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Perder is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lose”.
Below are all of the conjugations for perder 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 lose |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | perder |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está perdiendo) and past continuous (estaba perdiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. losing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he perdido and hubiera perdido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lost).
| Gerundio / Gerund | perdiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | perdido |
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 lose” or “they lose”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pierdo |
| Tú | pierdes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pierde |
| Nosotros / as | perdemos |
| Vosotros / as | perdéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pierden |
| Vos | perdés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lost” or “she lost” 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 | perdí | I lost |
| Tú | perdiste | You lost |
| Él / Ella / Usted | perdió | He / she / you lost |
| Nosotros / as | perdimos | We lost |
| Vosotros / as | perdisteis | You lost |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | perdieron | They / you lost |
| Vos | perdiste | You lost |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was losing” or “she was losing” 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 | perdía | I was losing |
| Tú | perdías | You were losing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | perdía | He was / she was / you were losing |
| Nosotros / as | perdíamos | We were losing |
| Vosotros / as | perdíais | You were losing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | perdían | They / you were losing |
| Vos | perdías | You were losing |
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 lost” and “she has lost”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he perdido | I have lost |
| Tú | has perdido | You have lost |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha perdido | He has / she has / you have lost |
| Nosotros / as | hemos perdido | We have lost |
| Vosotros / as | habéis perdido | You have lost |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han perdido | They / you have lost |
| Vos | has perdido | You have lost |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lose” or “she would lose”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | perdería | I would lose |
| Tú | perderías | You would lose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | perdería | He / she / you would lose |
| Nosotros / as | perderíamos | We would lose |
| Vosotros / as | perderíais | You would lose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | perderían | They / you would lose |
| Vos | perderías | You would lose |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lose” or “they will lose”.
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 perder” means “They are going to lose”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | perderé | I will lose |
| Tú | perderás | You will lose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | perderá | He / she / you will lose |
| Nosotros / as | perderemos | We will lose |
| Vosotros / as | perderéis | You will lose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | perderán | They / you will lose |
| Vos | perderás | You will lose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pierda |
| Tú | pierdas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pierda |
| Nosotros / as | perdamos |
| Vosotros / as | perdáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pierdan |
| Vos | pierdas |
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 | perdiera | perdiese |
| Tú | perdieras | perdiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | perdiera | perdiese |
| Nosotros / as | perdiéramos | perdiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | perdierais | perdieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | perdieran | perdiesen |
| Vos | perdieras | perdiese |
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 | perdiere |
| Tú | perdieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | perdiere |
| Nosotros / as | perdiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | perdiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | perdieren |
| Vos | perdieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lose!” and “don’t lose!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | pierde | no pierdas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pierda | no pierda |
| Nosotros / as | perdamos | no perdamos |
| Vosotros / as | perded | no perdáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pierdan | no pierdan |
| Vos | perdé | no pierdas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya perdido |
| Tú | hayas perdido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya perdido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos perdido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis perdido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan perdido |
| Vos | hayas perdido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera perdido / hubiese perdido |
| Tú | hubieras perdido / hubieses perdido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera perdido / hubiese perdido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos perdido / hubiésemos perdido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais perdido / hubieseis perdido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran perdido / hubiesen perdido |
| Vos | hubieras perdido / hubieses perdido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere perdido |
| Tú | hubieres perdido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere perdido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos perdido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis perdido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren perdido |
| Vos | hubieres perdido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté perdiendo |
| Tú | estés perdiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté perdiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos perdiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis perdiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén perdiendo |
| Vos | estés perdiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera perdiendo / estuviese perdiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras perdiendo / estuvieses perdiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera perdiendo / estuviese perdiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos perdiendo / estuviésamos perdiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais perdiendo / estuvieseis perdiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera perdiendo / estuviese perdiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras perdiendo / estuvieses perdiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere perdiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres perdiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere perdiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos perdiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis perdiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere perdiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres perdiendo |
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 perdés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos perdiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos perdías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos perderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos perderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos pierdas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos perdieras / Vos perdiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos perdé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no pierdas |
