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Pagar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to pay”.
Below are all of the conjugations for pagar 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 pay |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | pagar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está pagando) and past continuous (estaba pagando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. paying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he pagado and hubiera pagado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have paid).
| Gerundio / Gerund | pagando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | pagado |
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 pay” or “they pay”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pago |
| Tú | pagas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | paga |
| Nosotros / as | pagamos |
| Vosotros / as | pagáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagan |
| Vos | pagás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I paid” or “she paid” 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 | pagué | I paid |
| Tú | pagaste | You paid |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pagó | He / she / you paid |
| Nosotros / as | pagamos | We paid |
| Vosotros / as | pagasteis | You paid |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagaron | They / you paid |
| Vos | pagaste | You paid |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was paying” or “she was paying” 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 | pagaba | I was paying |
| Tú | pagabas | You were paying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pagaba | He was / she was / you were paying |
| Nosotros / as | pagábamos | We were paying |
| Vosotros / as | pagabais | You were paying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagaban | They / you were paying |
| Vos | pagabas | You were paying |
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 paid” and “she has paid”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he pagado | I have paid |
| Tú | has pagado | You have paid |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha pagado | He has / she has / you have paid |
| Nosotros / as | hemos pagado | We have paid |
| Vosotros / as | habéis pagado | You have paid |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han pagado | They / you have paid |
| Vos | has pagado | You have paid |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would pay” or “she would pay”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pagaría | I would pay |
| Tú | pagarías | You would pay |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pagaría | He / she / you would pay |
| Nosotros / as | pagaríamos | We would pay |
| Vosotros / as | pagaríais | You would pay |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagarían | They / you would pay |
| Vos | pagarías | You would pay |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will pay” or “they will pay”.
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 pagar” means “They are going to pay”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pagaré | I will pay |
| Tú | pagarás | You will pay |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pagará | He / she / you will pay |
| Nosotros / as | pagaremos | We will pay |
| Vosotros / as | pagaréis | You will pay |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagarán | They / you will pay |
| Vos | pagarás | You will pay |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pague |
| Tú | pagues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pague |
| Nosotros / as | paguemos |
| Vosotros / as | paguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | paguen |
| Vos | pagues |
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 | pagara | pagase |
| Tú | pagaras | pagase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pagara | pagase |
| Nosotros / as | pagáramos | pagásemos |
| Vosotros / as | pagarais | pagaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagaran | pagasen |
| Vos | pagaras | pagase |
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 | pagare |
| Tú | pagares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pagare |
| Nosotros / as | pagáremos |
| Vosotros / as | pagareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | pagaren |
| Vos | pagares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “pay!” and “don’t pay!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | paga | no pagues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pague | no pague |
| Nosotros / as | paguemos | no paguemos |
| Vosotros / as | pagad | no paguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | paguen | no paguen |
| Vos | pagá | no pagues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya pagado |
| Tú | hayas pagado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya pagado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos pagado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis pagado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan pagado |
| Vos | hayas pagado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera pagado / hubiese pagado |
| Tú | hubieras pagado / hubieses pagado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera pagado / hubiese pagado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos pagado / hubiésemos pagado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais pagado / hubieseis pagado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran pagado / hubiesen pagado |
| Vos | hubieras pagado / hubieses pagado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere pagado |
| Tú | hubieres pagado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere pagado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos pagado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis pagado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren pagado |
| Vos | hubieres pagado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté pagando |
| Tú | estés pagando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté pagando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos pagando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis pagando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén pagando |
| Vos | estés pagando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera pagando / estuviese pagando |
| Tú | estuvieras pagando / estuvieses pagando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera pagando / estuviese pagando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos pagando / estuviésamos pagando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais pagando / estuvieseis pagando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera pagando / estuviese pagando |
| Vos | estuvieras pagando / estuvieses pagando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere pagando |
| Tú | estuvieres pagando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere pagando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos pagando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis pagando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere pagando |
| Vos | estuvieres pagando |
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 pagás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos pagaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos pagabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos pagarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos pagarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos pagues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos pagaras / Vos pagase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos pagá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no pagues |
