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Pagar conjugation

Pagar conjugation - to pay

Table of Contents

Pagar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to pay”.

Below are all of the conjugations for pagar 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.

Pagar Infinitive

English Infinitive to pay
Spanish Infinitive pagar

Pagar Gerund and Past Participle

The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está pagando) and past continuous (estaba pagando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. paying).

The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he pagado and hubiera pagado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have paid).

Gerundio / Gerund  pagando
Participio / Past Participle  pagado

Pagar Indicative Conjugations

The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.

Pagar Presente / Present

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 pay” or “they pay”.

Pronoun Spanish
Yo pago
pagas
Él / Ella / Usted paga
Nosotros / as pagamos
Vosotros / as pagáis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagan
Vos pagás

Pagar Preterite / Pretérito Indefinido

Your simple past tense, e.g. “I paid” or “she paid” 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 pagué I paid
pagaste You paid
Él / Ella / Usted pagó He / she / you paid
Nosotros / as pagamos We paid
Vosotros / as pagasteis You paid
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagaron They / you paid
Vos pagaste You paid

Pagar Imperfect / Pretérito Imperfecto

The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was paying” or “she was paying” 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 pagaba I was paying
pagabas You were paying
Él / Ella / Usted pagaba He was / she was / you were paying
Nosotros / as pagábamos We were paying
Vosotros / as pagabais You were paying
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagaban They / you were paying
Vos pagabas You were paying

Pagar Perfect / Perfecto

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 paid” and “she has paid”.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo he pagado I have paid
has pagado You have paid
Él / Ella / Usted ha pagado He has / she has / you have paid
Nosotros / as hemos pagado We have paid
Vosotros / as habéis pagado You have paid
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes han pagado They / you have paid
Vos has pagado You have paid

Pagar Conditional / Condicional

The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would pay” or “she would pay”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.

Pronoun Spanish Englush
Yo pagaría I would pay
pagarías You would pay
Él / Ella / Usted pagaría He / she / you would pay
Nosotros / as pagaríamos We would pay
Vosotros / as pagaríais You would pay
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagarían They / you would pay
Vos pagarías You would pay

Pagar Future / Futuro

The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will pay” or “they will pay”.

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 pagar” means “They are going to pay”.

Pronoun Spanish English
Yo pagaré I will pay
pagarás You will pay
Él / Ella / Usted pagará He / she / you will pay
Nosotros / as pagaremos We will pay
Vosotros / as pagaréis You will pay
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagarán They / you will pay
Vos pagarás You will pay

Pagar Subjunctive Conjugations

Pagar Present Subjunctive / Presente de Subjuntivo

Pronoun Spanish
Yo pague
pagues
Él / Ella / Usted pague
Nosotros / as paguemos
Vosotros / as paguéis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes paguen
Vos pagues

Pagar Past Subjunctive / Imperfecto de Subjuntivo

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 pagara pagase
pagaras pagase
Él / Ella / Usted pagara pagase
Nosotros / as pagáramos pagásemos
Vosotros / as pagarais pagaseis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagaran pagasen
Vos pagaras pagase

Pagar Future Subjunctive / Futuro de Subjuntivo

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 pagare
pagares
Él / Ella / Usted pagare
Nosotros / as pagáremos
Vosotros / as pagareis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pagaren
Vos pagares

Pagar Imperative Conjugations

Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “pay!” and “don’t pay!”.

Pronoun Spanish Affirmative Spanish Negative
paga no pagues
Él / Ella / Usted pague no pague
Nosotros / as paguemos no paguemos
Vosotros / as pagad no paguéis
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes paguen no paguen
Vos pagá no pagues

Pagar Compound Subjunctive Tenses

Pagar Subjunctive Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo haya pagado
hayas pagado
Él / Ella / Usted haya pagado
Nosotros / as hayamos pagado
Vosotros / as hayáis pagado
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hayan pagado
Vos hayas pagado

Pagar Subjunctive Past Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo hubiera pagado / hubiese pagado
hubieras pagado / hubieses pagado
Él / Ella / Usted hubiera pagado / hubiese pagado
Nosotros / as hubiéramos pagado / hubiésemos pagado
Vosotros / as hubierais pagado / hubieseis pagado
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hubieran pagado / hubiesen pagado
Vos hubieras pagado / hubieses pagado

Pagar Subjunctive Future Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo hubiere pagado
hubieres pagado
Él / Ella / Usted hubiere pagado
Nosotros / as hubiéremos pagado
Vosotros / as hubiereis pagado
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes hubieren pagado
Vos hubieres pagado

Pagar Subjective Progressive Perfect

Pronoun Spanish
Yo esté pagando
estés pagando
Él / Ella / Usted esté pagando
Nosotros / as estemos pagando
Vosotros / as estéis pagando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estén pagando
Vos estés pagando

Pagar Subjunctive Past Progressive

Pronoun Spanish
Yo estuviera pagando / estuviese pagando
estuvieras pagando / estuvieses pagando
Él / Ella / Usted estuviera pagando / estuviese pagando
Nosotros / as estuviéramos pagando / estuviésamos pagando
Vosotros / as estuvierais pagando / estuvieseis pagando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estuviera pagando / estuviese pagando
Vos estuvieras pagando / estuvieses pagando

Pagar Subjunctive Future Progressive

Pronoun Spanish
Yo estuviere pagando
estuvieres pagando
Él / Ella / Usted estuviere pagando
Nosotros / as estuviéremos pagando
Vosotros / as estuviereis pagando
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes estuviere pagando
Vos estuvieres pagando

Pagar Vos Conjugation

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.

TenseVos Conjugation
Present Indicative
Presente de Indicativo
Vos pagás
Simle Past / Preterite
Preterite de Indicativo
Vos pagaste
Imperfect Past
Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo
Vos pagabas
Conditional
Condicional
Vos pagarías
Future
Futuro de Indicativo
Vos pagarás
Present Subjunctive
Presente de Subjunctivo
Vos pagues
Imperfect Subjunctive
Imperfecto de Subjunctivo
Vos pagaras / Vos pagase
Affirmative Imperative
Imperativo
Vos pagá
Negative Imperative
Imperativo Negativo
Vos no pagues

Free Pagar Conjugation Printable