Estar Conjugation in Spanish

How to conjugate estar

Estar (Meaning: To be) is one of the most important verbs in the Spanish language. The conjugation of estar in the present tense is: Yo estoy (I am), tú estás (you are), él/ellá/usted está (he/she is, you are), nosotros estamos (we are), vosotros estáis (you are) and ellos/ellas/ustedes están (they/you are).

Estar is an irregular AR verb. This means that when conjugated in the present tense, it’s endings are different than other regular AR verbs, such as hablar (to speak).

This page on our site covers the hablar conjugation charts in detail and this page covers AR verbs in detail.

Estar conjugation in the present tense

To be in Spanish explained

Estar and ser both mean “to be” in Spanish. The language uses estar to describe temporary states such as feelings and location, while it uses ser to describe more permanent states such as one’s nationality, profession and physical characteristics.

This page on our site examines the differences between ser and estar in detail while this page provides detailed conjugation charts for ser.

Further down the page we provide conjugation charts with example sentences for estar in the following eight commonly used verb tenses:

• Present tense (presente de indicativo)
• Near future (futuro inmediato)
• Future tense (futuro)
• Preterite (pretérito)
• Present perfect indicative (perfecto de indicativo)
• Imperfect (imperfecto de indicativo)
• Conditional (potential simple)
• Present subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo)

Estar conjugation table

Forms of estar at a glance

The following graphic covers the verb estar in twelve tenses in the first-person singular (yo) form.

Estar conjugation charts

Present tense (presente de indicativo)

In the present tense, yo estoy translates to “I am”. As stated above, estar is mainly used for temporary states: emotions and locations.

yo estoy	I am	Yo estoy en la casa.	I am at home.
tú estás	you are	Tú estás a Guadalajara.	You are in Guadalajara.
él/ella, usted está	he/she is; you are	Él está trabajando.	He is working.
nosotros estamos	we are	Nosotros estamos cansados.	We are tired.
vosotros estáis	you are	Vosotros estáis satisfechos.	You are full.
ellos/ellas, ustedes están	they/you are	Ellos están comiendo.	They are eating.

Near future (futuro inmediato)

The near future tense is formed with the following construction: present tense of ir (to go) + preposition a + infinitive. For example, yo voy a estar translates to “I’m going to be”.

yo voy a estar	I'm going to be	Yo vo a estar cansado.	I'm going to be tired.
tú vas a estar	you're going to be	Tú vas a estar feliz.	You're going to be happy.
él/ella, usted va a estar	he/she's going to be; you're going to be	Él va a estar emocionado.	He's going to be thrilled.
nosotros vamos a estar	we're going to be	Nosotros vamos a estar pendientes.	We are going to be on the look out.
vosotros vais a estar	you're going to be	Vosotros vais a estar de vuelta.	We are going to be back.
ellos/ellas, ustedes van	they/you're going to be	Ellos van a estar ocupados.	They are going to be busy.

Future tense (futuro)

In the future tense, yo estaré translates to “I will be”.

yo estaré	I will be	Yo estaré con ustedes.	I'll be with you.
tú estarás	you will be	Tú estarás en la escuela.	You'll be in school.
él/ella, usted estará	he/she/you will be	Ella estará sana.	She'll be in good health.
nosotros estaremos	we will be	Nosotros estaremos enamorados.	We will be in love.
vosotros estaréis	you will be	Vosotros estaréis enojados.	You'll be angry.
ellos/ellas, ustedes estarán	they/you will be	Ellos estarán orgulloso de su éxito.	They'll be proud of your success.

Preterite (pretérito)

The preterite is a commonly used past tense for completed actions. Yo estuve translates to “I was”.

yo estuve	I was	Yo estuve a Madrid.	I was in Madrid.
tú estuviste	you were	Tú estuviste muy feliz.	You were very happy.
él/ella, usted estuvo	he/she was; you were	Él estuvo a Buenos Aires.	He was in Buenos Aires.
nosotros estuvimos	we were	Nosotros estuvimos en la casa.	We were at home.
vosotros estuvisteis	you were	Vosotros estuvisteis en la oficina.	You were at the office.
ellos/ellas, ustedes estuvieron	they/you were	Ellos estuvieron juntos.	They were together.

Present perfect indicative (perfecto de indicativo)

The present perfect is a commonly used Spanish past tense which is used to express past actions which have a bearing on the present. It is formed by combining the present tense of haber (to have) with past participle. Yo he estado translate to “I have been”.

yo he estado	I have been	Yo he estado muy ocupado este mes.	I've been very busy this month.
tú has estado	you have been	Tú has estado trabajando en California.	You've been working in California.
él/ella, usted ha estado	he/she has been; you have been	Él ha estado bendito.	He's been blessed.
nosotros hemos estado	we have been	Nosotros hemos estado muy felices.	We've been very happy.
vosotros habéis estado	you have been	Vosotros habéis estado en España desde hace un año.	You've been in Spain for one year.
ellos/ellas, ustedes han estado	they/you've been	Ellos han estado en contacto últimamente.	They've been in touch recently.

Imperfect (imperfecto de indicativo)

The imperfect tense is another commonly used Spanish past tense used to describe actions occurred over time at non-specified times. Yo estaba translates to “I was” or “I used to be”.

yo estaba	I was, used to be	No vine porque estaba cansado.	I didn't come because I was tired.
tú estabas	you were, used to be	¿Dónde estabas? ¡Te llamé tres veces!	Where were you? I called you three times!
él/ella, usted estaba	he/she was, used to be; you were, used to be	¿Por qué estaba tan enojado?	Why was he so angry?
nosotros estábamos	we were, used to be	Nosotros estábamos muy contentos con los resultados.	We were very pleased with with the results.
vosotros estabais	you were, used to be	Vosotros estabais muy tímidos.	You used to be very shy.
ellos/ellas, ustedes estaban	they/you were, used to be	Ellos estaban el centro cuando llegué.	They were downtown when I arrived.

Conditional (potential simple)

The conditional tense is used to describe hypothetical actions. Yo estaría translates to “I would be”.

yo estaría	I would be	Yo estaría feliz si ayudaras.	I'd be happy if you helped.
tú estarías	you would be	Tú estarías más tranquilo si tuverias más tiempo libre.	You'd be more at ease if you had more free time.
él/ella, usted estaría	he/she/you would be	Él estaría más feliz si tuviera una novia.	He's be happier if he had a girlfriend.
nosotros estaríamos	we would be	Nosotros estaríamos listos si tuviéramos más tiempo.	We'd be ready if we had more time.
vosotros estaríais	you would be	Vosotros estaríais con nosotros si no estuvieran con ellos.	You'd be with us if you weren't with them.
ellos/ellas, ustedes estarían	they/you would be	Ellos estarían celosos supieran como estoy viviendo.	They'd be jealous if they knew how I'm living.

Present subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo)

The subjunctive mood is used to express wishes, emotions and doubts. Yo esté translates to “I am”. Que esté can translate to “that I be”.

yo esté	I am	Quiere que esté más serio en la vida.	He wants me to be more serious in life.
tú estés	you are	Es importante que estés listo.	It's important that you be ready.
él/ella, usted esté	he/she is, you are	No pieno que él esté disponible.	I don't think he's available.
nosotros estemos	we are	No piensa que estemos felices.	He doesn't think we're happy.
vosotros estéis	you are	Es dudoso que estéis a Valencia.	It's doubtful that you're in Valencia.
ellos/ellas, ustedes estén	they/you are	Es necesario que estén puntuales.	It's required that they be on time.

Discover more:

• Hacer (to make, do) conjugation charts
• Tener (to have) conjugation charts
• Spanish ER verbs
• Spanish IR verbs