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Coquetear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to flirt”.
Below are all of the conjugations for coquetear 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 flirt |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | coquetear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está coqueteando) and past continuous (estaba coqueteando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. flirting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he coqueteado and hubiera coqueteado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have flirted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | coqueteando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | coqueteado |
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 flirt” or “they flirt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | coqueteo |
| Tú | coqueteas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coquetea |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteamos |
| Vosotros / as | coqueteáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coquetean |
| Vos | coqueteás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I flirted” or “she flirted” 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 | coqueteé | I flirted |
| Tú | coqueteaste | You flirted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coqueteó | He / she / you flirted |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteamos | We flirted |
| Vosotros / as | coqueteasteis | You flirted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coquetearon | They / you flirted |
| Vos | coqueteaste | You flirted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was flirting” or “she was flirting” 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 | coqueteaba | I was flirting |
| Tú | coqueteabas | You were flirting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coqueteaba | He was / she was / you were flirting |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteábamos | We were flirting |
| Vosotros / as | coqueteabais | You were flirting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coqueteaban | They / you were flirting |
| Vos | coqueteabas | You were flirting |
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 flirted” and “she has flirted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he coqueteado | I have flirted |
| Tú | has coqueteado | You have flirted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha coqueteado | He has / she has / you have flirted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos coqueteado | We have flirted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis coqueteado | You have flirted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han coqueteado | They / you have flirted |
| Vos | has coqueteado | You have flirted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would flirt” or “she would flirt”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | coquetearía | I would flirt |
| Tú | coquetearías | You would flirt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coquetearía | He / she / you would flirt |
| Nosotros / as | coquetearíamos | We would flirt |
| Vosotros / as | coquetearíais | You would flirt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coquetearían | They / you would flirt |
| Vos | coquetearías | You would flirt |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will flirt” or “they will flirt”.
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 coquetear” means “They are going to flirt”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | coquetearé | I will flirt |
| Tú | coquetearás | You will flirt |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coqueteará | He / she / you will flirt |
| Nosotros / as | coquetearemos | We will flirt |
| Vosotros / as | coquetearéis | You will flirt |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coquetearán | They / you will flirt |
| Vos | coquetearás | You will flirt |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | coquetee |
| Tú | coquetees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coquetee |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteemos |
| Vosotros / as | coqueteéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coqueteen |
| Vos | coquetees |
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 | coqueteara | coquetease |
| Tú | coquetearas | coquetease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coqueteara | coquetease |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteáramos | coqueteásemos |
| Vosotros / as | coquetearais | coqueteaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coquetearan | coqueteasen |
| Vos | coquetearas | coquetease |
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 | coqueteare |
| Tú | coqueteares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coqueteare |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteáremos |
| Vosotros / as | coqueteareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coquetearen |
| Vos | coqueteares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “flirt!” and “don’t flirt!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | coquetea | no coquetees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coquetee | no coquetee |
| Nosotros / as | coqueteemos | no coqueteemos |
| Vosotros / as | coquetead | no coqueteéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coqueteen | no coqueteen |
| Vos | coqueteá | no coquetees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya coqueteado |
| Tú | hayas coqueteado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya coqueteado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos coqueteado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis coqueteado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan coqueteado |
| Vos | hayas coqueteado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera coqueteado / hubiese coqueteado |
| Tú | hubieras coqueteado / hubieses coqueteado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera coqueteado / hubiese coqueteado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos coqueteado / hubiésemos coqueteado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais coqueteado / hubieseis coqueteado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran coqueteado / hubiesen coqueteado |
| Vos | hubieras coqueteado / hubieses coqueteado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere coqueteado |
| Tú | hubieres coqueteado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere coqueteado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos coqueteado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis coqueteado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren coqueteado |
| Vos | hubieres coqueteado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté coqueteando |
| Tú | estés coqueteando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté coqueteando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos coqueteando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis coqueteando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén coqueteando |
| Vos | estés coqueteando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera coqueteando / estuviese coqueteando |
| Tú | estuvieras coqueteando / estuvieses coqueteando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera coqueteando / estuviese coqueteando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos coqueteando / estuviésamos coqueteando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais coqueteando / estuvieseis coqueteando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera coqueteando / estuviese coqueteando |
| Vos | estuvieras coqueteando / estuvieses coqueteando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere coqueteando |
| Tú | estuvieres coqueteando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere coqueteando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos coqueteando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis coqueteando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere coqueteando |
| Vos | estuvieres coqueteando |
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 coqueteás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos coqueteaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos coqueteabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos coquetearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos coquetearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos coquetees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos coquetearas / Vos coquetease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos coqueteá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no coquetees |