Costar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Costar In Spanish

Costar conjugation can help you practice the -AR verb conjugation pattern and O to UE stem changes. Seeing how necessary this verb is for daily conversations, in this guide, we’ll go over costar conjugation charts. Here is an overview of what we’ll cover:

Overview of Costar

Verb Characteristic	Property
Verb Type	-AR
Irregular	No
Infinitive	Costar
Gerund (Present Participle) Form	Costando
Past Participle Form	Costado
Synonyms	Valer, ser difícil.

Stem Changes: E to IE

Present indicative: cuest for all subject pronouns except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’.
Present subjunctive: cuest for all subject pronouns except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’.

The verb costar means ‘to cost’, ‘to find hard’, or ‘to struggle to do’. I have only used one translation in the conjugation charts below to keep the tables as organized and free of repetition as possible. You can learn more about the meanings of ‘costar’ in the section Uses & Meanings.

Indicative Conjugations of Costar

Present tense

Costar conjugation in the present tense has an O to UE stem change for all subjects except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. We use the present forms of costar to refer to the current cost of things or to explain that someone struggles to do something.

For instance: Las galletas cuestan muy caras.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Cuesto	I cost
Tú	Cuestas	You cost
Él / Ella Usted	Cuesta	He/She costs You (formal) cost
Nosotros	Costamos	We cost
Vosotros	Costáis	You cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Cuestan	They cost You (plural) cost

Preterite tense

We conjugate costar to the Spanish preterite tense to communicate the cost of things at a specific moment in the past. For example: El celular me costó $200 dólares.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Costé	I cost
Tú	Costaste	You cost
Él / Ella Usted	Costó	He/She cost You (formal) cost
Nosotros	Costamos	We cost
Vosotros	Costasteis	You cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Costaron	They cost You (plural) cost

Imperfect tense

Costar imperfect tense forms refer to how much things used to cost. You can also use these conjugations to talk about the things someone used to find difficult to do. For example: En ese tiempo, las televisiones costaban mucho dinero.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Costaba	I cost I used to cost
Tú	Costabas	You cost You used to cost
Él / Ella Usted	Costaba	He/She cost He/She used to cost You (formal) cost You (formal) used to cost
Nosotros	Costábamos	We cost We used to cost
Vosotros	Costabais	You cost You used to cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Costaban	They cost They used to cost You (plural) cost You (plural) used to cost

Near future

The Spanish near future tense is formed with ir (present tense) + a + infinitive verb (in this case, ‘costar’). We use these costar conjugations to communicate how much something is going to cost. Los boletos nos van a costar $500 dólares.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Voy a costar	I’m going to cost
Tú	Vas a costar	You’re going to cost
Él / Ella Usted	Va a costar	He/She is going to cost You (formal) are going to cost
Nosotros	Vamos a costar	We’re going to cost
Vosotros	Vais a costar	You’re going to cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Van a costar	They’re going to cost You (plural) are going to cost

Future simple tense

Conjugate costar to the future simple tense to explain how much things will cost or what activities someone will find hard to do at some point in the future. Creo que el subjuntivo les costará un poco de trabajo.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Costaré	I will cost
Tú	Costarás	You will cost
Él / Ella Usted	Costará	He/She will cost You (formal) will cost
Nosotros	Costaremos	We will cost
Vosotros	Costaréis	You (formal) will cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Costarán	They will cost You (plural) will cost

Conditional tense

When conjugated to the Spanish conditional perfect tense, costar communicates the cost of something if a past action had been completed. Additionally, you can use these forms to make hypotheses about the cost of things.

For instance: Si estudiaras más, las matemáticas no te costarían tanto.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Costaría	I would cost
Tú	Costarías	You would cost
Él / Ella Usted	Costaría	He/She would cost You (formal) would cost
Nosotros	Costaríamos	We would cost
Vosotros	Costaríais	You would cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Costarían	They would cost You (plural) would cost

Present perfect tense

Use this verb conjugated to the Spanish present perfect to talk about how much things have or haven’t cost. Haber in the present tense + costado (past participle) is the structure to form the present perfect costar conjugation. Here is an example: Su educación nos ha costado mucho dinero.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	He costado	I have cost
Tú	Has costado	You have cost
Él / Ella Usted	Ha costado	He/She has cost You (formal) have cost
Nosotros	Hemos costado	We have cost
Vosotros	Habéis costado	You have cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Han costado	They have cost You (plural) have cost

Past perfect

Use costar in the Spanish past perfect tense to talk about how much something had cost before another past action or past time frame. For example: Pensé que este carro te había costado menos. Use the imperfect form of ‘haber’ and the past participle form of ‘costar’ to form this tense.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Había costado	I had cost
Tú	Habías costado	You had cost
Él / Ella Usted	Había costado	He/She had cost You (formal) had cost
Nosotros	Habíamos costado	We had cost
Vosotros	Habíais costado	You had cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Habían costado	They had cost You (plural) had cost

Future perfect

In the future perfect tense, costar communicates how much things will have cost by or before a certain moment in the future. You can also use these forms to explain how much something might have cost. Estas televisiones les habrán costado mucho dinero.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Habré costado	I will have cost
Tú	Habrás costado	You will have cost
Él / Ella Usted	Habrá costado	He/She will have cost You (formal) will have cost
Nosotros	Habremos costado	We will have cost
Vosotros	Habréis costado	You will have cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Habrán costado	They will have cost You (plural) will have cost

Conditional perfect

When conjugated to the Spanish conditional perfect tense, costar communicates what the cost of something would have been if a past action had been completed. You can also use this tense to hypothesize about how much something cost in the past.

For example: Si hubieran puesto atención, los verbos no les habrían costado tanto trabajo.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Habría costado	I would have cost
Tú	Habrías costado	You would have cost
Él / Ella Usted	Habría costado	He/She would have cost You (formal) would have cost
Nosotros	Habríamos costado	We would have cost
Vosotros	Habríais costado	You would have cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Habrían costado	They would have cost You (plural) would have cost

Progressive tenses

The conjugations of costar in the progressive tenses are used to explain that someone is struggling to do something at the moment of speaking. For example: Este proyecto nos está costando mucho trabajo. The progressive tenses are formed with estar + costando (present participle).

Progressive Tense	Formula	Translation Example
Present	Estar (present) + costando	I am costing
Preterite	Estar (preterite) + costando	You were costing
Imperfect	Estar (imperfect) + costando	He was costing
Future	Estar (future) + costando	We will be costing
Conditional	Estar (conditional) + costando	They would be costing

Costar Subjunctive Conjugations

The subjunctive mood in Spanish is used to talk about wishes, requests, suggestions, expectations, doubts, or hypothetical situations. Below are the costar conjugation charts for the most common subjunctive tenses.

Present subjunctive

Costar present subjunctive conjugations have an O to UE stem change for all subjects except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. In the present subjunctive, costar is used to express hopes, doubts, or desires about the current costs of things.

For instance: No creo que te cueste más de diez pesos.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Cueste	I cost
Tú	Cuestes	You cost
Él / Ella Usted	Cueste	He/She costs You (formal) cost
Nosotros	Costemos	We cost
Vosotros	Costéis	You cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Cuesten	They cost You (plural) cost

Present perfect subjunctive

To conjugate the present perfect subjunctive of costar, you must use the formula haber in the present subjunctive + costado. Use these conjugations to wonder or wish that the cost someone paid for something was high or low. For example: Ojalá que las camisas les hayan costado baratas.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Haya costado	I have cost
Tú	Hayas costado	You have cost
Él / Ella Usted	Haya costado	He/She has cost You (formal) have cost
Nosotros	Hayamos costado	We have cost
Vosotros	Hayáis costado	You have cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Hayan costado	They have cost You (plural) have cost

Imperfect subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive conjugations of ‘costar’ are used to talk about past suggestions, requests, doubts, or wishes someone had about the cost of something. No creí que las camisas costaran tanto.

Depending on the type of Spanish you’re using, there are two ways to conjugate the imperfect subjunctive:

Latin American Spanish version

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Costara	I cost
Tú	Costaras	You cost
Él / Ella Usted	Costara	He/She cost You (formal) cost
Nosotros	Costáramos	We cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Costaran	They cost You (plural) cost

Note: Vostros is not used in Latin American Spanish. As a result, the previous table doesn’t include the conjugation for this pronoun.

Castilian Spanish version

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Costase	I cost
Tú	Costases	You cost
Él / Ella Usted	Costase	He/She cost You (formal) cost
Nosotros	Costásemos	We cost
Vosotros	Costaseis	You cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Costasen	They cost You (plural) cost

Past perfect subjunctive

In the past perfect subjunctive, costar is used to talk about how much something would have cost if a past circumstance was met. Additionally, these conjugations also express regret for the price something had cost.

For example: Si costaran más baratas, hubiéramos comprado esas flores.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Hubiera costado	I had cost
Tú	Hubieras costado	You had cost
Él / Ella Usted	Hubiera costado	He/She had cost You (formal) had cost
Nosotros	Hubiéramos costado	We had cost
Vosotros	Hubierais costado	You had cost
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Hubieran costado	They had cost You (plural) had cost

Costar Imperative Conjugations

The Spanish imperative mood conjugations are used to give orders. Since you cannot command someone about the cost of something, we never use the imperative forms of costar.

Meanings of Costar & Examples

Now that you’ve learned how to conjugate costar, let’s check how to use and apply this verb correctly.

Costar is a verb like gustar. In other words, its conjugation is based on the thing or activity you’re paying for.

Express the cost of things

Los patines costaban muy baratos.
The skates used to cost very little.

¿Cuánto cuesta un boleto a México?
How much is a ticket to Mexico?

Take Note: When talking about the price of things, we usually refer to activities or singular and plural objects. As a result, the third-person forms of costar are the conjugations we use the most.

Talk about activities someone struggles to do

[Indirect object pronoun] + [costar conjugated] + (trabajo/adverb)

Los verbos como gustar me cuestan mucho trabajo.
I struggle with verbs like gustar.

Antes, cocinar nos costaba mucho.
Before, cooking was very difficult for us.

Download Costar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

You can download a copy of the free PDF cheat sheets which include all of the costar conjugation charts as well as its meanings and uses.

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Practice Quiz: Costar Conjugation

Now that you know how to conjugate costar in Spanish, you can solidify your knowledge of this verb by taking the costar conjugation practice quiz.

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