Guide to choosing verb tenses

present family
past family
present indicative
used to indicate what is going on now or what normally
happens - use when there is no trigger and the action is in
the present
***be sure to find the subject and dont get tricked by a
pronoun like me or nos
preterite (indicative)
use for completed, specific, past ACTIONS OR to focus
on the beginning or ending of an action series of events
to indicate a change (in emotion, for example)
interrupting action
imperfect (indicative)
DESCRIPTION in the past (physical, mental, emotional,
age, weather, time) to focus on the middle of an action
(not necessarily completed) interrupted action habitual
past action reported information
future (indicative)
what will happen what probably might happen
Often used in cuando-type clauses
In a si clause will be accompanied by present indicative
conditional (indicative)
the future of the past what would happen what
probably would happen if certain conditions were met
often used in si clauses
Si [imperfect subjunctive], [conditional]
or [Conditional] si [imperfect subjunctive]
present subjunctive
used after a present family trigger or after an ALWAYS
conjunction (like para que) or after a cuando-type
conjunction if the action has not occurred (often has future
or a command)
NEVER used after siEVER
imperfect subjunctive
used after a past family trigger or after an ALWAYS
conjunction if the sentence is in the past
important part of si clauses Si [imp. Subj.], conditional
or Conditional si [imp. Subj.]
ALWAYS used after como si (as if)
affirmative command
to tell someone what to do
***be careful deciding which command to use
remember that if you are talking TO someone and calling
him/her by the first name, use t

present perfect indicative

same use as in English to explain that an action
happened in the past without using past tense
has/have verbed used for recent past events that are
relevant to or explain the present
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pluperfect (past perfect) (indicative)

used for events that preceded some past event and are felt
to be relevant to it had verbed corresponds closely to
English
future perfect (indicative)
used to express something that will have happened by a
certain point in the future will have verbed same use as
English
conditional perfect (indicative)
used to express something that would have happened if
certain conditions had been met
often used in si clauses
Si [pluperfect subjunctive], [conditional]
present perfect subjunctive
used after a present family trigger to express has/have
verbed (to express the past by using the present) same
use (and translation) as present perfect indicative
pluperfect subjunctive (past perfect subjunctive)
used when the past perfect is needed, but there is a past
family trigger had verbed
Si [pluperfect subjunctive], [conditional]
could be used after como si if saying had verbed makes
more sense than saying verbed same use as past perfect
negative command
to tell someone NOT to do something
***be careful deciding which command to use
if calling someone by a title, use Ud. If talking to a
group, use Uds. If talking to a group and including
yourself, use nosotros

progressive
not a tense used to indicate that an action is/was in progress RIGHT NOW formed with a form of estar + the
present participle (-ando/-iendo) can also be formed with seguir, continuar, ir, andar, venir most commonly used in
present indicative and imperfect