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Hablar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to talk”.
Below are all of the conjugations for hablar 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 talk |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | hablar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está hablando) and past continuous (estaba hablando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. talking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he hablado and hubiera hablado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have talked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | hablando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | hablado |
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 talk” or “they talk”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hablo |
| Tú | hablas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habla |
| Nosotros / as | hablamos |
| Vosotros / as | habláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablan |
| Vos | hablás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I talked” or “she talked” 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 | hablé | I talked |
| Tú | hablaste | You talked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habló | He / she / you talked |
| Nosotros / as | hablamos | We talked |
| Vosotros / as | hablasteis | You talked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablaron | They / you talked |
| Vos | hablaste | You talked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was talking” or “she was talking” 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 | hablaba | I was talking |
| Tú | hablabas | You were talking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hablaba | He was / she was / you were talking |
| Nosotros / as | hablábamos | We were talking |
| Vosotros / as | hablabais | You were talking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablaban | They / you were talking |
| Vos | hablabas | You were talking |
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 talked” and “she has talked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he hablado | I have talked |
| Tú | has hablado | You have talked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha hablado | He has / she has / you have talked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos hablado | We have talked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis hablado | You have talked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han hablado | They / you have talked |
| Vos | has hablado | You have talked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would talk” or “she would talk”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | hablaría | I would talk |
| Tú | hablarías | You would talk |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hablaría | He / she / you would talk |
| Nosotros / as | hablaríamos | We would talk |
| Vosotros / as | hablaríais | You would talk |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablarían | They / you would talk |
| Vos | hablarías | You would talk |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will talk” or “they will talk”.
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 hablar” means “They are going to talk”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | hablaré | I will talk |
| Tú | hablarás | You will talk |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hablará | He / she / you will talk |
| Nosotros / as | hablaremos | We will talk |
| Vosotros / as | hablaréis | You will talk |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablarán | They / you will talk |
| Vos | hablarás | You will talk |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hable |
| Tú | hables |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hable |
| Nosotros / as | hablemos |
| Vosotros / as | habléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablen |
| Vos | hables |
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 | hablara | hablase |
| Tú | hablaras | hablase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hablara | hablase |
| Nosotros / as | habláramos | hablásemos |
| Vosotros / as | hablarais | hablaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablaran | hablasen |
| Vos | hablaras | hablase |
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 | hablare |
| Tú | hablares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hablare |
| Nosotros / as | habláremos |
| Vosotros / as | hablareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablaren |
| Vos | hablares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “talk!” and “don’t talk!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | habla | no hables |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hable | no hable |
| Nosotros / as | hablemos | no hablemos |
| Vosotros / as | hablad | no habléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hablen | no hablen |
| Vos | hablá | no hables |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya hablado |
| Tú | hayas hablado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya hablado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos hablado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis hablado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan hablado |
| Vos | hayas hablado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera hablado / hubiese hablado |
| Tú | hubieras hablado / hubieses hablado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera hablado / hubiese hablado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos hablado / hubiésemos hablado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais hablado / hubieseis hablado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran hablado / hubiesen hablado |
| Vos | hubieras hablado / hubieses hablado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere hablado |
| Tú | hubieres hablado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere hablado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos hablado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis hablado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren hablado |
| Vos | hubieres hablado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté hablando |
| Tú | estés hablando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté hablando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos hablando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis hablando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén hablando |
| Vos | estés hablando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera hablando / estuviese hablando |
| Tú | estuvieras hablando / estuvieses hablando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera hablando / estuviese hablando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos hablando / estuviésamos hablando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais hablando / estuvieseis hablando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera hablando / estuviese hablando |
| Vos | estuvieras hablando / estuvieses hablando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere hablando |
| Tú | estuvieres hablando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere hablando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos hablando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis hablando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere hablando |
| Vos | estuvieres hablando |
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 hablás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos hablaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos hablabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos hablarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos hablarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos hables |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos hablaras / Vos hablase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos hablá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no hables |
