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Pedir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to ask for / to order”.
Below are all of the conjugations for pedir 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 ask for / to order |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | pedir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está pidiendo) and past continuous (estaba pidiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. asking for).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he pedido and hubiera pedido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have asked for).
| Gerundio / Gerund | pidiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | pedido |
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 ask for” or “they ask for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pido |
| Tú | pides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pide |
| Nosotros / as | pedimos |
| Vosotros / as | pedís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | piden |
| Vos | pedís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I asked for” or “she asked for” 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 | pedí | I asked for |
| Tú | pediste | You asked for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pidió | He / she / you asked for |
| Nosotros / as | pedimos | We asked for |
| Vosotros / as | pedisteis | You asked for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pidieron | They / you asked for |
| Vos | pediste | You asked for |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was asking for” or “she was asking for” 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 | pedía | I was asking for |
| Tú | pedías | You were asking for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pedía | He was / she was / you were asking for |
| Nosotros / as | pedíamos | We were asking for |
| Vosotros / as | pedíais | You were asking for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pedían | They / you were asking for |
| Vos | pedías | You were asking for |
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 asked for” and “she has asked for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he pedido | I have asked for |
| Tú | has pedido | You have asked for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha pedido | He has / she has / you have asked for |
| Nosotros / as | hemos pedido | We have asked for |
| Vosotros / as | habéis pedido | You have asked for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han pedido | They / you have asked for |
| Vos | has pedido | You have asked for |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would ask for” or “she would ask for”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pediría | I would ask for |
| Tú | pedirías | You would ask for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pediría | He / she / you would ask for |
| Nosotros / as | pediríamos | We would ask for |
| Vosotros / as | pediríais | You would ask for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pedirían | They / you would ask for |
| Vos | pedirías | You would ask for |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will ask for” or “they will ask for”.
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 pedir” means “They are going to ask for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pediré | I will ask for |
| Tú | pedirás | You will ask for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pedirá | He / she / you will ask for |
| Nosotros / as | pediremos | We will ask for |
| Vosotros / as | pediréis | You will ask for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pedirán | They / you will ask for |
| Vos | pedirás | You will ask for |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pida |
| Tú | pidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pida |
| Nosotros / as | pidamos |
| Vosotros / as | pidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pidan |
| Vos | pidas |
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 | pidiera | pidiese |
| Tú | pidieras | pidiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pidiera | pidiese |
| Nosotros / as | pidiéramos | pidiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | pidierais | pidieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pidieran | pidiesen |
| Vos | pidieras | pidiese |
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 | pidiere |
| Tú | pidieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pidiera |
| Nosotros / as | pidiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | pidiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pidieren |
| Vos | pidieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “ask for!” and “don’t ask for!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | pide | no pidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pida | no pida |
| Nosotros / as | pidamos | no pidamos |
| Vosotros / as | pedid | no pidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pidan | no pidan |
| Vos | pedí | no pidas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya pedido |
| Tú | hayas pedido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya pedido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos pedido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis pedido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan pedido |
| Vos | hayas pedido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera pedido / hubiese pedido |
| Tú | hubieras pedido / hubieses pedido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera pedido / hubiese pedido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos pedido / hubiésemos pedido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais pedido / hubieseis pedido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran pedido / hubiesen pedido |
| Vos | hubieras pedido / hubieses pedido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere pedido |
| Tú | hubieres pedido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere pedido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos pedido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis pedido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren pedido |
| Vos | hubieres pedido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté pidiendo |
| Tú | estés pidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté pidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos pidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis pidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén pidiendo |
| Vos | estés pidiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera pidiendo / estuviese pidiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras pidiendo / estuvieses pidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera pidiendo / estuviese pidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos pidiendo / estuviésamos pidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais pidiendo / estuvieseis pidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera pidiendo / estuviese pidiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras pidiendo / estuvieses pidiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere pidiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres pidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere pidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos pidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis pidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere pidiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres pidiendo |
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 pedís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos pediste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos pedías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos pedirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos pedirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos pidas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos pidieras / Vos pidiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos pedí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no pidas |
