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Aprender is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to learn”.
Below are all of the conjugations for aprender in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to learn |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | aprender |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está aprendiendo) and past continuous (estaba aprendiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. learning).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he aprendido and hubiera aprendido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have learned).
| Gerundio / Gerund | aprendiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | aprendido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I learn” or “they learn”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aprendo |
| Tú | aprendes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprende |
| Nosotros / as | aprendemos |
| Vosotros / as | aprendéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprenden |
| Vos | aprendés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I learned” or “she learned” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aprendí | I learned |
| Tú | aprendiste | You learned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprendió | He / she / you learned |
| Nosotros / as | aprendimos | We learned |
| Vosotros / as | aprendisteis | You learned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprendieron | They / you learned |
| Vos | aprendiste | You learned |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was learning” or “she was learning” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aprendía | I was learning |
| Tú | aprendías | You were learning |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprendía | He was / she was / you were learning |
| Nosotros / as | aprendíamos | We were learning |
| Vosotros / as | aprendíais | You were learning |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprendían | They / you were learning |
| Vos | aprendías | You were learning |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have learned” and “she has learned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he aprendido | I have learned |
| Tú | has aprendido | You have learned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha aprendido | He has / she has / you have learned |
| Nosotros / as | hemos aprendido | We have learned |
| Vosotros / as | habéis aprendido | You have learned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han aprendido | They / you have learned |
| Vos | has aprendido | You have learned |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would learn” or “she would learn”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aprendería | I would learn |
| Tú | aprenderías | You would learn |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprendería | He / she / you would learn |
| Nosotros / as | aprenderíamos | We would learn |
| Vosotros / as | aprenderíais | You would learn |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprenderían | They / you would learn |
| Vos | aprenderías | You would learn |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will learn” or “they will learn”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a aprender” means “They are going to learn”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aprenderé | I will learn |
| Tú | aprenderás | You will learn |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprenderá | He / she / you will learn |
| Nosotros / as | aprenderemos | We will learn |
| Vosotros / as | aprenderéis | You will learn |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprenderán | They / you will learn |
| Vos | aprenderás | You will learn |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aprenda |
| Tú | aprendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprenda |
| Nosotros / as | aprendamos |
| Vosotros / as | aprendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprendan |
| Vos | aprendas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aprendiera | aprendiese |
| Tú | aprendieras | aprendiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprendiera | aprendiese |
| Nosotros / as | aprendiéramos | aprendiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | aprendierais | aprendieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprendieran | aprendiesen |
| Vos | aprendieras | aprendiese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | aprendiere |
| Tú | aprendieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprendiere |
| Nosotros / as | aprendiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | aprendiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprendieren |
| Vos | aprendieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “learn!” and “don’t learn!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aprende | no aprendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aprenda | no aprenda |
| Nosotros / as | aprendamos | no aprendamos |
| Vosotros / as | aprended | no aprendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aprendan | no aprendan |
| Vos | aprendé | no aprendas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya aprendido |
| Tú | hayas aprendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya aprendido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos aprendido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis aprendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan aprendido |
| Vos | hayas aprendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera aprendido / hubiese aprendido |
| Tú | hubieras aprendido / hubieses aprendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera aprendido / hubiese aprendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos aprendido / hubiésemos aprendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais aprendido / hubieseis aprendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran aprendido / hubiesen aprendido |
| Vos | hubieras aprendido / hubieses aprendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere aprendido |
| Tú | hubieres aprendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere aprendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos aprendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis aprendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren aprendido |
| Vos | hubieres aprendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté aprendiendo |
| Tú | estés aprendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté aprendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos aprendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis aprendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén aprendiendo |
| Vos | estés aprendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera aprendiendo / estuviese aprendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras aprendiendo / estuvieses aprendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera aprendiendo / estuviese aprendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos aprendiendo / estuviésamos aprendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais aprendiendo / estuvieseis aprendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera aprendiendo / estuviese aprendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras aprendiendo / estuvieses aprendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere aprendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres aprendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere aprendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos aprendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis aprendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere aprendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres aprendiendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos aprendés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos aprendiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos aprendías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos aprenderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos aprenderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos aprendas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos aprendieras / Vos aprendiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos aprendé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no aprendas |