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Poder is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be able to”.
Below are all of the conjugations for poder 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 be able to |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | poder |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está podiendo) and past continuous (estaba podiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being able to).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he podido and hubiera podido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been able to).
| Gerundio / Gerund | podiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | podido |
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 am able to” or “they am able to”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | puedo |
| Tú | puedes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | puede |
| Nosotros / as | podemos |
| Vosotros / as | podéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pueden |
| Vos | pude |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was able to” or “she was able to” 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 | podido | I was able to |
| Tú | pudiste | You was able to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pudo | He / she / you was able to |
| Nosotros / as | pudimos | We was able to |
| Vosotros / as | pudisteis | You was able to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pudieron | They / you was able to |
| Vos | pudiste | You was able to |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being able to” or “she was being able to” 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 | podía | I was being able to |
| Tú | podías | You were being able to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | podía | He was / she was / you were being able to |
| Nosotros / as | podíamos | We were being able to |
| Vosotros / as | podíais | You were being able to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | podían | They / you were being able to |
| Vos | podías | You were being able to |
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 been able to” and “she has been able to”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he podido | I have been able to |
| Tú | has podido | You have been able to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha podido | He has / she has / you have been able to |
| Nosotros / as | hemos podido | We have been able to |
| Vosotros / as | habéis podido | You have been able to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han podido | They / you have been able to |
| Vos | has podido | You have been able to |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be able to” or “she would be able to”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | podría | I would am able to |
| Tú | podrías | You would am able to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | podría | He / she / you would am able to |
| Nosotros / as | podríamos | We would am able to |
| Vosotros / as | podríais | You would am able to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | podrían | They / you would am able to |
| Vos | podrías | You would am able to |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be able to” or “they will be able to”.
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 poder” means “They are going to be able to”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | podré | I will am able to |
| Tú | podrás | You will am able to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | podrá | He / she / you will am able to |
| Nosotros / as | podremos | We will am able to |
| Vosotros / as | podréis | You will am able to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | podrán | They / you will am able to |
| Vos | podrás | You will am able to |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pueda |
| Tú | puedas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pueda |
| Nosotros / as | podamos |
| Vosotros / as | podáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | puedan |
| Vos | puedas |
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 | pudiera | pudiese |
| Tú | pudieras | pudiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pudiera | pudiese |
| Nosotros / as | pudiéramos | pudiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | pudierais | pudieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pudieran | pudiesen |
| Vos | pudieras | pudiese |
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 | pudiere |
| Tú | pudieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pudiere |
| Nosotros / as | pudiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | pudiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pudieren |
| Vos | pudieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be able to!” and “don’t be able to!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | puede | no puedas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pueda | no pueda |
| Nosotros / as | podamos | no podamos |
| Vosotros / as | poded | no podáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | puedan | no puedan |
| Vos | podido | no puedas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya podido |
| Tú | hayas podido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya podido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos podido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis podido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan podido |
| Vos | hayas podido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera podido / hubiese podido |
| Tú | hubieras podido / hubieses podido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera podido / hubiese podido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos podido / hubiésemos podido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais podido / hubieseis podido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran podido / hubiesen podido |
| Vos | hubieras podido / hubieses podido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere podido |
| Tú | hubieres podido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere podido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos podido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis podido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren podido |
| Vos | hubieres podido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté podiendo |
| Tú | estés podiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté podiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos podiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis podiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén podiendo |
| Vos | estés podiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera podiendo / estuviese podiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras podiendo / estuvieses podiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera podiendo / estuviese podiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos podiendo / estuviésamos podiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais podiendo / estuvieseis podiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera podiendo / estuviese podiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras podiendo / estuvieses podiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere podiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres podiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere podiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos podiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis podiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere podiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres podiendo |
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 pude |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos pudiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos podías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos podrías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos podrás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos puedas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos pudieras / Vos pudiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos podido |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no puedas |
