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Comer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to eat”.
Below are all of the conjugations for comer 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 eat |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | comer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está comiendo) and past continuous (estaba comiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. eating dinner).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he comido and hubiera comido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have eaten dinner).
| Gerundio / Gerund | comiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | comido |
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 eat dinner” or “they eat dinner”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | como |
| Tú | comes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | come |
| Nosotros / as | comemos |
| Vosotros / as | coméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comen |
| Vos | comés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I ate dinner” or “she ate dinner” 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 | comí | I ate dinner |
| Tú | comiste | You ate dinner |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comió | He / she / you ate dinner |
| Nosotros / as | comimos | We ate dinner |
| Vosotros / as | comisteis | You ate dinner |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comieron | They / you ate dinner |
| Vos | comiste | You ate dinner |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was eating dinner” or “she was eating dinner” 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 | comía | I was eating dinner |
| Tú | comías | You were eating dinner |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comía | He was / she was / you were eating dinner |
| Nosotros / as | comíamos | We were eating dinner |
| Vosotros / as | comíais | You were eating dinner |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comían | They / you were eating dinner |
| Vos | comías | You were eating dinner |
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 eaten dinner” and “she has eaten dinner”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he comido | I have eaten dinner |
| Tú | has comido | You have eaten dinner |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha comido | He has / she has / you have eaten dinner |
| Nosotros / as | hemos comido | We have eaten dinner |
| Vosotros / as | habéis comido | You have eaten dinner |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han comido | They / you have eaten dinner |
| Vos | has comido | You have eaten dinner |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would eat dinner” or “she would eat dinner”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | comería | I would eat dinner |
| Tú | comerías | You would eat dinner |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comería | He / she / you would eat dinner |
| Nosotros / as | comeríamos | We would eat dinner |
| Vosotros / as | comeríais | You would eat dinner |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comerían | They / you would eat dinner |
| Vos | comerías | You would eat dinner |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will eat dinner” or “they will eat dinner”.
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 comer” means “They are going to eat dinner”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | comeré | I will eat dinner |
| Tú | comerás | You will eat dinner |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comerá | He / she / you will eat dinner |
| Nosotros / as | comeremos | We will eat dinner |
| Vosotros / as | comeréis | You will eat dinner |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comerán | They / you will eat dinner |
| Vos | comerás | You will eat dinner |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | coma |
| Tú | comas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coma |
| Nosotros / as | comamos |
| Vosotros / as | comáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coman |
| Vos | comas |
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 | comiera | comiese |
| Tú | comieras | comiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comiera | comiese |
| Nosotros / as | comiéramos | comiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | comierais | comieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comieran | comiesen |
| Vos | comieras | comiese |
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 | comiere |
| Tú | comieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | comiere |
| Nosotros / as | comiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | comiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | comieren |
| Vos | comieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “eat dinner!” and “don’t eat dinner!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | come | no comas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | coma | no coma |
| Nosotros / as | comamos | no comamos |
| Vosotros / as | comed | no comáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | coman | no coman |
| Vos | comé | no comas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya comido |
| Tú | hayas comido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya comido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos comido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis comido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan comido |
| Vos | hayas comido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera comido / hubiese comido |
| Tú | hubieras comido / hubieses comido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera comido / hubiese comido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos comido / hubiésemos comido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais comido / hubieseis comido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran comido / hubiesen comido |
| Vos | hubieras comido / hubieses comido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere comido |
| Tú | hubieres comido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere comido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos comido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis comido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren comido |
| Vos | hubieres comido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté comiendo |
| Tú | estés comiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté comiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos comiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis comiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén comiendo |
| Vos | estés comiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera comiendo / estuviese comiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras comiendo / estuvieses comiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera comiendo / estuviese comiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos comiendo / estuviésamos comiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais comiendo / estuvieseis comiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera comiendo / estuviese comiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras comiendo / estuvieses comiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere comiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres comiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere comiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos comiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis comiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere comiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres comiendo |
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 comés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos comiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos comías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos comerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos comerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos comas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos comieras / Vos comiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos comé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no comas |