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Llamar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to call”.
Below are all of the conjugations for llamar 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 call |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | llamar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está llamando) and past continuous (estaba llamando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. calling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he llamado and hubiera llamado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have called).
| Gerundio / Gerund | llamando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | llamado |
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 call” or “they call”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | llamo |
| Tú | llamas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llama |
| Nosotros / as | llamamos |
| Vosotros / as | llamáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llaman |
| Vos | llamás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I called” or “she called” 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 | llamé | I called |
| Tú | llamaste | You called |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llamó | He / she / you called |
| Nosotros / as | llamamos | We called |
| Vosotros / as | llamasteis | You called |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamaron | They / you called |
| Vos | llamaste | You called |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was calling” or “she was calling” 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 | llamaba | I was calling |
| Tú | llamabas | You were calling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llamaba | He was / she was / you were calling |
| Nosotros / as | llamábamos | We were calling |
| Vosotros / as | llamabais | You were calling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamaban | They / you were calling |
| Vos | llamabas | You were calling |
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 called” and “she has called”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he llamado | I have called |
| Tú | has llamado | You have called |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha llamado | He has / she has / you have called |
| Nosotros / as | hemos llamado | We have called |
| Vosotros / as | habéis llamado | You have called |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han llamado | They / you have called |
| Vos | has llamado | You have called |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would call” or “she would call”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | llamaría | I would call |
| Tú | llamarías | You would call |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llamaría | He / she / you would call |
| Nosotros / as | llamaríamos | We would call |
| Vosotros / as | llamaríais | You would call |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamarían | They / you would call |
| Vos | llamarías | You would call |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will call” or “they will call”.
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 llamar” means “They are going to call”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | llamaré | I will call |
| Tú | llamarás | You will call |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llamará | He / she / you will call |
| Nosotros / as | llamaremos | We will call |
| Vosotros / as | llamaréis | You will call |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamarán | They / you will call |
| Vos | llamarás | You will call |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | llame |
| Tú | llames |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llame |
| Nosotros / as | llamemos |
| Vosotros / as | llaméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamen |
| Vos | llames |
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 | llamara | llamase |
| Tú | llamaras | llamase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llamara | llamase |
| Nosotros / as | llamáramos | llamásemos |
| Vosotros / as | llamarais | llamaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamaran | llamasen |
| Vos | llamaras | llamase |
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 | llamare |
| Tú | llamares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llamare |
| Nosotros / as | llamáremos |
| Vosotros / as | llamareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamaren |
| Vos | llamares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “call!” and “don’t call!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | llama | no llames |
| Él / Ella / Usted | llame | no llame |
| Nosotros / as | llamemos | no llamemos |
| Vosotros / as | llamad | no llaméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | llamen | no llamen |
| Vos | llamá | no llames |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya llamado |
| Tú | hayas llamado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya llamado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos llamado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis llamado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan llamado |
| Vos | hayas llamado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera llamado / hubiese llamado |
| Tú | hubieras llamado / hubieses llamado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera llamado / hubiese llamado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos llamado / hubiésemos llamado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais llamado / hubieseis llamado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran llamado / hubiesen llamado |
| Vos | hubieras llamado / hubieses llamado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere llamado |
| Tú | hubieres llamado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere llamado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos llamado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis llamado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren llamado |
| Vos | hubieres llamado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté llamando |
| Tú | estés llamando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté llamando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos llamando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis llamando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén llamando |
| Vos | estés llamando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera llamando / estuviese llamando |
| Tú | estuvieras llamando / estuvieses llamando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera llamando / estuviese llamando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos llamando / estuviésamos llamando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais llamando / estuvieseis llamando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera llamando / estuviese llamando |
| Vos | estuvieras llamando / estuvieses llamando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere llamando |
| Tú | estuvieres llamando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere llamando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos llamando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis llamando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere llamando |
| Vos | estuvieres llamando |
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 llamás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos llamaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos llamabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos llamarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos llamarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos llames |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos llamaras / Vos llamase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos llamá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no llames |
