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Conversar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to converse, chat, talk”.
Below are all of the conjugations for conversar 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 converse, chat, talk |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | conversar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está conversando) and past continuous (estaba conversando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. conversing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he conversado and hubiera conversado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have conversed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | conversando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | conversado |
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 converse” or “they converse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | converso |
| Tú | conversas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversa |
| Nosotros / as | conversamos |
| Vosotros / as | conversáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversan |
| Vos | conversás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I conversed” or “she conversed” 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 | conversé | I conversed |
| Tú | conversaste | You conversed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversó | He / she / you conversed |
| Nosotros / as | conversamos | We conversed |
| Vosotros / as | conversasteis | You conversed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversaron | They / you conversed |
| Vos | conversaste | You conversed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was conversing” or “she was conversing” 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 | conversaba | I was conversing |
| Tú | conversabas | You were conversing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversaba | He was / she was / you were conversing |
| Nosotros / as | conversábamos | We were conversing |
| Vosotros / as | conversabais | You were conversing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversaban | They / you were conversing |
| Vos | conversabas | You were conversing |
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 conversed” and “she has conversed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he conversado | I have conversed |
| Tú | has conversado | You have conversed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha conversado | He has / she has / you have conversed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos conversado | We have conversed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis conversado | You have conversed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han conversado | They / you have conversed |
| Vos | has conversado | You have conversed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would converse” or “she would converse”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | conversaría | I would converse |
| Tú | conversarías | You would converse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversaría | He / she / you would converse |
| Nosotros / as | conversaríamos | We would converse |
| Vosotros / as | conversaríais | You would converse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversarían | They / you would converse |
| Vos | conversarías | You would converse |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will converse” or “they will converse”.
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 conversar” means “They are going to converse”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | conversaré | I will converse |
| Tú | conversarás | You will converse |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversará | He / she / you will converse |
| Nosotros / as | conversaremos | We will converse |
| Vosotros / as | conversaréis | You will converse |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversarán | They / you will converse |
| Vos | conversarás | You will converse |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | converse |
| Tú | converses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | converse |
| Nosotros / as | conversemos |
| Vosotros / as | converséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversen |
| Vos | converses |
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 | conversara | conversase |
| Tú | conversaras | conversase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversara | conversase |
| Nosotros / as | conversáramos | conversásemos |
| Vosotros / as | conversarais | conversaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversaran | conversasen |
| Vos | conversaras | conversase |
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 | conversare |
| Tú | conversares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conversare |
| Nosotros / as | conversáremos |
| Vosotros / as | conversareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversaren |
| Vos | conversares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “converse!” and “don’t converse!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | conversa | no converses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | converse | no converse |
| Nosotros / as | conversemos | no conversemos |
| Vosotros / as | conversad | no converséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conversen | no conversen |
| Vos | conversá | no converses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya conversado |
| Tú | hayas conversado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya conversado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos conversado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis conversado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan conversado |
| Vos | hayas conversado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera conversado / hubiese conversado |
| Tú | hubieras conversado / hubieses conversado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera conversado / hubiese conversado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos conversado / hubiésemos conversado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais conversado / hubieseis conversado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran conversado / hubiesen conversado |
| Vos | hubieras conversado / hubieses conversado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere conversado |
| Tú | hubieres conversado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere conversado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos conversado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis conversado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren conversado |
| Vos | hubieres conversado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté conversando |
| Tú | estés conversando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté conversando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos conversando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis conversando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén conversando |
| Vos | estés conversando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera conversando / estuviese conversando |
| Tú | estuvieras conversando / estuvieses conversando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera conversando / estuviese conversando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos conversando / estuviésamos conversando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais conversando / estuvieseis conversando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera conversando / estuviese conversando |
| Vos | estuvieras conversando / estuvieses conversando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere conversando |
| Tú | estuvieres conversando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere conversando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos conversando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis conversando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere conversando |
| Vos | estuvieres conversando |
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 conversás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos conversaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos conversabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos conversarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos conversarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos converses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos conversaras / Vos conversase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos conversá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no converses |