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Quick cheat sheet for the 18 Spanish tenses visualisation

Quick cheat sheet for the 18 Spanish tenses

Conquer Spanish Tenses: A Simplified Approach: Quick cheat sheet for the 18 Spanish tenses
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Here is a quick cheat sheet for the 18 Spanish tenses, divided by mood and between simple and compound tenses, using the example verbs comprar (to buy), correr (to run), and vivir (to live).

Indicative Mood — Simple Tenses

  • Present (Presente): Use for habits or general truths.
    • yo compro, corro, vivo (I buy, run, live)
  • Preterite (Pretérito): Use for completed actions in the past.
    • yo compré, corrí, viví (I bought, ran, lived)
  • Imperfect (Imperfecto): Use for ongoing past actions or descriptions.
    • yo compraba, corría, vivía (I was buying, running, living)
  • Future (Futuro): Use for actions that will happen.
    • yo compraré, correré, viviré (I will buy, run, live)
  • Conditional (Condicional): Use for hypothetical actions.
    • yo compraría, correría, viviría (I would buy, run, live)

Indicative Mood — Compound Tenses

  • Present Perfect (Pretérito Perfecto): Actions completed recently or that affect the present.
    • he comprado, he corrido, he vivido (I have bought, run, lived)
  • Past Perfect (Pluscuamperfecto): Actions completed before another past action.
    • había comprado, había corrido, había vivido (I had bought, run, lived)
  • Future Perfect (Futuro Perfecto): Actions that will have been completed in the future.
    • habré comprado, habré corrido, habré vivido (I will have bought, run, lived)
  • Conditional Perfect (Condicional Perfecto): Hypothetical actions in the past.
    • habría comprado, habría corrido, habría vivido (I would have bought, run, lived)

Subjunctive Mood — Simple Tenses

  • Present Subjunctive (Presente de Subjuntivo): Expresses wishes, doubts, or emotions.
    • compre, corra, viva (that I buy, run, live)
  • Imperfect Subjunctive (Imperfecto de Subjuntivo): Same use as present subjunctive but for past/conditional contexts.
    • comprara/comprase, corriera/corriese, viviera/viviese
  • Future Subjunctive (Futuro de Subjuntivo) [rare]: Mostly literary or formal usage.
    • comprare, corriere, viviere

Subjunctive Mood — Compound Tenses

  • Present Perfect Subjunctive: Actions that may have happened recently.
    • haya comprado, haya corrido, haya vivido
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive: Actions that may have happened before another past action.
    • hubiera/hubiese comprado, corrido, vivido

Imperative Mood

  • Commands (tú, usted, vosotros, ustedes forms) — no simple tense listing needed here as it’s just commands.

This covers the 18 total Spanish verb tenses including all three moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative) and the simple and compound forms within them. The examples given are for regular verbs of each ending (-ar, -er, -ir) for clarity and common usage.

References

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