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Seguir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to follow”.
Below are all of the conjugations for seguir 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 follow |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | seguir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está siguiendo) and past continuous (estaba siguiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. following).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he seguido and hubiera seguido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have followed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | siguiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | seguido |
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 follow” or “they follow”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | sigo |
| Tú | sigues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | sigue |
| Nosotros / as | seguimos |
| Vosotros / as | seguís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | siguen |
| Vos | seguís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I followed” or “she followed” 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 | seguí | I followed |
| Tú | seguiste | You followed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | siguió | He / she / you followed |
| Nosotros / as | seguimos | We followed |
| Vosotros / as | seguisteis | You followed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | siguieron | They / you followed |
| Vos | seguiste | You followed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was following” or “she was following” 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 | seguía | I was following |
| Tú | seguías | You were following |
| Él / Ella / Usted | seguía | He was / she was / you were following |
| Nosotros / as | seguíamos | We were following |
| Vosotros / as | seguíais | You were following |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | seguían | They / you were following |
| Vos | seguías | You were following |
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 followed” and “she has followed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he seguido | I have followed |
| Tú | has seguido | You have followed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha seguido | He has / she has / you have followed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos seguido | We have followed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis seguido | You have followed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han seguido | They / you have followed |
| Vos | has seguido | You have followed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would follow” or “she would follow”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | seguiría | I would follow |
| Tú | seguirías | You would follow |
| Él / Ella / Usted | seguiría | He / she / you would follow |
| Nosotros / as | seguiríamos | We would follow |
| Vosotros / as | seguiríais | You would follow |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | seguirían | They / you would follow |
| Vos | seguirías | You would follow |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will follow” or “they will follow”.
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 seguir” means “They are going to follow”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | seguiré | I will follow |
| Tú | seguirás | You will follow |
| Él / Ella / Usted | seguirá | He / she / you will follow |
| Nosotros / as | seguiremos | We will follow |
| Vosotros / as | seguiréis | You will follow |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | seguirán | They / you will follow |
| Vos | seguirás | You will follow |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | siga |
| Tú | sigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | siga |
| Nosotros / as | sigamos |
| Vosotros / as | sigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sigan |
| Vos | sigas |
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 | siguiera | siguiese |
| Tú | siguieras | siguiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | siguiera | siguiese |
| Nosotros / as | siguiéramos | siguiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | siguierais | siguieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | siguieran | siguiesen |
| Vos | siguieras | siguiese |
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 | siguiere |
| Tú | siguieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | siguiera |
| Nosotros / as | siguiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | siguiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | siguieren |
| Vos | siguieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “follow!” and “don’t follow!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | sigue | no sigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | siga | no siga |
| Nosotros / as | sigamos | no sigamos |
| Vosotros / as | seguid | no sigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | sigan | no sigan |
| Vos | seguí | no sigas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya seguido |
| Tú | hayas seguido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya seguido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos seguido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis seguido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan seguido |
| Vos | hayas seguido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera seguido / hubiese seguido |
| Tú | hubieras seguido / hubieses seguido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera seguido / hubiese seguido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos seguido / hubiésemos seguido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais seguido / hubieseis seguido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran seguido / hubiesen seguido |
| Vos | hubieras seguido / hubieses seguido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere seguido |
| Tú | hubieres seguido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere seguido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos seguido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis seguido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren seguido |
| Vos | hubieres seguido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté siguiendo |
| Tú | estés siguiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté siguiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos siguiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis siguiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén siguiendo |
| Vos | estés siguiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera siguiendo / estuviese siguiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras siguiendo / estuvieses siguiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera siguiendo / estuviese siguiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos siguiendo / estuviésamos siguiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais siguiendo / estuvieseis siguiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera siguiendo / estuviese siguiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras siguiendo / estuvieses siguiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere siguiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres siguiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere siguiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos siguiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis siguiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere siguiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres siguiendo |
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 seguís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos seguiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos seguías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos seguirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos seguirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos sigas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos siguieras / Vos siguiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos seguí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no sigas |
