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Beber is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to drink”.
Below are all of the conjugations for beber 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 drink |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | beber |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está bebiendo) and past continuous (estaba bebiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. drinking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he bebido and hubiera bebido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have drunk).
| Gerundio / Gerund | bebiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | bebido |
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 drink” or “they drink”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | bebo |
| Tú | bebes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bebe |
| Nosotros / as | bebemos |
| Vosotros / as | bebéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | beben |
| Vos | bebés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I drank” or “she drank” 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 | bebí | I drank |
| Tú | bebiste | You drank |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bebió | He / she / you drank |
| Nosotros / as | bebimos | We drank |
| Vosotros / as | bebisteis | You drank |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bebieron | They / you drank |
| Vos | bebiste | You drank |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was drinking” or “she was drinking” 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 | bebía | I was drinking |
| Tú | bebías | You were drinking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bebía | He was / she was / you were drinking |
| Nosotros / as | bebíamos | We were drinking |
| Vosotros / as | bebíais | You were drinking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bebían | They / you were drinking |
| Vos | bebías | You were drinking |
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 drunk” and “she has drunk”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he bebido | I have drunk |
| Tú | has bebido | You have drunk |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha bebido | He has / she has / you have drunk |
| Nosotros / as | hemos bebido | We have drunk |
| Vosotros / as | habéis bebido | You have drunk |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han bebido | They / you have drunk |
| Vos | has bebido | You have drunk |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would drink” or “she would drink”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | bebería | I would drink |
| Tú | beberías | You would drink |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bebería | He / she / you would drink |
| Nosotros / as | beberíamos | We would drink |
| Vosotros / as | beberíais | You would drink |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | beberían | They / you would drink |
| Vos | beberías | You would drink |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will drink” or “they will drink”.
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 beber” means “They are going to drink”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | beberé | I will drink |
| Tú | beberás | You will drink |
| Él / Ella / Usted | beberá | He / she / you will drink |
| Nosotros / as | beberemos | We will drink |
| Vosotros / as | beberéis | You will drink |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | beberán | They / you will drink |
| Vos | beberás | You will drink |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | beba |
| Tú | bebas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | beba |
| Nosotros / as | bebamos |
| Vosotros / as | bebáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | beban |
| Vos | bebas |
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 | bebiera | bebiese |
| Tú | bebieras | bebiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bebiera | bebiese |
| Nosotros / as | bebiéramos | bebiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | bebierais | bebieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bebieran | bebiesen |
| Vos | bebieras | bebiese |
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 | bebiere |
| Tú | bebieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | bebiere |
| Nosotros / as | bebiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | bebiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | bebieren |
| Vos | bebieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “drink!” and “don’t drink!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | bebe | no bebas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | beba | no beba |
| Nosotros / as | bebamos | no bebamos |
| Vosotros / as | bebed | no bebáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | beban | no beban |
| Vos | bebé | no bebas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya bebido |
| Tú | hayas bebido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya bebido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos bebido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis bebido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan bebido |
| Vos | hayas bebido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera bebido / hubiese bebido |
| Tú | hubieras bebido / hubieses bebido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera bebido / hubiese bebido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos bebido / hubiésemos bebido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais bebido / hubieseis bebido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran bebido / hubiesen bebido |
| Vos | hubieras bebido / hubieses bebido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere bebido |
| Tú | hubieres bebido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere bebido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos bebido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis bebido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren bebido |
| Vos | hubieres bebido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté bebiendo |
| Tú | estés bebiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté bebiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos bebiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis bebiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén bebiendo |
| Vos | estés bebiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera bebiendo / estuviese bebiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras bebiendo / estuvieses bebiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera bebiendo / estuviese bebiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos bebiendo / estuviésamos bebiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais bebiendo / estuvieseis bebiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera bebiendo / estuviese bebiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras bebiendo / estuvieses bebiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere bebiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres bebiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere bebiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos bebiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis bebiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere bebiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres bebiendo |
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 bebés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos bebiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos bebías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos beberías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos beberás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos bebas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos bebieras / Vos bebiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos bebé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no bebas |