Unit 2

Indicative Tenses: Present, Past, Future

The five simple tenses of the indicative — presente, pretérito, imperfecto, futuro, condicional — carry almost everything you will say or write on the exam. The email reply lives in the present and future; the conversation jumps between present and past every turn; the cultural comparison needs the imperfect (“when I was a child, we always…”) and the preterite (“last year we went…”). This unit gives every tense a card — formation, uses, trigger words, an example — then the full list of irregular verbs for each, then the one decision that costs students the most points: preterite or imperfect. Four drills let you practise until the forms come without thinking.

0 · The tense system at a glance

Spanish verbs are organised by mood (how the speaker presents the action) and tense (when). There are three moods, and each tense is either simple (one word: hablé) or compound (haber + past participle: he hablado).

Three facts make the whole system smaller than it looks. Persons always come in the same order — yo, tú, él/ella/usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos/ellas/ustedes — and usted/ustedes always take the third-person form. Every compound tense is just haber in one of the simple tenses plus a participle, so learning the simple tenses of haber buys you all five compound ones. And the future and conditional share one set of stems, so twelve irregular stems cover both tenses.

1 · Presente: regular verbs and uses

Six uses of the present

• Habit / general truth: Los domingos visitamos a mis abuelos. On Sundays we visit my grandparents.
• Right now (English “I am doing”): —¿Qué haces? —Estudio para el examen. What are you doing? I'm studying for the exam. (Unit 3 adds estoy estudiando for emphasis.)
• Near or scheduled future: El tren sale a las ocho. Mañana te llamo. The train leaves at eight. I'll call you tomorrow.
• Historical present (vivid narration): En 1810 Hidalgo da el Grito de Dolores. In 1810 Hidalgo gives the Cry of Dolores. Common in articles and audio documentaries.
• Offers and requests for permission: ¿Abro la ventana? Shall I open the window?
• Duration up to now with hace + time + que + presente: Hace dos años que estudio español. I have been studying Spanish for two years. English uses a perfect tense here; Spanish uses the present, because the action is still going on.

2 · Presente: every irregular family

“Irregular” in the present almost always means one of the seven patterns below. Learn the pattern, not the verb, and a new verb in a reading passage will already make sense.

2a · Stem-changing (“boot”) verbs

The stressed stem vowel changes in every form except nosotros and vosotros — draw a line around yo, tú, él, ellos in the table and it looks like a boot. The endings stay regular.

2b · Irregular yo only

Every other form is regular (or follows its stem change). These yo forms are the base of the present subjunctive, so they are worth knowing cold.

2c · Spelling changes that keep the sound

These are not really irregular: the letters change so the pronunciation of the stem stays the same before a new vowel. G before o would be hard (“go”), so escoger writes escojo to keep the soft sound.

2d · The fully irregular presents

Nine verbs you simply memorise. Five of them are among the ten most frequent verbs in the language.

Interactive lab Present tense, every family Open it in Interactive Laboratories →

3 · Pretérito

3a · Spelling changes in yo (‑car, ‑gar, ‑zar)

The yo ending -é would change the consonant's sound, so the spelling adjusts. Only yo is affected.

3b · ‑ir stem-changers: the third-person change

‑ar and ‑er stem-changers are regular in the preterite (pensé, volví). But ‑ir stem-changers change e → i or o → u in the two third-person forms — a “sandal” instead of a boot.

Same pattern: preferir → prefirió, servir → sirvió, repetir → repitió, seguir → siguió, vestir → vistió, mentir → mintió, divertirse → se divirtió, morir → murió, elegir → eligió.

3c · i → y between vowels

When the stem ends in a vowel (le-er, cre-er, ca-er, o-ír, constru-ir) the unstressed i of -ió and -ieron becomes y, and the other endings gain an accent to keep the í its own syllable.

Note ‑uir verbs don't take the extra accents: construiste, construimos.

3d · The strong (irregular-stem) preterites

Fourteen common verbs take an irregular stem and a special set of endings with no accents at all: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. Because the stress falls on the stem, tuve, tuvo — never *tuvé.

3e · ser / ir, dar / ver

Ser and ir share one identical preterite; context tells them apart (Fue un día largo — it was a long day; Fue al mercado — she went to the market). Dar takes ‑er endings, and dar and ver are one-syllable forms with no accents: di, dio, vi, vio.

4 · Imperfecto

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect in the whole language:

Uses of the imperfect

• Habitual: Mi abuelo leía el periódico todas las mañanas. My grandfather used to read / would read the newspaper every morning.
• Description: La casa era pequeña y tenía un patio lleno de plantas. The house was small and had a patio full of plants.
• Time and age: Eran las once y yo tenía quince años. It was eleven o'clock and I was fifteen. (Always imperfect.)
• States of mind: Estábamos nerviosos porque no sabíamos qué pasaría. We were nervous because we didn't know what would happen.
• In progress / simultaneous: Mientras yo cocinaba, mi hermano ponía la mesa. While I was cooking, my brother was setting the table.
• Planned but unfulfilled (ir a + inf): Iba a llamarte, pero se me olvidó. I was going to call you, but I forgot.

5 · Pretérito vs imperfecto

Both tenses describe the past. The difference is how you look at the action, not how long it lasted. The preterite presents an action as a completed unit — a dot or a closed segment on a timeline. The imperfect presents it from the inside, in progress, with no attention to its beginning or end.

Verbs that change meaning

With these verbs the choice changes the English translation. The preterite captures the moment the state began or was tested; the imperfect describes the state.

An annotated narrative

Highlighted = imperfect: the date, weather, what everyone was doing, a state (no había luz), and the scene the parents walked into. Bold = preterite: each event in order — the lights go out, the discovery (supimos = we found out), searching, calling, the two hours of cards (closed span), the arrival. Fue la mejor noche is a preterite of summary: it judges the evening as a completed whole.

Common errors, and how graders read them

• *Fue for description. El hotel fue muy bonito implies the hotel stopped being pretty. Describing it as you saw it: era.
• Age and time in the preterite. *Tuve diez años, *Fueron las tres — always tenía, eran.
• Every verb in one tense. A story written entirely in the preterite is a list; entirely in the imperfect, it never happens. A strong response mixes them deliberately.
• Missing accents on -ó / -é, which turns a preterite into a present or a subjunctive.

Interactive lab Preterite and imperfect forms Open it in Interactive Laboratories →

6 · Futuro

The twelve irregular stems

The endings never change; only the stem does. Three groups:

Futuro vs ir a + infinitive

In conversation Spanish speakers prefer ir a + infinitive for plans and the near future: Voy a estudiar esta noche. The simple future sounds more formal, more distant or more certain: El gobierno construirá tres hospitales. Use both on the exam — ir a in the conversation, the simple future in the essay and the email.

The future of probability

The future tense also expresses a guess about now. English says “I wonder”, “probably”, “must be”. This shows up in audio sources and is easy to misread as a real future.

• ¿Dónde estará Luis? — Estará en el gimnasio. I wonder where Luis is. — He's probably at the gym.
• ¿Qué hora será? — Serán las ocho. What time can it be? — It must be about eight.
• No contesta; tendrá el móvil apagado. She's not answering; she must have her phone off.

7 · Condicional

Four uses

• Politeness — essential in the email reply: ¿Podría usted enviarme más información? Me gustaría saber el horario. Could you send me more information? I would like to know the schedule.
• Hypotheticals (full si-clauses in Unit 4): Si tuviera más tiempo, viajaría por Sudamérica. If I had more time, I would travel around South America.
• Future-in-the-past (reported speech): Dice que vendrá → Dijo que vendría. She says she will come → She said she would come.
• Probability in the past: Serían las diez cuando llegaron. Estaría cansado. It was probably ten when they arrived. He must have been tired.

Interactive lab Future and conditional Open it in Interactive Laboratories →

8 · All five tenses together

The exam never tells you which tense is coming. This drill mixes all five simple indicative tenses across all 91 verbs. Aim for a streak of 15 before you take Exam 2.

Interactive lab Mixed indicative Open it in Interactive Laboratories →

9 · Worked examples

1. Choosing preterite or imperfect, blank by blank

Completa: Cuando mi abuela (ser) ___ joven, (vivir) ___ en un pueblo de Galicia. Todos los días (caminar) ___ dos kilómetros a la escuela. Un día de invierno (nevar) ___ tanto que la escuela (cerrar) ___ y ella (quedarse) ___ en casa toda la semana.

• era — age/description (cuando era joven). Background state.
• vivía — ongoing situation, no limits given. Background.
• caminaba — todos los días = habit. Habitual imperfect.
• nevó — un día introduces a specific event. The plot starts here.
• cerró — the next event, a change of state. Event.
• se quedó — toda la semana is a closed span. Completed block, so preterite despite lasting a week.

2. Rewriting a present-tense story in the past

Son las siete. Llueve y hace frío. Marcos sale de casa, pero olvida el paraguas. Mientras espera el autobús, ve a una vieja amiga. Hablan un rato y deciden tomar un café juntos.

En el pasado

Eran las siete. Llovía y hacía frío. Marcos salió de casa, pero olvidó el paraguas. Mientras esperaba el autobús, vio a una vieja amiga. Hablaron un rato y decidieron tomar un café juntos.

Time and weather → imperfect. Salió, olvidó, vio, hablaron, decidieron are the sequence of events → preterite. Mientras esperaba is the action in progress that vio happens inside of. Hablaron un rato is preterite: a closed span.

3. Probability with the future and conditional

Translate: (a) I wonder who is at the door. (b) It must be about midnight. (c) She was probably sick yesterday. (d) I wonder why they didn't come.

• (a) ¿Quién será? / ¿Quién estará en la puerta? Present guess → future.
• (b) Será medianoche. / Serán las doce. Present guess → future.
• (c) Estaría enferma ayer. Past guess → conditional.
• (d) ¿Por qué no vendrían? Past guess → conditional.

The rule: shift one tense forward. A guess about the present uses the future; a guess about the past uses the conditional.

4. Hace … que — duration vs “ago”

Translate: (a) I have been playing the guitar for four years. (b) I started playing the guitar four years ago. (c) How long have you lived in this city?

• (a) Hace cuatro años que toco la guitarra. / Toco la guitarra desde hace cuatro años. Still going on → present.
• (b) Empecé a tocar la guitarra hace cuatro años. Completed event + hace = ago → preterite. Note empecé: z → c before é.
• (c) ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que vives en esta ciudad? Still living there → present.

5. Spelling changes and stem changes in the preterite

Give the preterite: (a) yo — practicar, pagar, almorzar; (b) ella — leer, construir, dormir, pedir; (c) ellos — traer, preferir, oír.

• (a) practiqué, pagué, almorcé -car/-gar/-zar, yo only. Almorzar's o → ue does not happen in the preterite.
• (b) leyó, construyó, durmió, pidió i → y between vowels; -ir stem-changers change in third person.
• (c) trajeron, prefirieron, oyeron j-stem drops the i (not *trajieron); -ir stem change; i → y.

Every form above follows the same rules the drill uses — practise them with the Cambio ortográfico and Cambio de raíz filters.

6. Reported speech: future → conditional

Pasa al pasado: La profesora dice que el examen será difícil y que tendremos que estudiar mucho. Dice que nos ayudará.

En el pasado

La profesora dijo que el examen sería difícil y que tendríamos que estudiar mucho. Dijo que nos ayudaría.

When the reporting verb moves to the past (dice → dijo), a future inside the report becomes conditional. This is the same shift you make when summarising an audio source in the essay: El experto dijo que la situación mejoraría.

7. Meaning-changing verbs in context

Translate: (a) I met my best friend in sixth grade. (b) We found out about the concert too late. (c) He refused to answer. (d) I knew her brother, but I didn't know where she lived. (e) After three tries, I managed to open the door.

• (a) Conocí a mi mejor amigo en sexto grado.
• (b) Supimos lo del concierto demasiado tarde.
• (c) No quiso contestar.
• (d) Conocía a su hermano, pero no sabía dónde vivía.
• (e) Después de tres intentos, pude abrir la puerta.

Checklist

• I can name every tense in all three moods and know which unit covers it.
• I conjugate regular -ar, -er and -ir verbs in all five simple indicative tenses without hesitating.
• I know the four stem-change patterns and that nosotros/vosotros never change in the present.
• I know the yo-go, -zco, spelling-change and accent verbs, and the nine fully irregular presents.
• I use hace + tiempo + que + presente for “have been doing” and hace + preterite for “ago”.
• I spell busqué, llegué, empecé; I know pidió, durmió, leyó, construyó.
• I know all fourteen strong preterite stems, write them without accents, and use -eron after j.
• I know the imperfect has only three irregular verbs: ser, ir, ver.
• I choose preterite for events and closed spans, imperfect for background, habits, time, age and states — and I know duration alone doesn't decide.
• I translate conocí, supe, pude, no pude, quise, no quise, tuve que correctly.
• I know the twelve future/conditional stems and use the future and conditional for probability.
• I use podría, me gustaría, debería for politeness and dijo que + condicional for reported speech.