Speak Spanish Summer Sale - Ends 11:59PM EST - August 20

Speak Spanish Summer Sale

GET 51% OFF SPANISH HERO SYSTEM

GET 51% OFF

00Days
00Hrs
00Min
00Sec
GET THIS DEAL NOW →

Aprender Conjugation 101: Conjugate Aprender in Spanish

In this lesson

    Aprender is one of the most common -ER verbs in Spanish. So, in this guide, you’ll learn aprender’s conjugations and how to use this verb. 

    Take Note: There are many tenses in Spanish. However, we don’t use them all. Many are simply old and outdated. As a result, in this guide, you’ll only learn the tenses you need to know to become fluent in Spanish. 

    Overview of Aprender

    Verb CharacteristicProperty
    Verb Type-ER
    IrregularNo
    InfinitiveAprender
    Gerund (Present Participle) FormAprendiendo
    Past Participle FormAprendido
    SynonymsMemorizar, cultivarse, estudiar

    Indicative Conjugations of Aprender

    Present tense

    The present form of aprender is typically used to talk about the things a person is learning or to describe someone’s learning process. For example: Tom aprende muy rápido.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprendoI learn
    AprendesYou learn
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprendeHe/She learns
    You (formal) learn
    NosotrosAprendemosWe learn
    VosotrosAprendéisYou learn
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprendenThey learn
    You (plural) learn

    Preterite tense

    All the preterite conjugations of aprender are regular. In this past tense, ‘aprender’ refers to the things you learned at a specific moment in the past. For instance: aprendí español cuando era niña.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprendíI learned
    AprendisteYou learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprendióHe/She learned
    You (formal) learned
    NosotrosAprendimosWe learned
    VosotrosAprendisteisYou learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprendieronThey learned
    You (plural) learned

    Imperfect tense

     The imperfect forms of ‘aprender’ allow you to talk about the things you learned at an unspecified moment in the past. De niños, no aprendíamos nada en la clase de arte. Depending on the sentence, the imperfect tense of ‘aprender’ can be translated as ‘used to learn’ or ‘learned’.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprendíaI learned
    I used to learn
    AprendíasYou learned
    You used to learn
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprendíaHe/She learned
    He/She used to learn

    You (formal) learned
    You (formal) used to learn
    NosotrosAprendíamosWe learned
    We used to learn
    VosotrosAprendíaisYou learned
    You used to learn
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprendíanThey learned
    They used to learn

    You (plural) learned
    You (plural) used to learn

    Near future

     The near or immediate future allows you to talk about things you intend to learn soon in the future. For example, mañana vamos a aprender a preparar lasaña. The near future is formed with ir (present) + a + aprender and can be translated as “going to learn”.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoVoy a aprenderI’m going to learn
    Vas a aprenderYou’re going to learn
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Va a aprenderHe/She is going to learn
    You (formal) are going to learn
    NosotrosVamos a aprenderWe’re going to learn
    VosotrosVais a aprenderYou’re going to learn
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Van a aprenderThey’re going to learn
    You (plural) are going to learn

    Future simple tense

    The future tense communicates that a person will learn something at some point in the future. Algún día aprenderé a tocar la guitarra. In the future tense, ‘aprender’ is a regular verb.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprenderéI will learn
    AprenderásYou will learn
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprenderáHe/She will learn
    You (formal) will learn
    NosotrosAprenderemosWe will learn
    VosotrosAprenderéisYou will learn
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprenderánThey will learn
    You (plural) will learn

    Conditional tense

     The conditional forms of aprender allow you to express that someone would learn something as long as certain conditions are met. For instance: si tuviera tiempo, aprendería italiano. The conditional conjugations of ‘aprender’ are formed by adding the conditional endings to ‘aprender’.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprenderíaI would learn
    AprenderíasYou would learn
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprenderíaHe/She would learn
    You (formal) would learn
    NosotrosAprenderíamosWe would learn
    VosotrosAprenderíaisYou would learn
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprenderíanThey would learn
    You (plural) would learn

    Present perfect tense

    The present perfect tense of ‘aprender’ is used to talk about things someone has or hasn’t learned. Todavía no he aprendido a cocinar. To form the present perfect in Spanish, we use the structure: haber (present tense) + aprendido.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoHe aprendidoI have learned
    Has aprendidoYou have learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Ha aprendidoHe/She has learned
    You (formal) have learned
    NosotrosHemos aprendidoWe have learned
    VosotrosHabéis aprendidoYou have learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Han aprendidoThey have learned
    You (plural) have learned

    Past perfect

    In the past perfect tense, ‘aprender’ allows you to explain that someone learned something before some other reference point in the past. Pensé que ya habías aprendido a cocinar. The formula for the past perfect is haber (imperfect form) + aprendido.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoHabía aprendidoI had learned
    Habías aprendidoYou had learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Había aprendidoHe/She had learned
    You (formal) had learned
    NosotrosHabíamos aprendidoWe had learned
    VosotrosHabíais aprendidoYou had learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Habían aprendidoThey had learned
    You (plural) had learned

    Future perfect

    Aprender’s future perfect conjugations are formed by conjugating haber to the future tense and adding aprendido (the past participle of ‘aprender’). In this tense, ‘aprender’ expresses that someone will learn something by or before a certain time in the future.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoHabré aprendidoI will have learned
    Habrás aprendidoYou will have learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Habrá aprendidoHe/She will have learned
    You (formal) will have learned
    NosotrosHabremos aprendidoWe will have learned
    VosotrosHabréis aprendidoYou will have learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Habrán aprendidoThey will have learned
    You (plural) will have learned

    Conditional perfect

    ‘Aprender’ conjugated to the conditional perfect refers to things you would have learned if a past condition had been met. For example: si hubiera tenido tiempo, habría aprendido a tocar guitarra.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoHabría aprendidoI would have learned
    Habrías aprendidoYou would have learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Habría aprendidoHe/She would have learned
    You (formal) would have learned
    NosotrosHabríamos aprendidoWe would have learned
    VosotrosHabríais aprendidoYou would have learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Habrían aprendidoThey would have learned
    You (plural) would have learned

    Progressive tenses

    The progressive tenses forms of ‘aprender’ are used to express that someone is learning something at the moment of speaking. For example, estamos aprendiendo a conjugar. To form the progressive tenses use the following structure: estar (conjugated) + gerund form of aprender (aprendiendo).

    Progressive TenseFormulaTranslation Example
    PresentEstar (present) + aprendiendoI am learning
    PreteriteEstar (preterite) + aprendiendoYou were learning
    ImperfectEstar (imperfect) + aprendiendoHe was learning
    FutureEstar (future) + aprendiendoWe will be learning
    ConditionalEstar (conditional) + aprendiendoThey would be learning

    Download the Spanish Learning Kit — free

    Get the free kit →

    Aprender Subjunctive Conjugations

    In Spanish, the subjunctive is used to talk about wishes, hypothetical situations or express uncertainty. The conjugation charts below show the subjunctive forms of aprender.

    Present subjunctive

    The present subjunctive of aprender allows you to talk about the topics you want people to learn. For example: mi papá quiere que mis hermanos y yo aprendamos otro idioma.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprendaI learn
    AprendasYou learn
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprendaHe/She learns
    You (formal) learn
    NosotrosAprendamosWe learn
    VosotrosAprendáisYou learn
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprendanThey learn
    You (plural) learn

    Present perfect subjunctive

    Haber in the present subjunctive + aprendido is the structure you should use to build the present perfect subjunctive form of ‘aprender’. We conjugate ‘aprender’ to the present perfect subjunctive to express uncertainty about the things people learned. No creo que Larry haya aprendido a cocinar.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoHaya aprendidoI have learned
    Hayas aprendidoYou have learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Haya aprendidoHe/She has learned
    You (formal) have learned
    NosotrosHayamos aprendidoWe have learned
    VosotrosHayáis aprendidoYou have learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Hayan aprendidoThey have learned
    You (plural) have learned

    Imperfect subjunctive

    The imperfect subjunctive of ‘aprender’ is used to talk about things we wished someone learned or to express uncertainty about what someone learned in the past. Julie esperaba que tú aprendieras a manejar. 

    The imperfect subjunctive has two conjugation models depending on which type of Spanish you’re using:

    Latin American Spanish version

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprendieraI learned
    AprendierasYou learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprendieraHe/She learned
    You (formal) learned
    NosotrosAprendiéramosWe learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprendieranThey learned
    You (plural) learned

    Note: The table above doesn’t include the conjugation for vosotros because this pronoun is not used in Latin American Spanish.

    Castilian Spanish version

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoAprendieseI learned
    AprendiesesYou learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    AprendieseHe/She learned
    You (formal) learned
    NosotrosAprendiésemosWe learned
    VosotrosAprendieseisYou learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    AprendiesenThey learned
    You (plural) learned

    Past perfect subjunctive

    In the past perfect subjunctive, aprender communicates that someone would have learned something if a past circumstance was met. For example: hubiera aprendido más rápido si hubiera tenido un mejor maestro.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    YoHubiera aprendidoI had learned
    Hubieras aprendidoYou had learned
    Él / Ella
    Usted
    Hubiera aprendidoHe/She had learned
    You (formal) had learned
    NosotrosHubiéramos aprendidoWe had learned
    VosotrosHubierais aprendidoYou had learned
    Ellos / Ellas
    Ustedes
    Hubieran aprendidoThey had learned
    You (plural) had learned

    Aprender Imperative Conjugations

    Commands in Spanish allow you to tell people what to do (affirmative commands) or what not to do (negative commands).

    Affirmative commands

    We use the affirmative commands of ‘aprender’ to order people to learn something. For instance: niños, aprendánse este número.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    AprendeLearn
    UstedAprendaLearn
    VosotrosAprendedLearn
    UstedesAprendanLearn

    Negative commands

    The negative imperative of ‘aprender’ is used to tell people what not to learn. For example: no aprendas a decir malas palabras.

    PersonConjugationTranslation
    No aprendasDon’t learn
    UstedNo aprendaDon’t learn
    VosotrosNo aprendáisDon’t learn
    UstedesNo aprendanDon’t learn

    Meanings of Aprender & Examples

    Now that you’ve learned the conjugation charts of aprender, you should check some examples of how to use this verb. 

    1. To talk about learning new skills 

    ¿Todavía no has aprendido a conducir?
    Haven’t you learned to drive?

    Les sugiero que aprendan otros idiomas. 
    I suggest you learn other languages. 

    No creo que Ted haya aprendido algo. 
    I don’t think Ted has learned anything. 

    Take Note: Aprender a + infinitive is the formula you must use to talk about activities you or someone else wants to learn. 

    1. Talk about memorizing or learning something by heart 

    [Reflexive pronoun] + [aprender conjugated] + [determiner] + [noun]

    ¿Se aprendieron la canción?
    Did you guys learn the song by heart

    Deja me aprendo tu número. 
    Let me memorize your number. 

    Take Note: The pronominal form aprenderse is used to talk about things someone memorized or learned by heart. To form this meaning, you must use reflexive pronouns

    Download Aprender Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

    I’ve created a PDF for you to download containing all of the conjugation tables, verb characteristics, and uses so you can study it at your own pace!

    Practice Quiz: Aprender Conjugation

    Take our quiz to practice your verb conjugations skills with ‘aprender’.

    Get the free Spanish Learning Kit from Daniela

    • ✓Spanish Learner's Roadmap (Beginner → Advanced)
    • ✓Top 200 Spanish Verbs + Conjugation Guide
    • ✓23 Secret Spanish Patterns Cheat Sheet
    • ✓150 Conversational Questions + Responses
    Yes, Send It →

    No spam. Unsubscribe any time.

    Spanish Hero System

    Ready to go beyond Verbs? Get the Hero Course.

    Structured video lessons from Daniela — grammar, pronunciation, and real conversation skills.

    Learn More →

    Daniela Sanchez

    Native Spanish Teacher · Mexico · 10+ years experience

    Daniela is the founder of Tell Me In Spanish and a native Spanish speaker from Mexico. She's been teaching Spanish online since 2014 and has helped over 26,000 learners build real fluency. Her approach focuses on the patterns and vocabulary that actually matter in everyday conversation.

    Read more →