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Trabajar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to work”.
Below are all of the conjugations for trabajar 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 work |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | trabajar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está trabajando) and past continuous (estaba trabajando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. working).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he trabajado and hubiera trabajado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have worked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | trabajando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | trabajado |
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 work” or “they work”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | trabajo |
| Tú | trabajas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabaja |
| Nosotros / as | trabajamos |
| Vosotros / as | trabajáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajan |
| Vos | trabajás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I worked” or “she worked” 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 | trabajé | I worked |
| Tú | trabajaste | You worked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabajó | He / she / you worked |
| Nosotros / as | trabajamos | We worked |
| Vosotros / as | trabajasteis | You worked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajaron | They / you worked |
| Vos | trabajaste | You worked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was working” or “she was working” 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 | trabajaba | I was working |
| Tú | trabajabas | You were working |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabajaba | He was / she was / you were working |
| Nosotros / as | trabajábamos | We were working |
| Vosotros / as | trabajabais | You were working |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajaban | They / you were working |
| Vos | trabajabas | You were working |
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 worked” and “she has worked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he trabajado | I have worked |
| Tú | has trabajado | You have worked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha trabajado | He has / she has / you have worked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos trabajado | We have worked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis trabajado | You have worked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han trabajado | They / you have worked |
| Vos | has trabajado | You have worked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would work” or “she would work”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | trabajaría | I would work |
| Tú | trabajarías | You would work |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabajaría | He / she / you would work |
| Nosotros / as | trabajaríamos | We would work |
| Vosotros / as | trabajaríais | You would work |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajarían | They / you would work |
| Vos | trabajarías | You would work |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will work” or “they will work”.
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 trabajar” means “They are going to work”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | trabajaré | I will work |
| Tú | trabajarás | You will work |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabajará | He / she / you will work |
| Nosotros / as | trabajaremos | We will work |
| Vosotros / as | trabajaréis | You will work |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajarán | They / you will work |
| Vos | trabajarás | You will work |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | trabaje |
| Tú | trabajes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabaje |
| Nosotros / as | trabajemos |
| Vosotros / as | trabajéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajen |
| Vos | trabajes |
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 | trabajara | trabajase |
| Tú | trabajaras | trabajase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabajara | trabajase |
| Nosotros / as | trabajáramos | trabajásemos |
| Vosotros / as | trabajarais | trabajaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajaran | trabajasen |
| Vos | trabajaras | trabajase |
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 | trabajare |
| Tú | trabajares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabajare |
| Nosotros / as | trabajáremos |
| Vosotros / as | trabajareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajaren |
| Vos | trabajares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “work!” and “don’t work!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | trabaja | no trabajes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | trabaje | no trabaje |
| Nosotros / as | trabajemos | no trabajemos |
| Vosotros / as | trabajad | no trabajéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | trabajen | no trabajen |
| Vos | trabajá | no trabajes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya trabajado |
| Tú | hayas trabajado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya trabajado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos trabajado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis trabajado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan trabajado |
| Vos | hayas trabajado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera trabajado / hubiese trabajado |
| Tú | hubieras trabajado / hubieses trabajado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera trabajado / hubiese trabajado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos trabajado / hubiésemos trabajado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais trabajado / hubieseis trabajado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran trabajado / hubiesen trabajado |
| Vos | hubieras trabajado / hubieses trabajado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere trabajado |
| Tú | hubieres trabajado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere trabajado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos trabajado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis trabajado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren trabajado |
| Vos | hubieres trabajado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté trabajando |
| Tú | estés trabajando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté trabajando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos trabajando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis trabajando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén trabajando |
| Vos | estés trabajando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera trabajando / estuviese trabajando |
| Tú | estuvieras trabajando / estuvieses trabajando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera trabajando / estuviese trabajando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos trabajando / estuviésamos trabajando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais trabajando / estuvieseis trabajando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera trabajando / estuviese trabajando |
| Vos | estuvieras trabajando / estuvieses trabajando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere trabajando |
| Tú | estuvieres trabajando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere trabajando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos trabajando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis trabajando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere trabajando |
| Vos | estuvieres trabajando |
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 trabajás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos trabajaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos trabajabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos trabajarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos trabajarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos trabajes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos trabajaras / Vos trabajase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos trabajá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no trabajes |
