What is an INDICATIVE verb in Spanish- [Easy SUMMARY with +50 examples]

Making a difference with the subjunctive and imperative mood of the Spanish language, The indicative, Despite being the most used on a day-to-day basis, it could be the most difficult to explain conceptually. And it is that this mode is used in every description, in every story or conversation to express reality, truths, lies, events, the past, the present, the future... That is why in a Teacher we have encouraged ourselves to resolve the question of what the indicative mode is and provide an extensive list from examples of verbs in indicative mood so you have no doubts. We started!

Index

1. What is the indicative mood?
2. Tricks to conjugate the indicative
3. Examples of the indicative mood (SIMPLE)
4. Examples of the indicative mood (COMPOSITE)
5. What are verb modes

The indicative mood it is the most common, the most used, but it could also be more difficult to synthesize and explain. As its name suggests, the indicative mood is the one that

Thus, the indicative It is used to express the past, present and future. And it is, therefore, in this mode where we find all the conjugations that may have given us so much headache in Spanish language classes throughout our studies.

Within this mode we also find the conditional (see the examples) that, at first, could be confused with the subjunctive as a wish or something hypothetical, but, since it can be an action as such, it is considered to belong to the indicative.

If you want to know how to conjugate the indicative, we have to differentiate the different modes.

Pretérito = Past

Whenever a verb is required in the past tense in any of its simple or compound forms, you are being asked for the past tense. That is, the words "past" and "past" are synonymous. Different way of saying the same. In the same way, if you see a verb in the past, you will already know that its conjugation will always be past tense (then we will have to see if it is perfect, imperfect, compound, etc.).

• Compound: This is easier. The compound is always conjugated with the verb HABER in its different forms (known in this context as the "auxiliary" verb). In addition, in these times only the verb “haber” changes, while the main verb always stays with the participle particle (-ado, -ido) regardless of gender or number, as in: I have bought, had come, would have had, would have had (See examples). To recap, compound means that it has more than one base verb to form the entire conjugation (have + love). The base verb stays with the participle in an immovable way (“-ado” for those of the first conjugation [ending in -ar] and “-ido” for those of the second and third [-er and -to go]. It is the verb "to have" that is changed according to the verb tense: I have loved, they will have loved, they would have loved, we had loved ...
• Simple. Knowing the compound, this conjugation is simpler. Yes, as its name suggests, and in contrast to the compound, the "simple" form is formed by a single word. For example, the simple past perfect to buy would be “I bought”, while the compound past perfect would be “I have bought”. Not at all do both forms express the same thing, since they add certain specific semantic values, but the difference in form is in how many words make up the required verb: one in simple or two in compound.

Perfect vs. Imperfect

The names themselves describe precisely what each of them express:

• The perfect is something that is already finished, either in the past or in the future. Last: "I bought the newspaper before you came. " Future: “When you come I will have finished to work ”.
• The imperfect is something that continues right at the moment that is being described and the moment of the end is not expressed. Therefore, imperfect is similar to "continuous." For example me played with my friends in that park when I was little ”,“ While I sang my cousins ​​know they laughed me "," I finished working when you you slept”.

As we said, the indicative mood is composed of many more conjugations than the other two that we have explained previously. This is why we cannot provide a couple of examples and move on to something else. Therefore, in order to fully understand the indicative mood, we will proceed to break down the verb tenses of the indicative and provide a couple of examples of each. We start with the simple forms, that is, conjugations formed by a single verb:

Present

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

Singing

I see

I ask

Do you sing

You see

You ask

Sings

Go

Asks

we sang

We see

We ask

You sing

You see

You ask

They sing

Come

Ask

As the name suggests, it refers to something that happens at the moment of the speech act:

• I see something in the distance.
• ¿We ask water for everybody?
• She sings very well.

Past imperfect

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

Sang

I saw

Asked

You sang

You saw

You asked

Sang

I saw

Asked

We sang

We saw

We asked

You sang

You saw

They asked

They sang

They saw

They asked

Let's remember: Past = Past / Imperfect = time prolonged indefinitely. This is how the past imperfect alludes to a past tense whose action was done continuously, repeatedly or that lasted over time and it is not specified when it ended.

• When we went to karaoke we we sang All night long.
• We were calling them for a long time, but they didn't they saw.
• When you were young you asked cookies all the time.

Past Perfect Simple

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

Sing

Saw

I asked

You sang

Dresses

You asked

Singing

Saw

Asked

we sang

We saw

We ask

You sang

You saw

You asked

They sang

They saw

They asked

Secondly; perfect = finished, finished. Therefore, the simple past perfect indicative is composed of a single verb that refers to an action of specific duration and completed at the time of the past that is being done mention.

• Juan singing twenty minutes and he tired.
• Saw something strange in that house.
• I asked five pizzas and me delivered six.

Future

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

I will sing

I will see

I will ask

You will sing

You'll see

You will ask

Will sing

Will see

Will ask

We will sing

We will see

We will ask

You will sing

You will see

You will ask

They will sing

They will see

Will ask

The future, as its name suggests, refers to an event that has not yet happened, but that will.

• We will sing until dark, right?
• Already we will see excuse me go to the thing.
• I will ask a couple of days off for the next month.

Simple conditional

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

Would sing

Would see

Would ask

Would you sing

Would you live

Would you ask

Would sing

Would see

Would ask

We would sing

We would see

We would ask

Would sing

You would see

Would you ask

They would sing

Would see

Would ask

This verb tense refers to conditions that could happen if a specific situation occurs. Likewise, it is also used on many occasions to look towards the future from the point of view of the past:

• That night he promised me that would sing my favorite song, but it didn't. (We are in the past looking at talking about the future).
• If i was taller would see above the wall. (If the condition if he was taller he would have the ability to see over the wall).
• Would ask more burgers if they made them cheaper.

Image: Pinterest

Now we move on to the compound forms (although we will leave the previous past for another occasion). That is, those conjugations formed by the main verb in participle (-adored for the first conjugation / -gone for the second and third) preceded by the auxiliary verb “haber”. As we will see, the main verb does not change depending on gender or number once being in the participle. In the same way, if being subject to changes in gender and number, the auxiliary verb “haber” does not change according to the conjugation of the main verb:

Preterite Perfect Compound

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

I have sung

I've seen

I have asked

You have sang

You've seen

You have asked

Has sung

Has seen

Has asked

We have sung

We have seen

We have asked

You have sung

Have you seen

You have asked

They have sung

Have seen

Have asked

We are in the present, with something that has already been recently completed:

• I've seen to your mother on the street.
• Already has asked dinner, it's too late to ask for more.

Past Past Perfect

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

Had sung

Had seen

Had asked

You had sung

Have you seen

You had asked

Had sung

Had seen

Had asked

We had sung

We had seen

We had asked

You had sung

You had seen

You had asked

They had sung

Had seen

They had asked

More than perfect. Something that happens and ends before the past perfect.

• When you came I already had sung that song.
• When you recommended the movie to me, I already had seen.

Composite Future

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

I will have sung

I will have seen

I will have asked

You will have sung

You will have seen

You will have asked

Will have sung

Will have seen

There will be a request

We will have sung

We will have seen

We will have asked

You will have sung

You will have seen

You will have asked

They will have sung

They will have seen

Will have asked

A future event that ended shortly before another event:

• When you come already I will have seen the movie.
• At eight o'clock in the afternoon will have sung Every of their songs.

Conditional compound

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

I would have sung

Would have seen

I would have asked

You would have sung

You would have seen

Would you have asked

I would have sung

Would have seen

I would have asked

We would have sung

We would have seen

We would have asked

You would have sung

You would have seen

You would have asked

You would have sung

You would have seen

You would have asked

Finally, the compound conditional is usually used to express ideas or conditions that could have occurred in a specific situation in the past, but in the end it was not. Or, on the other hand, imagine hypothetical situations in which something different would have happened than what actually happened:

• If I hadn't passed through here, no Would have seen that beautiful tree.
• If you had fixed the case for me, no I would have asked new one.

The verbal modes are different forms in which a verb appears expressing a different action or intention. Yes, a bit confusing, but it is simpler than it seems.

In general, in the Spanish language we have three main modes, which are called Indicative, Subjunctive and Imperative. Each of them plays a different role in the intentionality of the speaker and can be conjugated independently of the others in the various tenses (well, the imperative no, but it's another history).

With this, for example, the Subjunctive mode expresses hypothetical wishes or actions that exist in the mind but not in reality. It is in this mode that we find sentences of the type:

• I hope so will give away my favorite toy.
• It's necessary that let's buy an umbrella.
• I don't think tomorrow rain.

On the other hand, the imperative it is used to perform the act of command or order. Thus, in imperative mood we have sentences like:

• Buy me that toy.
• Lthe MA to your sister and tell him come.
• make whatever you want.

Image: Pinterest

If you want to read more articles similar to What is an indicative verb - with examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.

Royal Spanish Academy (2005). Verbal conjugation models. Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts.