is there a sort of cheat sheet of when to use each spanish tense?
Thereâs not a hard and fast cheat sheet exactly, and itâs easier to understand in context and with examples but Iâll go over what I can as quickly as I can.
This is going to be very informal and possibly have some typos so bear with me.
I did a bigger post on all of this for my masterpost if you want to see a really longer and more in-depth version with more sources and posts
First, moods. Because the linguistic moods encompass different tenses and you sort of have to know them.
Indicative is honestly⌠so hard to describe. Because itâs really just anything that isnât subjunctive or imperative. Itâs used as basic statements that are clear and contain no doubt [subjunctive], and theyâre not commands [imperative]. The indicative mood contains the majority of all the tenses youâre going to learn in Spanish. Some of these tenses are easier to understand than others.
Honestly, just think of indicative as not subjunctive and not imperative. Its characteristics are so hard to point at like âthere! thatâs what it is!â so itâs easier to say what it isnât.
Anyway, here are all the tenses that show up in indicative.
The Perfect Tenses*Present perfectPluperfectFuture perfectConditional perfect
*Perfect tenses are as indicative as you want them to be, more on that later
The subjunctive mood is used most often with the idea of doubt. Thatâs not all it is, but itâs doubt, subjective opinions, polite requests, contrary to fact statements, hypothetical situations.
The subjunctive is easiest to understand when it uses a compound sentence, with one subject acting on the other. For example quiero ir âI want to goâ is indicative because itâs what one person wants themselves to do.Â
Subjunctive in its easiest to understand form is something like quiero que vayas âI want you to goâ where itâs one subject acting on the other.
Subjunctive is also used in expressions like âwhereverâ, âwhateverâ, âwhoeverâ, âwheneverâ, âeven thoughâ, and can sometimes be used with the words cuando and si and aunque which are a little iffy.
There are certain phrases that are subjunctive as well, but thatâs a bigger thing.
Future subjunctive [now obsolete, mostly]
Probably the easiest mood to understand. Imperative is used for commands. Affirmative ones are âdo itâ, negative ones are âdonât do itâ.
There does exist an imperative-subjunctive hybrid known as âindirect commandsâ which are politer than a rough command would be. Subjunctive does polite requests where straight up imperative can sound forceful or brusque. Instead of saying something like habla âspeakâ, you could say que hables which is âspeakâ but in a politer way and can sometimes be translated as âmayâ like⌠que sean felices âmay they be happyâ
Itâs so easy to understand what imperative mood is that Iâm going to leave it here like this and talk about everything else instead. Affirmative and negative commands are really easy to understand.
I donât even know how to properly explain present tense because itâs just so⌠present tense. Itâs things that exist in the present as statements, basic facts, pretty much the same as English present tense. âI amâ, âyou areâ, âthey goâ, âwe seeâ, the most basic of the basic and it implies there is no change in them as far as itâs not happening in the past, and weâre not really discussing future.
Present tense for Spanish gets a little iffier in that it can also be used for âcontinuous presentâ and that means that the present tense can be used alongside or in place of the progressive forms.Â
Like nado âIâm swimmingâ can be used interchangeably with estoy nadando âIâm swimmingâ. The only real difference is that the progressive forms (-ando, -iendo, sometimes -yendo) can be used in different tenses [estaba nadando âI was swimmingâ] but it depends on the verb of motion⌠it expresses continuous motion or movement regardless.
And there are times when present tense is used for short-term future. Like voy a Italia âIâm going to Italyâ is implied to be the near future while irĂŠ a Italia âI will go to Italyâ in future tense expresses more long-term plans.
The preterite tense [sometimes known as âsimple pastâ] is best understood as completed actions that happened in the past that are uninterrupted. They are used for how things were in a particular moment, and is most often used in definite time phrases where you see a date or time or particular âmomentâ mapped out. Preterite can be a little clinical if used just by itself, but itâs best for definite facts.
The term âimperfectâ means an action that is not yet completed. Itâs something that was happening before something happened. You use it for narration and description, but there are certain expressions that you only use imperfect for.
For example, imperfect can carry the meaning of âused to (do something)â and that doesnât exist in preterite. Whether you use imperfect or soler in imperfect, itâs the same general idea⌠iba al cine âI was going to the movies / I used to go to the moviesâ and solĂa ir al cine âI used to go to the moviesâ are things preterite does not express.
Another common one is that when youâre talking about time in the past Iâm pretty sure itâs always imperfect; era la una âit was 1 oâclockâ, eran las dos âit was 2 oâclockâ etc.
Imperfect can be used for interruptions [interruptions are usually preterite] where⌠iba al cine cuando empezĂł a llover âI was going to the movies when it started to rainâ. Multiple imperfect tenses mean itâs an uninterrupted narrative, iba al cine, estaba lloviendo, eran las dos y decidĂ almorzar antes âI was going to the movies, it was raining, it was 2 oâclock, and I decided to eat lunch beforeâ
You run into some iffy territory with expressions like the weather or tener expressions, where usually it would be tenĂa hambre âI was hungryâ but then maybe eran las dos y tuve hambre âit was 2 oâclock and I was feeling hungry (at that time)â.Â
Same thing with weather, hacĂa frĂo âit was coldâ and then hizo mucho frĂo ayer âit was really cold yesterdayâÂ
A lot of people struggle with imperfect and preterite but together theyâre the past tenses.
The future tense is pretty self-explanatory, things happening in the future or the faraway future. It does get translated as âshallâ in some contexts, so the Ten Commandments for example take future tense no matarĂĄs âthou shalt not killâ.Â
You use this for a future where itâs not exactly certain but youâre more certain than uncertain. Itâs not used by all people all the time, and in some places conditional isnât used at all. But you see it used mostly with imperfect subjunctive, or an implied one.
It would be something like⌠no lo harĂa (si lo supiera) âI wouldnât have done it (if I had known)â
Conditional requires that something happen before it can happen, so itâs something like a sure hypothetical. Like an âif I were in that position, I would feel this wayâ
When not used with imperfect subjunctive, it gets used most often with poder and deber in the sense of podrĂa âmight (do something)â and deberĂa âshould (do something)âÂ
Using haber you can make things âperfectâ. If the âimperfectâ tense is things that have not been completed, âperfectâ is things that have been.
This is likeâŚÂ âI have doneâ, âI have seenâ, âI have gottenâ⌠and it requires some conjugation of haber along with a past participle.
It can exist in indicative or subjunctive, but not imperative. You might see he visto âIâve seenâ or espero que hayas visto âI hope youâve seenâ.
haber is the same thing when you say hay âthere is/there areâ, or habĂa âthere was/there wereâ
Side Note: haber does conjugate to the preterite tense⌠hube, hubiste, hubo, hubieron, hubimos but youâre not likely to see it. You might see it used was âthere was/wereâ but rarely.
The difference is that habĂa is more common, and hubo is drastic and only shows up in the event of an emergency so you see it more in news reports.
Like⌠habĂa lluvia âthere was rainâ is normal⌠hubo lluvia âthere was rainâ makes it sound like a really strong downpour just messed you up. You would normally see it as hubo un accidente âthere was an accidentâ, hubo un terremoto âthere was an earthquakeâ, hubo un diluvio âthere was a floodâ⌠not really the everyday kind of thing.
Subjunctive happening in the present. These are things like polite requests, doubts, subjective emotions that are happening in the present. These arenât so clearly defined as Iâm putting them, but they help as far as examples.
Polite request: quiero que pongas la mesa âI want you to set the tableâ
Doubt: dudo que llueva âI doubt it will rainâ, no creo que llueva âI donât believe it will rainâ, no pienso que llueva âI donât think it will rainâ, no estoy seguro/a (de) que llueva âIâm not sure if itâll rainâ
Subjective emotions: es importante que vengas âitâs important you comeâ, es probable que vengas âyouâll probably comeâ, me alegro (de) que te guste âIâm glad you like itâ, me molesta que no me escuchen âit annoys me that they donât listenâ, no me importa lo que digan âI donât care what they sayâ
You also get the âwhateverâ, âwheneverâ things I mentioned like haz lo que quieras âdo whatever you wantâ
You can pretty much divide this into subjunctive in the past and subjunctive in the future. The past is pretty much like present subjunctive just⌠in the past.
Note: There are 2 forms of imperfect subjunctive. That did mean something in the past, but today itâs really up to you which form you use. Latin America favors the endings of -ara/-iera, Spain prefers -ase/-iese
Again, in older stuff it does mean something different if you see llamara as opposed to llamase, but today not always.
Requests: querĂa que pusieras la mesa âI wanted you to set the tableâ, me exigieron que dijera algo âthey demanded that I say somethingâ
Doubt: no estaba seguro/a (de) que lloviera âI wasnât sure it would rainâ
Subjective emotions: era muy improbable (de) que estuviera aquĂÂ "it was really unlikely that he/she would be hereâ
You get into murkier water with hypothetical situations and contrary to fact statements which tend to show up with conditional. These are most like when English says âwasâ and âwereâ like âeven if it wasâ or âif I wereâ.
no se despertarĂa aunque cayera una bomba âhe/she wouldnât wake up even if a bomb fellâ
Contrary to fact statements:Â
si fuera rico/a, viajarĂa  âif I were rich, I would travelâ
Honestly donât worry about future subjunctive so much. It only really shows up now in older works or in contracts as si fuere menester âin the event ofâ. Itâs not impossible to see it, but itâs something you see more in older things and is largely obsolete now⌠it looks like imperfect subjunctive, just with -e endings
Almost all of its functions were given to the imperfect subjunctive which is why it gets used for subjunctive in the past and future
Present subjunctive and imperative forms (a lot of time; there are exceptions and irregularities) take their forms from present tense yo forms. Irregularities on the yo form usually exist there too.
Imperfect subjunctive and future subjunctive forms take their conjugational forms from preterite tense 3rd person (for the most part)
Future (indicative) tense and conditional (for the most part with some very notable exceptions) will be the infinitive form just with an accented ending and have the fewest irregular forms of pretty much any tense⌠hablar goes to⌠hablarĂŠ and hablarĂa etc.
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