiendo / estuviésamos ardiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ardiendo / estuvieseis ardiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ardiendo / estuviese ardiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras ardiendo / estuvieses ardiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ardiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres ardiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ardiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ardiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ardiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ardiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres ardiendo |
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 ardés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos ardiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos ardías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos arderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos arderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos ardas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos ardieras / Vos ardiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ardé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no ardas |