Verb Tenses
Non-finite Forms of the Verb. Verb forms which are not conjugated (i.e., paired with a grammatical subject) are referred to as non-finite.
Indicative Mood. These are the verb tenses that describe or indicate reality, whether that reality be past actions, present actions, or future actions; or actions which may happen under certain conditions. The tenses of the indicative mood can be categorized as simple tenses and compound tenses.
Subjunctive Mood. Spanish speakers use the subjunctive mood to talk about actions hypothetically; that is, without saying that they ever happened, are happening, or would happen, or will happen under any circumstances.
Imperative Mood. The imperative mood is used by Spanish speakers to command others. Imperative sentences are often introduced by an optional que. Imperatives come in two flavors: directive commands, in which a speaker names an action s/he wishes to be preformed, and prohibitive commands, where the speaker seeks to prohibit a certain action.
Indicative Mood. These are the verb tenses that describe or indicate reality, whether that reality be past actions, present actions, or future actions; or actions which may happen under certain conditions. The tenses of the indicative mood can be categorized as simple tenses and compound tenses.
Subjunctive Mood. Spanish speakers use the subjunctive mood to talk about actions hypothetically; that is, without saying that they ever happened, are happening, or would happen, or will happen under any circumstances.
Imperative Mood. The imperative mood is used by Spanish speakers to command others. Imperative sentences are often introduced by an optional que. Imperatives come in two flavors: directive commands, in which a speaker names an action s/he wishes to be preformed, and prohibitive commands, where the speaker seeks to prohibit a certain action.
Future Tense
Future tense—el tiempo futuro. The simple future tense of the indicative mood is used for actions that either: (1) will happen in the future with a high degree of certainty, (2) are jussive in nature, (3) indicate a present-time probability.
Imperfect Tense
Imperfect tense—el tiempo imperfecto. The imperfect tense of the indicative mood is for past actions when the speaker wants to emphasize one of the following aspects:
Continuous—an single action that progressed continuously over time in the past.
Repetitive—a series of an action that repeated immediately after it has been completed.
Habitual—a series of an action that repeats periodically over time.It's important to maintain the distinction between the imperfect tense and the preterit tense, which describes simple completed actions in the past. Standard English does not code the imperfect/preterit distinction as neatly as Spanish does; consequently, we can't rely on the English form to tell us if a verb should be translated using the preterit or imperfect.Indicative Mood
These are the verb tenses that describe or indicate reality, whether that reality be past actions, present actions, or future actions; or actions which may happen under certain conditions. The tenses of the indicative mood can be categorized as simple tenses and compound tenses.
The simple tenses are ones in which the conjugated forms consist of exactly one word. In Spanish, the simple tenses of the indicative mood are the present, the imperfect, the preterit, the future, and the conditional tenses.
The compound tenses (or “perfect” tenses) of the mood are comprised of two words; the auxiliary verb haber conjugated into a given tense, plus the past participle of the verb in question. Compound tenses always have an aspect of verbal anteriority; that is, they describe an action that happens/ed prior to another action. In the indicative mood, the compound tenses are the present perfect, the pluperfect, the preterit perfect, the future perfect, and the conditional perfect.Present Tense
El tiempo presente. The present tense of the indicative mood is used in Spanish to express actions or situations taking place in the present moment. These actions may be:
continuous—actions or situations currently in progress.
habitual—actions or situations which are repeated over time.
imminent future—actions which are about to happen.Preterit Tense
El tiempo pretérito. The preterit tense of the indicative mood is used for past actions which the speaker views as single, completed actions.Both the preterit tense and the imperfect tense talk about actions in the past, but they are not interchangeable. Instead, they describe different aspects of what might be the same action. When a speaker chooses the preterit tense, they're saying that they see the object as a simple completed action, regardless of how long the process actually took.
