Learn Romance Languages Verb Conjuations Together - French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Vocabulary Side-by-Side

Romance Languages Verbs: Conjugations of Be (être / essere / ser / ser)

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Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese have two verbs meaning be in English. Go to conjugations of stare and estar.

English	French	Italian	Spanish	Portuguese
Infinitive: to be	être	essere	ser	ser

Present: am, is, are	suis	sono	soy	sou
	es	sei	eres	és
	est	è	es	é
	sommes	siamo	somos	somos
	êtes	siete	sois	sois
	sont	sono	son	são

Imperfect: was, were / used to be	étais	ero	era	era
	étais	eri	eras	eras
	était	era	era	era
	étions	eravamo	éramos	éramos
	étiez	eravate	erais	éreis
	étaient	erano	eran	eram

Preterite / Simple Past: was, were	fus	fui	fui	fui
(rare in French or Italian speech)	fus	fosti	fuiste	foste
	fut	fu	fue	foi
	fûmes	fummo	fuimos	fomos
	fûtes	foste	fuisteis	fostes
	furent	furono	fueron	foram

Future: will be	serai	sarò	seré	serei
	seras	sarai	serás	serás
	sera	sarà	será	será
	serons	saremo	seremos	seremos
	serez	sarete	seréis	sereis
	seront	saranno	serán	serão

Conditional: would be	serais	sarei	sería	seria
	serais	saresti	serías	serias
	serait	sarebbe	sería	seria
	serions	saremmo	seríamos	seríamos
	seriez	sareste	serías	seríeis
	seraient	sarebbero	serían	seriam

Present Subjunctive: am, is, are	sois	sia	sea	seja
	sois	sia	seas	sejas
	soit	sia	sea	seja
	soyons	siamo	seamos	sejamos
	soyez	siate	seáis	sejais
	soient	siano	sean	sejam

Imperfect Subjunctive: was, were	fusse	fossi	fuera	fosse
(rare in French speech)	fusses	fossi	fueras	fosses
(alternative Spanish below)	fût	fosse	fuera	fosse
	fussions	fossimo	fuéramos	fôssemos
	fussiez	foste	fuerais	fôsseis
	fussent	fossero	fueran	fossem

Future Subjunctive: will be			fuere	for
(rare in Spanish speech)			fueres	fores
(no French or Italian)			fuere	for
			fuéremos	formos
			fuereis	fordes
			fueren	forem

Affirmative Imperative: be
Singular Familiar	sois	sii	sé	sê
Singular Formal	soyez	sia	sea	seja
Let's...	soyons	siamo	seamos	sejamos
Plural familiar you	soyez	siate	sed	sede
Plural formal you	soyez	siano	sean	sejam

Negative Imperative: don't be
Singular familiar you	ne sois pas	non essere	no seas	não sejas
Singular formal you	ne soyez pas	non sia	no sea	não seja
Let's not...	ne soyons pas	non siamo	no seamos	não sejamos
Plural Familiar	ne soyez pas	non siate	no seáis	não sejais
Plural Formal	ne soyez pas	non siano	no sean	não sejam

Gerund: being	étant	essendo	siendo	sendo
Present Participle: being	étant	essente	siendo	sendo
Past Participle: been	été	stato	sido	sido

Auxiliary verb in perfect tenses	avoir	essere	haber	ter

There is an alternative form of the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish, which is more similar to Portuguese. Simply replace -ra- with -se- for all conjugations:

fuera / fuese
fueras / fueses
fuera / fuese
fuéramos / fuésemos
fuerais / fueseis
fueran / fuesen

There is an alternative form of the past perfect in Portugueuse which only uses one word rather than an auxiliary verb + past participle. These conjugations are quite similar to the imperfect subjunctive conjugations using -ra- in Spanish. However, this simple form is only used in formal or literary Portuguese. (Note that the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish using -ra- can also be used in formal or literary language as an alternative to the compound past perfect.)

fora
foras
fora
fôramos
fôreis
foram

The personal infinitive in Portuguese uses the infinitive as the stem + the endings of the future subjunctive.

ser
seres
ser
sermos
serdes
serem