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Faltar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be missing, lack”.
Below are all of the conjugations for faltar 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 be missing, lack |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | faltar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está faltando) and past continuous (estaba faltando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. lacked).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he lacked and hubiera lacked. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lacking).
| Gerundio / Gerund | faltando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | lacked |
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 lack” or “they lack”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | falto |
| Tú | faltas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | falta |
| Nosotros / as | faltamos |
| Vosotros / as | faltáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltan |
| Vos | faltás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lack” or “she lack” 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 | falté | I lack |
| Tú | faltaste | You lack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | faltó | He / she / you lack |
| Nosotros / as | faltamos | We lack |
| Vosotros / as | faltasteis | You lack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltaron | They / you lack |
| Vos | faltaste | You lack |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was lacked” or “she was lacked” 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 | faltaba | I was lacked |
| Tú | faltabas | You were lacked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | faltaba | He was / she was / you were lacked |
| Nosotros / as | faltábamos | We were lacked |
| Vosotros / as | faltabais | You were lacked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltaban | They / you were lacked |
| Vos | faltabas | You were lacked |
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 lacking” and “she has lacking”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he lacked | I have lacking |
| Tú | has lacked | You have lacking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha lacked | He has / she has / you have lacking |
| Nosotros / as | hemos lacked | We have lacking |
| Vosotros / as | habéis lacked | You have lacking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han lacked | They / you have lacking |
| Vos | has lacked | You have lacking |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lack” or “she would lack”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | faltaría | I would lack |
| Tú | faltarías | You would lack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | faltaría | He / she / you would lack |
| Nosotros / as | faltaríamos | We would lack |
| Vosotros / as | faltaríais | You would lack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltarían | They / you would lack |
| Vos | faltarías | You would lack |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lack” or “they will lack”.
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 faltar” means “They are going to lack”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | faltaré | I will lack |
| Tú | faltarás | You will lack |
| Él / Ella / Usted | faltará | He / she / you will lack |
| Nosotros / as | faltaremos | We will lack |
| Vosotros / as | faltaréis | You will lack |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltarán | They / you will lack |
| Vos | faltarás | You will lack |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | falte |
| Tú | faltes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | falte |
| Nosotros / as | faltemos |
| Vosotros / as | faltéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | falten |
| Vos | faltes |
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 | faltara | faltase |
| Tú | faltaras | faltase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | faltara | faltase |
| Nosotros / as | faltáramos | faltásemos |
| Vosotros / as | faltarais | faltaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltaran | faltasen |
| Vos | faltaras | faltase |
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 | faltare |
| Tú | faltares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | faltare |
| Nosotros / as | faltáremos |
| Vosotros / as | faltareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | faltaren |
| Vos | faltares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lack!” and “don’t lack!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | falta | no faltes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | falte | no falte |
| Nosotros / as | faltemos | no faltemos |
| Vosotros / as | faltad | no faltéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | falten | no falten |
| Vos | faltá | no faltes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya lacked |
| Tú | hayas lacked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya lacked |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos lacked |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis lacked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan lacked |
| Vos | hayas lacked |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera lacked / hubiese lacked |
| Tú | hubieras lacked / hubieses lacked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera lacked / hubiese lacked |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos lacked / hubiésemos lacked |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais lacked / hubieseis lacked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran lacked / hubiesen lacked |
| Vos | hubieras lacked / hubieses lacked |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere lacked |
| Tú | hubieres lacked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere lacked |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos lacked |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis lacked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren lacked |
| Vos | hubieres lacked |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté faltando |
| Tú | estés faltando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté faltando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos faltando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis faltando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén faltando |
| Vos | estés faltando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera faltando / estuviese faltando |
| Tú | estuvieras faltando / estuvieses faltando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera faltando / estuviese faltando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos faltando / estuviésamos faltando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais faltando / estuvieseis faltando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera faltando / estuviese faltando |
| Vos | estuvieras faltando / estuvieses faltando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere faltando |
| Tú | estuvieres faltando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere faltando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos faltando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis faltando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere faltando |
| Vos | estuvieres faltando |
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 faltás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos faltaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos faltabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos faltarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos faltarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos faltes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos faltaras / Vos faltase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos faltá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no faltes |