Entender Conjugation 101: Conjugate Entender In Spanish

Entender conjugation patterns can help you understand -ER verbs and E to IE stem-changing verbs. Since you’ll also use it in daily conversations, in this guide, you’ll learn how to conjugate entender in Spanish. Here’s an overview of what we’ll go over:

• Entender Overview
• Indicative Tenses of Entender Conjugations
  • Present tense
  • Preterite tense
  • Imperfect tense
  • Near Future tense
  • Future tense
  • Conditional tense
  • Present Perfect tense
  • Past Perfect tense
  • Future Perfect tense
  • Conditional Perfect tense
  • Progressive tenses
• Subjunctive Tenses of Entender Conjugations
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Entender Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Entender Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Entender Conjugation Practice Quiz

Overview of Entender

Indicative Conjugations of Entender

Present tense

Entender present tense conjugations have an E to IE stem change for all subject pronouns, except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. We use entender’s present forms to refer to the topics or things someone currently understands. For example: No entiendo lo que dices.

Preterite tense

As shown in the conjugation chart below, entender’s preterite conjugations are regular. Use the preterite form of ‘entender’ to explain the things someone understood in the past. For instance: ¿Qué dijiste? No te entendimos.

Imperfect tense

In Spanish, entender imperfect conjugations refer to things someone used to understand (or didn’t understand) for an extended period of time in the past. For example: Cuando era niña, yo no entendía muchas cosas.

Near future

In Spanish, the near or immediate future is formed with ir (present tense) + a + infinitive verb (entender, in this case) and can be translated as “going to understand”. We use these forms to say that a person will understand something soon in the future. Sé que me vas a entender. 

Future simple tense

When conjugated to the Spanish future simple tense, entender communicates that a person will understand something or someone at some moment in the future. For example: Nunca entenderé por qué terminaste con Joan.

Conditional tense

In the Spanish conditional tense, entender is used to talk about things, people, or situations someone would understand. Here is an example: Si me contaras qué pasó, entendería mejor.

Present perfect tense

The present perfect in Spanish is formed with haber in the present tense + entendido (past participle). Use these entender conjugations to explain what someone has or hasn’t understood. ¿Han entendido lo que les dije?

Past perfect

The Spanish past perfect tense of entender allows you to express that someone had or hadn’t understood something before some other reference point in the past. For example: Perdóname, nunca había entendido lo que querías decirme.

Future perfect

In the future perfect, entender communicates that a person will have understood something or someone by or before a certain time in the future. These forms can also express that someone might have understood something. For example: ¿Habrá entendido lo que quise decir?

Conditional perfect

When conjugated to the Spanish conditional perfect, entender communicates that you would have understood something or someone if a past action had been met. Here is a sentence: Si me hubieras dado mejores ejemplos, habría entendido todo. 

Progressive tenses

In Spanish, the progressive forms of entender express that someone understands something at the moment of speaking. For example: Creo que ya me estás entendiendo.

Entender Subjunctive Conjugations

In Spanish, the subjunctive tenses communicate uncertainty, wishes, suggestions, requests, expectations, or refer to hypothetical situations. In the sections below, you’ll find the entender conjugation charts for the subjunctive tenses. Notice that, in this mood, entender is a stem-changing verb.

Present subjunctive

In the present subjunctive, entender is an E to IE stem-changing verb. However, these spelling changes do not apply to ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. Use entender subjunctive conjugations to request or hope that someone understands something. 

For instance: No espero que me entiendas.

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber in the present subjunctive + entendido is how you form the present perfect subjunctive of ‘entender’. We use these conjugations to wonder or wish someone has already understood something. No creo que Tina te haya entendido.

Imperfect subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive forms of ‘entender’ discuss past suggestions, requests, wishes, or expectations you had about someone understanding something. Me pidió que la entendiera, pero no puedo. 

Depending on the type of Spanish you use, there are two conjugation models for the imperfect subjunctive:

Latin American Spanish version

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

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

In the past perfect subjunctive, entender conveys that someone would have understood something if a past action was completed. Additionally, these conjugations also refer to regrets or hypothetical results if someone had understood something. 
For example: Dudo que me hubieras entendido.

Entender Imperative Conjugations

Commands in Spanish are the conjugations we use to instruct someone to do or not to do something. Notice that these entender conjugations have stem changes. 

Affirmative commands

The affirmative commands of entender also have an E to IE stem change, which is not applied to ‘vosotros’. Use the affirmative imperative to command people to understand something. Señora, entienda, no puedo ayudarla. 

Negative commands

Since the Spanish negative commands are based on the present subjunctive conjugations, these imperative forms have stem changes. In theory, these entender conjugations command people not to understand something. 

In practice, we don’t use these commands because we cannot order people not to understand something. 

Meanings of Entender & Examples

Now that you learned how to conjugate entender, below are some examples of how to use this verb: 

[Entender conjugated] + [complement]

Ellos no han entendido el pronombre se. 
They haven’t understood the pronoun se. 

Por favor, entiéndeme. No sabía qué hacer. 
Please, understand me. I didn’t know what to do. 

When talking about understanding a person (a manner of empathizing with them), entender can work with direct object pronouns. However, you’ll need indirect object pronouns when expressing that you didn’t understand what someone said. 

¿Qué dijo? No le entendí.
What did she say? I didn’t understand her.

Take Note: In daily conversations, entender is more frequently used than its more formal synonym comprender. 

Download Entender Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

If you’d like to refer back to this guide on conjugating entender, I’ve created a downloadable PDF including all the entender conjugation charts, meanings and uses.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Entender Conjugation

If you’re confident after review this guide that you know how to conjugate entender in Spanish, the best way to commit its stem changes and conjugations to long term memory is through practice. Take the entender conjugation quiz to practice conjugating it in all the tenses.