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Caer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to fall”.
Below are all of the conjugations for caer 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 fall |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | caer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cayendo) and past continuous (estaba cayendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. falling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he caído and hubiera caído. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have fallen).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cayendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | caído |
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 fall” or “they fall”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | caigo |
| Tú | caes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cae |
| Nosotros / as | caemos |
| Vosotros / as | caéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caen |
| Vos | caés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I fell” or “she fell” 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 | caí | I fell |
| Tú | caíste | You fell |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cayó | He / she / you fell |
| Nosotros / as | caímos | We fell |
| Vosotros / as | caísteis | You fell |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cayeron | They / you fell |
| Vos | caíste | You fell |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was falling” or “she was falling” 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 | caía | I was falling |
| Tú | caías | You were falling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | caía | He was / she was / you were falling |
| Nosotros / as | caíamos | We were falling |
| Vosotros / as | caíais | You were falling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caían | They / you were falling |
| Vos | caías | You were falling |
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 fallen” and “she has fallen”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he caído | I have fallen |
| Tú | has caído | You have fallen |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha caído | He has / she has / you have fallen |
| Nosotros / as | hemos caído | We have fallen |
| Vosotros / as | habéis caído | You have fallen |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han caído | They / you have fallen |
| Vos | has caído | You have fallen |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would fall” or “she would fall”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caería | I would fall |
| Tú | caerías | You would fall |
| Él / Ella / Usted | caería | He / she / you would fall |
| Nosotros / as | caeríamos | We would fall |
| Vosotros / as | caeríais | You would fall |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caerían | They / you would fall |
| Vos | caerías | You would fall |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will fall” or “they will fall”.
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 caer” means “They are going to fall”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | caeré | I will fall |
| Tú | caerás | You will fall |
| Él / Ella / Usted | caerá | He / she / you will fall |
| Nosotros / as | caeremos | We will fall |
| Vosotros / as | caeréis | You will fall |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caerán | They / you will fall |
| Vos | caerás | You will fall |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | caiga |
| Tú | caigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | caiga |
| Nosotros / as | caigamos |
| Vosotros / as | caigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caigan |
| Vos | caigas |
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 | cayera | cayese |
| Tú | cayeras | cayese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cayera | cayese |
| Nosotros / as | cayéramos | cayésemos |
| Vosotros / as | cayerais | cayeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cayeran | cayesen |
| Vos | cayeras | cayese |
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 | cayere |
| Tú | cayeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cayere |
| Nosotros / as | cayéremos |
| Vosotros / as | cayereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cayeren |
| Vos | cayeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “fall!” and “don’t fall!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cae | no caigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | caiga | no caiga |
| Nosotros / as | caigamos | no caigamos |
| Vosotros / as | caed | no caigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | caigan | no caigan |
| Vos | caé | no caigas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya caído |
| Tú | hayas caído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya caído |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos caído |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis caído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan caído |
| Vos | hayas caído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera caído / hubiese caído |
| Tú | hubieras caído / hubieses caído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera caído / hubiese caído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos caído / hubiésemos caído |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais caído / hubieseis caído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran caído / hubiesen caído |
| Vos | hubieras caído / hubieses caído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere caído |
| Tú | hubieres caído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere caído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos caído |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis caído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren caído |
| Vos | hubieres caído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cayendo |
| Tú | estés cayendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cayendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cayendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cayendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cayendo |
| Vos | estés cayendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cayendo / estuviese cayendo |
| Tú | estuvieras cayendo / estuvieses cayendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cayendo / estuviese cayendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cayendo / estuviésamos cayendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cayendo / estuvieseis cayendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cayendo / estuviese cayendo |
| Vos | estuvieras cayendo / estuvieses cayendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cayendo |
| Tú | estuvieres cayendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cayendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cayendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cayendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cayendo |
| Vos | estuvieres cayendo |
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 caés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos caíste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos caías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos caerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos caerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos caigas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cayeras / Vos cayese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos caé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no caigas |
