Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Tomar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to take”.
Below are all of the conjugations for tomar 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 take |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | tomar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está tomando) and past continuous (estaba tomando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. taking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he tomado and hubiera tomado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have taken).
| Gerundio / Gerund | tomando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | tomado |
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 take” or “they take”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | tomo |
| Tú | tomas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | toma |
| Nosotros / as | tomamos |
| Vosotros / as | tomáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | toman |
| Vos | tomás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I took” or “she took” 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 | tomé | I took |
| Tú | tomaste | You took |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tomó | He / she / you took |
| Nosotros / as | tomamos | We took |
| Vosotros / as | tomasteis | You took |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomaron | They / you took |
| Vos | tomaste | You took |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was taking” or “she was taking” 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 | tomaba | I was taking |
| Tú | tomabas | You were taking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tomaba | He was / she was / you were taking |
| Nosotros / as | tomábamos | We were taking |
| Vosotros / as | tomabais | You were taking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomaban | They / you were taking |
| Vos | tomabas | You were taking |
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 taken” and “she has taken”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he tomado | I have taken |
| Tú | has tomado | You have taken |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha tomado | He has / she has / you have taken |
| Nosotros / as | hemos tomado | We have taken |
| Vosotros / as | habéis tomado | You have taken |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han tomado | They / you have taken |
| Vos | has tomado | You have taken |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would take” or “she would take”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | tomaría | I would take |
| Tú | tomarías | You would take |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tomaría | He / she / you would take |
| Nosotros / as | tomaríamos | We would take |
| Vosotros / as | tomaríais | You would take |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomarían | They / you would take |
| Vos | tomarías | You would take |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will take” or “they will take”.
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 tomar” means “They are going to take”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | tomaré | I will take |
| Tú | tomarás | You will take |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tomará | He / she / you will take |
| Nosotros / as | tomaremos | We will take |
| Vosotros / as | tomaréis | You will take |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomarán | They / you will take |
| Vos | tomarás | You will take |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | tome |
| Tú | tomes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tome |
| Nosotros / as | tomemos |
| Vosotros / as | toméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomen |
| Vos | tomes |
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 | tomara | tomase |
| Tú | tomaras | tomase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tomara | tomase |
| Nosotros / as | tomáramos | tomásemos |
| Vosotros / as | tomarais | tomaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomaran | tomasen |
| Vos | tomaras | tomase |
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 | tomare |
| Tú | tomares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tomare |
| Nosotros / as | tomáremos |
| Vosotros / as | tomareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomaren |
| Vos | tomares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “take!” and “don’t take!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | toma | no tomes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | tome | no tome |
| Nosotros / as | tomemos | no tomemos |
| Vosotros / as | tomad | no toméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | tomen | no tomen |
| Vos | tomá | no tomes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya tomado |
| Tú | hayas tomado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya tomado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos tomado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis tomado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan tomado |
| Vos | hayas tomado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera tomado / hubiese tomado |
| Tú | hubieras tomado / hubieses tomado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera tomado / hubiese tomado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos tomado / hubiésemos tomado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais tomado / hubieseis tomado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran tomado / hubiesen tomado |
| Vos | hubieras tomado / hubieses tomado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere tomado |
| Tú | hubieres tomado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere tomado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos tomado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis tomado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren tomado |
| Vos | hubieres tomado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté tomando |
| Tú | estés tomando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté tomando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos tomando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis tomando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén tomando |
| Vos | estés tomando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera tomando / estuviese tomando |
| Tú | estuvieras tomando / estuvieses tomando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera tomando / estuviese tomando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos tomando / estuviésamos tomando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais tomando / estuvieseis tomando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera tomando / estuviese tomando |
| Vos | estuvieras tomando / estuvieses tomando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere tomando |
| Tú | estuvieres tomando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere tomando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos tomando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis tomando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere tomando |
| Vos | estuvieres tomando |
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 tomás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos tomaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos tomabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos tomarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos tomarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos tomes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos tomaras / Vos tomase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos tomá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no tomes |
