Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like traer, 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).
In the present tense, traer (trah-ehr) (to bring) has an irregular yo form, but otherwise it conjugates like a regular -er verb. Here’s the present tense conjugation:
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo traigo | I bring |
| tú traes | You (informal) bring |
| él/ella/ello/uno trae | He/she/one brings |
| usted trae | You (formal) bring |
| nosotros traemos | We bring |
| vosotros traéis | You all (informal) bring |
| ellos/ellas traen | They bring |
| ustedes traen | You all (formal) bring |
The following examples show you traer in action:
Traigo flores para ti. (I bring flowers for you.)
Traemos muchas revistas. (We bring a lot of magazines.)
In the preterit, traer is completely irregular. Take a look:
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo traje | I brought |
| tú trajiste | You (informal) brought |
| él/ella/ello/uno trajo | He/she/one brought |
| usted trajo | You (formal) brought |
| nosotros trajimos | We brought |
| vosotros trajisteis | You all (informal) brought |
| ellos/ellas trajeron | They brought |
| ustedes trajeron | You all (formal) brought |
You use the preterit tense like this:
Él trajo sus libros a la biblioteca. (He brought his books to the library.)
¿Trajiste tu terno? (Did you bring your suit?)
You’re off the hook with the stem change in the imperfect and future forms; traer conjugates normally in these tenses. Check out the following tables and examples.
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo traía | I used to bring |
| tú traías | You (informal) used to bring |
| él/ella/ello/uno traía | He/she/one used to bring |
| usted traía | You (formal) used to bring |
| nosotros traíamos | We used to bring |
| vosotros traíais | You all (informal) used to bring |
| ellos/ellas traían | They used to bring |
| ustedes traían | You all (formal) used to bring |
Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:
¿Traían ustedes sus libros a la clase? (Did you used to bring your books to class?)
Sí. Los traímos a la clase. (Yes. We used to bring them to class.)
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo traeré | I will bring |
| tú traerás | You (informal) will bring |
| él/ella/ello/uno traerá | He/she/one will bring |
| usted traerá | You (formal) will bring |
| nosotros traeremos | We will bring |
| vosotros traeréis | You all (informal) will bring |
| ellos/ellas traerán | They will bring |
| ustedes traerán | You all (formal) will bring |
The following samples put the future tense to work:
Ellos traerán sus quejas. (They will bring their complaints.)
Tú y yo traeremos nuestras soluciones. (You and I will bring our solutions.)