Spanish Tenses Cheatsheet

• Yo he cantado esa canción muchas veces. (I have sung that song many times.)
• Ella ya ha escrito el correo. (She has already written the email.)

• Cuando llegaste, nosotros ya habíamos cantado. (When you arrived, we had already sung.)

• Para cuando termine la fiesta, nosotros habremos cantado. (By the time the party ends, we will have sung.)

• Yo habría cantado, pero me dolía la garganta. (I would have sung, but my throat was sore.)

• Apenas hubo cantado el tenor, el público aplaudió. (As soon as the tenor had sung, the audience applauded.)

• El profesor exige que yo estudie más. (The teacher demands that I study more.)
• Ojalá vivamos muchos años juntos. (I wish we live many years together.)

• Me sorprende que tú hayas viajado tanto. (It surprises me that you have traveled so much.)

• Si vosotros estudiarais juntos, sería más fácil. (If you all studied together, it would be easier.)

• Si yo hubiera viajado a España, habría visitado Madrid. (If I had traveled to Spain, I would have visited Madrid.)

• Adonde fueres, haz lo que vieres. (Wherever you may go, do as you see.)

• Cualquiera que hubiere cometido tal delito, será castigado. (Whosoever should have committed such a crime will be punished.)

• ¡Camina más rápido! / ¡No camines en la calle! (Walk faster! / Don't walk in the street!)
• ¡Beba toda su agua! / ¡No beban de mi vaso! (Drink all your water! / Don't drink from my glass!)

• Yo estoy caminando hacia tu casa. (I am walking to your house.)
• Nosotros estamos bebiendo limonada. (We are drinking lemonade.)

• hay (present): there is, there are
• hubo (preterite): there was, there were
• había (imperfect): there was, there were
• habrá (future): there will be
• habría (conditional): there would be

Most grammar books will tell you that the existential haber has only one form in each tense: hay, había, hubo, habría, habrá; unlike English where the existential there + to be agrees with the noun that follows: there is a dog on the porch versus there are two dogs on the porch.  However in many dialects of Spanish and especially in spoken Spanish the forms of haber also agrees with the noun. So sometimes you will see the forms habían, hubieron, habrían, habrán used as the existential form when the noun that follows is plural. Compare the two variations of the same sentence below.

• Había muchos pájaros allá miles de pájaros y de todas clases.
• There were many birds there, thousands of birds and of all kinds. versus:
• Habían muchos pájaros allá miles de pájaros y de todas clases.
• There were many birds there, thousands of birds and of all kinds.

• Yo he cantado esa canción muchas veces. (I have sung that song many times.)
• Ella ya ha escrito el correo. (She has already written the email.)

• Cuando llegaste, nosotros ya habíamos cantado. (When you arrived, we had already sung.)

• Para cuando termine la fiesta, nosotros habremos cantado. (By the time the party ends, we will have sung.)

• Yo habría cantado, pero me dolía la garganta. (I would have sung, but my throat was sore.)

• Apenas hubo cantado el tenor, el público aplaudió. (As soon as the tenor had sung, the audience applauded.)