Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like hablar, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).
Hablar (ah-bvlahr) (to speak) is a regular -ar verb, so its conjugation is pretty straightforward. Here it is in the present tense:
Conjugation | Translation |
---|---|
yo hablo | I speak |
tú hablas | You (informal) speak |
él/ella/ello/uno habla | He/she/one speaks |
usted habla | You (formal) speak |
nosotros hablamos | We speak |
vosotros habláis | You all (informal) speak |
ellos/ellas hablan | They speak |
ustedes hablan | You all (formal) speak |
The following examples show you hablar in action:
Ella habla español. (She speaks Spanish.)
Nosotros hablamos inglés muy bien. (We speak English very well.)
Need to know how to conjugate hablar in another tense? The following tables show you the preterit, imperfect, and future forms.
Conjugation | Translation |
---|---|
yo hablé | I spoke |
tú hablaste | You (informal) spoke |
él/ella/ello/uno habló | He/she/one spoke |
usted habló | You (formal) spoke |
nosotros hablamos | We spoke |
vosotros hablasteis | You all (informal) spoke |
ellos/ellas hablaron | They spoke |
ustedes hablaron | You all (formal) spoke |
You use the preterit tense like this:
¿Hablaste con tu padre anteayer? (Did you talk with your father the day before yesterday?)
Sí. Hablé con mi padre sobre muchas cosas. (Yes. I spoke with my father about many things.)
Conjugation | Translation |
---|---|
yo hablaba | I used to speak |
tú hablabas | You (informal) used to speak |
él/ella/ello/uno hablaba | He/she/one used to speak |
usted hablaba | You (formal) used to speak |
nosotros hablábamos | We used to speak |
vosotros hablabais | You all (informal) used to speak |
ellos/ellas hablaban | They used to speak |
ustedes hablaban | You all (formal) used to speak |
Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:
Ellos siempre hablaban por teléfono los viernes por la noche. (They always talked on the phone on Friday evening.)
La profesora siempre hablaba en español. (The teacher always used to speak in Spanish.)
Conjugation | Translation |
---|---|
yo hablaré | I will speak |
tú hablarás | You (informal) will speak |
él/ella/ello/uno hablará | He/she/one will speak |
usted hablará | You (formal) will speak |
nosotros hablaremos | We will speak |
vosotros hablaréis | You all (informal) will speak |
ellos/ellas hablarán | They will speak |
ustedes hablarán | You all (formal) will speak |
The following samples put the future tense to work:
Tomás hablará por teléfono con Susana mañana. (Tomás will talk on the phone with
Susana tomorrow.)Hablaré por teléfono con mi mamá este fin de semana. (I will talk on the telephone with
my mom this weekend.)