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Cantar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to sing”.
Below are all of the conjugations for cantar 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 sing |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cantar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cantando) and past continuous (estaba cantando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. singing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cantado and hubiera cantado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have sung).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cantando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cantado |
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 sing” or “they sing”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | canto |
| Tú | cantas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | canta |
| Nosotros / as | cantamos |
| Vosotros / as | cantáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantan |
| Vos | cantás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I sang” or “she sang” 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 | canté | I sang |
| Tú | cantaste | You sang |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cantó | He / she / you sang |
| Nosotros / as | cantamos | We sang |
| Vosotros / as | cantasteis | You sang |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantaron | They / you sang |
| Vos | cantaste | You sang |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was singing” or “she was singing” 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 | cantaba | I was singing |
| Tú | cantabas | You were singing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cantaba | He was / she was / you were singing |
| Nosotros / as | cantábamos | We were singing |
| Vosotros / as | cantabais | You were singing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantaban | They / you were singing |
| Vos | cantabas | You were singing |
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 sung” and “she has sung”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he cantado | I have sung |
| Tú | has cantado | You have sung |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha cantado | He has / she has / you have sung |
| Nosotros / as | hemos cantado | We have sung |
| Vosotros / as | habéis cantado | You have sung |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han cantado | They / you have sung |
| Vos | has cantado | You have sung |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would sing” or “she would sing”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cantaría | I would sing |
| Tú | cantarías | You would sing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cantaría | He / she / you would sing |
| Nosotros / as | cantaríamos | We would sing |
| Vosotros / as | cantaríais | You would sing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantarían | They / you would sing |
| Vos | cantarías | You would sing |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will sing” or “they will sing”.
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 cantar” means “They are going to sing”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | cantaré | I will sing |
| Tú | cantarás | You will sing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cantará | He / she / you will sing |
| Nosotros / as | cantaremos | We will sing |
| Vosotros / as | cantaréis | You will sing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantarán | They / you will sing |
| Vos | cantarás | You will sing |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cante |
| Tú | cantes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cante |
| Nosotros / as | cantemos |
| Vosotros / as | cantéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | canten |
| Vos | cantes |
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 | cantara | cantase |
| Tú | cantaras | cantase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cantara | cantase |
| Nosotros / as | cantáramos | cantásemos |
| Vosotros / as | cantarais | cantaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantaran | cantasen |
| Vos | cantaras | cantase |
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 | cantare |
| Tú | cantares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cantare |
| Nosotros / as | cantáremos |
| Vosotros / as | cantareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cantaren |
| Vos | cantares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “sing!” and “don’t sing!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | canta | no cantes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cante | no cante |
| Nosotros / as | cantemos | no cantemos |
| Vosotros / as | cantad | no cantéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | canten | no canten |
| Vos | cantá | no cantes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cantado |
| Tú | hayas cantado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cantado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cantado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cantado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cantado |
| Vos | hayas cantado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cantado / hubiese cantado |
| Tú | hubieras cantado / hubieses cantado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cantado / hubiese cantado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cantado / hubiésemos cantado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cantado / hubieseis cantado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cantado / hubiesen cantado |
| Vos | hubieras cantado / hubieses cantado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cantado |
| Tú | hubieres cantado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cantado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cantado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cantado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cantado |
| Vos | hubieres cantado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cantando |
| Tú | estés cantando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cantando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cantando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cantando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cantando |
| Vos | estés cantando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cantando / estuviese cantando |
| Tú | estuvieras cantando / estuvieses cantando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cantando / estuviese cantando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cantando / estuviésamos cantando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cantando / estuvieseis cantando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cantando / estuviese cantando |
| Vos | estuvieras cantando / estuvieses cantando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cantando |
| Tú | estuvieres cantando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cantando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cantando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cantando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cantando |
| Vos | estuvieres cantando |
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 cantás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos cantaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos cantabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos cantarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos cantarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cantes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos cantaras / Vos cantase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cantá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cantes |