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Atender is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to wait on, care for, pay attention”.
Below are all of the conjugations for atender 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 wait on, care for, pay attention |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atender |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atendiendo) and past continuous (estaba atendiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. caring for).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atendido and hubiera atendido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have cared for).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atendiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atendido |
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 care for” or “they care for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atiendo |
| Tú | atiendes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atiende |
| Nosotros / as | atendemos |
| Vosotros / as | atendéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atienden |
| Vos | atendés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I cared for” or “she cared for” 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 | atendí | I cared for |
| Tú | atendiste | You cared for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atendió | He / she / you cared for |
| Nosotros / as | atendimos | We cared for |
| Vosotros / as | atendisteis | You cared for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atendieron | They / you cared for |
| Vos | atendiste | You cared for |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was caring for” or “she was caring for” 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 | atendía | I was caring for |
| Tú | atendías | You were caring for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atendía | He was / she was / you were caring for |
| Nosotros / as | atendíamos | We were caring for |
| Vosotros / as | atendíais | You were caring for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atendían | They / you were caring for |
| Vos | atendías | You were caring for |
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 cared for” and “she has cared for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he atendido | I have cared for |
| Tú | has atendido | You have cared for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha atendido | He has / she has / you have cared for |
| Nosotros / as | hemos atendido | We have cared for |
| Vosotros / as | habéis atendido | You have cared for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han atendido | They / you have cared for |
| Vos | has atendido | You have cared for |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would care for” or “she would care for”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atendería | I would care for |
| Tú | atenderías | You would care for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atendería | He / she / you would care for |
| Nosotros / as | atenderíamos | We would care for |
| Vosotros / as | atenderíais | You would care for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atenderían | They / you would care for |
| Vos | atenderías | You would care for |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will care for” or “they will care for”.
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 atender” means “They are going to care for”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | atenderé | I will care for |
| Tú | atenderás | You will care for |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atenderá | He / she / you will care for |
| Nosotros / as | atenderemos | We will care for |
| Vosotros / as | atenderéis | You will care for |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atenderán | They / you will care for |
| Vos | atenderás | You will care for |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | atienda |
| Tú | atiendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atienda |
| Nosotros / as | atendamos |
| Vosotros / as | atendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atiendan |
| Vos | atiendas |
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 | atendiera | atendiese |
| Tú | atendieras | atendiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atendiera | atendiese |
| Nosotros / as | atendiéramos | atendiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | atendierais | atendieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atendieran | atendiesen |
| Vos | atendieras | atendiese |
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 | atendiere |
| Tú | atendieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atendiere |
| Nosotros / as | atendiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | atendiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atendieren |
| Vos | atendieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “care for!” and “don’t care for!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | atiende | no atiendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atienda | no atienda |
| Nosotros / as | atendamos | no atendamos |
| Vosotros / as | atended | no atendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atiendan | no atiendan |
| Vos | atendé | no atiendas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atendido |
| Tú | hayas atendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atendido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atendido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atendido |
| Vos | hayas atendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atendido / hubiese atendido |
| Tú | hubieras atendido / hubieses atendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atendido / hubiese atendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atendido / hubiésemos atendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atendido / hubieseis atendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atendido / hubiesen atendido |
| Vos | hubieras atendido / hubieses atendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atendido |
| Tú | hubieres atendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atendido |
| Vos | hubieres atendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atendiendo |
| Tú | estés atendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atendiendo |
| Vos | estés atendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atendiendo / estuviese atendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras atendiendo / estuvieses atendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atendiendo / estuviese atendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atendiendo / estuviésamos atendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atendiendo / estuvieseis atendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atendiendo / estuviese atendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras atendiendo / estuvieses atendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres atendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres atendiendo |
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 atendés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos atendiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos atendías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos atenderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos atenderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos atiendas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos atendieras / Vos atendiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atendé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no atiendas |