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Leer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to read”.
Below are all of the conjugations for leer 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 read |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | leer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está leyendo) and past continuous (estaba leyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. reading).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he leído and hubiera leído. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have read).
| Gerundio / Gerund | leyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | leído |
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 read” or “they read”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | leo |
| Tú | lees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lee |
| Nosotros / as | leemos |
| Vosotros / as | leéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leen |
| Vos | leés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I read” or “she read” 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 | leí | I read |
| Tú | leíste | You read |
| Él / Ella / Usted | leyó | He / she / you read |
| Nosotros / as | leímos | We read |
| Vosotros / as | leísteis | You read |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leyeron | They / you read |
| Vos | leíste | You read |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was reading” or “she was reading” 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 | leía | I was reading |
| Tú | leías | You were reading |
| Él / Ella / Usted | leía | He was / she was / you were reading |
| Nosotros / as | leíamos | We were reading |
| Vosotros / as | leíais | You were reading |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leían | They / you were reading |
| Vos | leías | You were reading |
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 read” and “she has read”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he leído | I have read |
| Tú | has leído | You have read |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha leído | He has / she has / you have read |
| Nosotros / as | hemos leído | We have read |
| Vosotros / as | habéis leído | You have read |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han leído | They / you have read |
| Vos | has leído | You have read |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would read” or “she would read”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | leería | I would read |
| Tú | leerías | You would read |
| Él / Ella / Usted | leería | He / she / you would read |
| Nosotros / as | leeríamos | We would read |
| Vosotros / as | leeríais | You would read |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leerían | They / you would read |
| Vos | leerías | You would read |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will read” or “they will read”.
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 leer” means “They are going to read”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | leeré | I will read |
| Tú | leerás | You will read |
| Él / Ella / Usted | leerá | He / she / you will read |
| Nosotros / as | leeremos | We will read |
| Vosotros / as | leeréis | You will read |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leerán | They / you will read |
| Vos | leerás | You will read |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | lea |
| Tú | leas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lea |
| Nosotros / as | leamos |
| Vosotros / as | leáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lean |
| Vos | leas |
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 | leyera | leyese |
| Tú | leyeras | leyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | leyera | leyese |
| Nosotros / as | leyéramos | leyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | leyerais | leyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leyeran | leyesen |
| Vos | leyeras | leyese |
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 | leyere |
| Tú | leyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | leyere |
| Nosotros / as | leyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | leyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | leyeren |
| Vos | leyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “read!” and “don’t read!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | lee | no leas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | lea | no lea |
| Nosotros / as | leamos | no leamos |
| Vosotros / as | leed | no leáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | lean | no lean |
| Vos | leé | no leas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya leído |
| Tú | hayas leído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya leído |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos leído |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis leído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan leído |
| Vos | hayas leído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera leído / hubiese leído |
| Tú | hubieras leído / hubieses leído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera leído / hubiese leído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos leído / hubiésemos leído |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais leído / hubieseis leído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran leído / hubiesen leído |
| Vos | hubieras leído / hubieses leído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere leído |
| Tú | hubieres leído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere leído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos leído |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis leído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren leído |
| Vos | hubieres leído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté leyendo |
| Tú | estés leyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté leyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos leyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis leyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén leyendo |
| Vos | estés leyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera leyendo / estuviese leyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras leyendo / estuvieses leyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera leyendo / estuviese leyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos leyendo / estuviésamos leyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais leyendo / estuvieseis leyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera leyendo / estuviese leyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras leyendo / estuvieses leyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere leyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres leyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere leyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos leyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis leyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere leyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres leyendo |
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 leés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos leíste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos leías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos leerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos leerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos leas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos leyeras / Vos leyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos leé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no leas |
