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Recibir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to receive”.
Below are all of the conjugations for recibir 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 receive |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | recibir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está recibiendo) and past continuous (estaba recibiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. receiving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he recibido and hubiera recibido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have received).
| Gerundio / Gerund | recibiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | recibido |
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 receive” or “they receive”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | recibo |
| Tú | recibes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibe |
| Nosotros / as | recibimos |
| Vosotros / as | recibís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | reciben |
| Vos | recibís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I received” or “she received” 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 | recibí | I received |
| Tú | recibiste | You received |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibió | He / she / you received |
| Nosotros / as | recibimos | We received |
| Vosotros / as | recibisteis | You received |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | recibieron | They / you received |
| Vos | recibiste | You received |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was receiving” or “she was receiving” 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 | recibía | I was receiving |
| Tú | recibías | You were receiving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibía | He was / she was / you were receiving |
| Nosotros / as | recibíamos | We were receiving |
| Vosotros / as | recibíais | You were receiving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | recibían | They / you were receiving |
| Vos | recibías | You were receiving |
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 received” and “she has received”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he recibido | I have received |
| Tú | has recibido | You have received |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha recibido | He has / she has / you have received |
| Nosotros / as | hemos recibido | We have received |
| Vosotros / as | habéis recibido | You have received |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han recibido | They / you have received |
| Vos | has recibido | You have received |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would receive” or “she would receive”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | recibiría | I would receive |
| Tú | recibirías | You would receive |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibiría | He / she / you would receive |
| Nosotros / as | recibiríamos | We would receive |
| Vosotros / as | recibiríais | You would receive |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | recibirían | They / you would receive |
| Vos | recibirías | You would receive |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will receive” or “they will receive”.
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 recibir” means “They are going to receive”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | recibiré | I will receive |
| Tú | recibirás | You will receive |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibirá | He / she / you will receive |
| Nosotros / as | recibiremos | We will receive |
| Vosotros / as | recibiréis | You will receive |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | recibirán | They / you will receive |
| Vos | recibirás | You will receive |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | reciba |
| Tú | recibas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | reciba |
| Nosotros / as | recibamos |
| Vosotros / as | recibáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | reciban |
| Vos | recibas |
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 | recibiera | recibiese |
| Tú | recibieras | recibiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibiera | recibiese |
| Nosotros / as | recibiéramos | recibiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | recibierais | recibieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | recibieran | recibiesen |
| Vos | recibieras | recibiese |
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 | recibiere |
| Tú | recibieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | recibiera |
| Nosotros / as | recibiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | recibiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | recibieren |
| Vos | recibieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “receive!” and “don’t receive!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | recibe | no recibas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | reciba | no reciba |
| Nosotros / as | recibamos | no recibamos |
| Vosotros / as | recibid | no recibáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | reciban | no reciban |
| Vos | recibí | no recibas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya recibido |
| Tú | hayas recibido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya recibido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos recibido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis recibido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan recibido |
| Vos | hayas recibido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera recibido / hubiese recibido |
| Tú | hubieras recibido / hubieses recibido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera recibido / hubiese recibido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos recibido / hubiésemos recibido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais recibido / hubieseis recibido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran recibido / hubiesen recibido |
| Vos | hubieras recibido / hubieses recibido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere recibido |
| Tú | hubieres recibido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere recibido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos recibido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis recibido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren recibido |
| Vos | hubieres recibido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté recibiendo |
| Tú | estés recibiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté recibiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos recibiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis recibiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén recibiendo |
| Vos | estés recibiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera recibiendo / estuviese recibiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras recibiendo / estuvieses recibiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera recibiendo / estuviese recibiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos recibiendo / estuviésamos recibiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais recibiendo / estuvieseis recibiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera recibiendo / estuviese recibiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras recibiendo / estuvieses recibiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere recibiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres recibiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere recibiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos recibiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis recibiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere recibiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres recibiendo |
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 recibís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos recibiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos recibías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos recibirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos recibirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos recibas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos recibieras / Vos recibiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos recibí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no recibas |
