Mastering Spanish Verb Tenses: A Comprehensive Overview

1. Futuro Perfecto (habré cantado)

• Indicates a future action that will be completed: Cuando tú llegues, habremos preparado la merienda. (When you arrive, we will have prepared the snack.)
• Expresses politeness: Supongo que todo esto le habrá resultado a usted violento. (I suppose all of this will have seemed violent to you.)
• Expresses surprise: ¡Habrás sido capaz de pensar eso! (You must have been able to think that!)
• Expresses probability, referring to the past: Habrán dado ya las cuatro y media. (It must be half past four already.)

2. Condicional Simple (cantaría)

• Expresses a possibility in the future: Si viajara a Marruecos, me traería unas babuchas. (If I traveled to Morocco, I would bring some babouches.)
• Future with respect to the past: Me prometiste que me regalarías el reloj. (You promised me that you would give me the watch.)

Present Value

• Conditional of politeness: Desearía hablar con usted a solas. (I would like to speak with you alone.)
• Conditional of surprise: ¡Quién lo diría…! (Who would have thought!)
• Conative conditional (suggestion or command): Yo en tu lugar iría ahora mismo. (I would go right now if I were you.)

Past Value

• Conditional of probability: Eso sería en los años sesenta. (That would be in the sixties.)

3. Condicional Perfecto (habría cantado)

• Expresses a future action completed with respect to a past moment: Nos avisaron de que cuando llegáramos ya habrían terminado con los langostinos. (They warned us that when we arrived, they would have already finished with the prawns.)
• Conditionals of impossible fulfillment: Si me hubieras pedido, te habría llevado al aeropuerto. (If you had asked me, I would have taken you to the airport.)
• Can indicate possibility: En aquel tiempo ya habríamos vuelto de Madrid. (At that time, we would have already returned from Madrid.)

4. Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto and Pretérito Anterior (Había cantado/ hube cantado)

• Expresses an action prior to another already past: Ya habría hecho los deberes cuando la llamaron sus amigos para salir. (I had already done my homework when her friends called her to go out.)
• Expresses the speed with which an event has occurred: Sacó el dinero y, al momento, había desaparecido. (He took out the money and, immediately, it had disappeared.)

The preterito anterior barely differs.

• Indicates that the action is immediately prior to the other: Nos fuimos cuando hubo acabado la función. (We left when the show had finished.) (This form is almost extinct.)

5. Forms of the Subjunctive

• Present subjunctive (cante): can refer to a present or future action: Es posible que esté ya en casa/Conviene que mañana vayas a la reunión. (It is possible that he is already at home/It is convenient that you go to the meeting tomorrow.)
• The past action is for the imperfect (cantara or cantase), which can express the present and the future: Me dijeron que estuviera aquí el lunes a las nueve. (They told me to be here on Monday at nine.)
• The form cantara acquires the value of the pluperfect indicative, a value it had in Latin: Sale al campo el delantero que en temporadas pasadas militara en el Sevilla. (The forward who played for Sevilla in past seasons goes out onto the field.)
• The compound perfect preterite (haya cantado) expresses an action performed in the past or in the future. Espero que hayas escrito ya esa carta/ Apenas me haya instalado, iré a verte. (I hope you have already written that letter/ As soon as I have settled in, I will go see you.)
• The pluperfect (hubiera or hubiese cantado) indicates a completed and past action: Por mi gusto, hubiera sido escritora. (For my taste, I would have been a writer.)
• The future forms (cantare/hubiere cantado): El reo habrá de cumplir la pena que se le impusiere/ Allá donde fueres, haz lo que vieres. (The convict must serve the sentence imposed on him/ Wherever you go, do what you see.)

6. Forms of the Imperative

• The forms of the imperative only exist in a strict sense, so we use the present subjunctive: Empecemos por el principio/ Tome usted la palabra (Let's start at the beginning/ You take the floor)

7. Non-Personal Forms

1-Infinitive

It is the verbal noun. As a verb, it performs the function of the nucleus of a substantive subordinate clause: ¿Quieres dejar un poco de tarta para los demás?/Me arrepiento de haber dicho eso/Me encanta estar aquí. (Do you want to leave some cake for the others?/I regret having said that/I love being here.)

Sometimes it can be the nucleus of an adverbial subordinate: Te llamaré por teléfono al llegar a Lisboa/ No cenarás hoy por haber llegado tarde. (I will call you on the phone when I arrive in Lisbon/ You will not have dinner today for having arrived late.)

The appearance of the infinitive as an independent nucleus is possible:

• Imperative sentences with the preposition a: ¡A callar! / ¡A dormir! (Be quiet! / Go to sleep!)
• Impersonal commands: No hablar/ No pisar (Do not speak/ Do not step)
• Deliberative interrogations: ¿Qué hacer ahora?/ ¿Por dónde seguir? (What to do now?/ Where to go next?)
• Exclamations and interrogations of protest: ¿Irme yo?/ ¡Decirme eso a mí! (Me go?/ Tell me that!)

2-Gerund

It is the verbal adverb, its main function is to be a circumstantial complement of a main verb: Se fue canturreando/ Entró dando saltos de alegría. (He left humming/ He entered jumping for joy.)

The use of the gerund with a value of posteriority is incorrect: *Se cayó por la escalera, rompiéndose una pierna.* Se cayó por las escaleras y se rompió una pierna. (He fell down the stairs, breaking his leg. He fell down the stairs and broke his leg.)

3-Participle

It is the verbal adjective and performs the functions of this: La película proyectada me ha encantado/La puerta estaba abierta/ Margarita ha venido animada. (I loved the movie shown/ The door was open/ Margarita has come animated.)

It is sometimes used without agreeing with any element of the main sentence: Terminado el plazo/Agotadas las fuerzas. In these cases, the subordinate participle clause is adverbial, with temporal and causal value.