Necesitar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Necesitar In Spanish

Given that it’s a regular -AR verb, learning necesitar conjugation patterns can help you practice and get familiar with how to conjugate -AR verbs in Spanish. So, in this guide, we’ll go over the following topics:

• Necesitar Overview
• Indicative Tenses of Necesitar 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 Necesitar Conjugations
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Necesitar Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Necesitar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Necesitar Conjugation Practice Quiz

Overview of Necesitar

Indicative Conjugations of Necesitar

Present tense

Necesitar present tense conjugation is formed by adding regular -AR endings to the stem necesit. When conjugated to the present indicative form, this verb conveys that a person needs something at this point. For example: Necesitamos más leche. 

Preterite tense

Necesitar past preterite conjugations are used to mention what a person needed. Include time markers if you need to specify when that action occurred. Here is an example: Gracias, siempre no lo necesité. 

Imperfect tense

The imperfect indicative conjugations of necesitar are also regular. In Spanish, we use these forms to explain that a person needed something for an extended period of time or to ask a client politely what they need. For example: Buenas tardes, ¿qué necesitaba?

Near future

Present forms of ir + a + necesitar is how we conjugate to the immediate or near future in Spanish. With this tense, necesitar is used to explain that someone will need something soon in the future. Oigan, ¿van a necesitar el carro hoy?

Future simple tense

When conjugated to the future simple tense, necesitar conveys that a person will need something at some moment in the future. For instance: ¿Qué necesitarás para terminar este proyecto?

Conditional tense

Necesitar conjugated to the conditional tense in Spanish conveys that someone would need something. If applicable to your sentence, you can add the conditions that need to be fulfilled for a person to need something. ¿Cuánto tiempo necesitarían?

Present perfect tense

The present perfect conjugations of necesitar are built by using haber (present tense) + necesitado (verb in Spanish past participle form). In this tense, this verb communicates that someone has or hasn’t needed something. For example: Por ahora, no he necesitado ayuda. 

Past perfect

Haber (imperfect tense) + past participle of ‘necesitar’ is the structure you must use for forming the past perfect tense in Spanish. Use these conjugations to say that a person had or hadn’t needed something before another past reference point. Hasta este momento, los chicos no habían necesitado nada. 

Future perfect

Conjugate this verb to the future perfect tense when you want to say that someone will have needed something by or before some point in the future. No habrás necesitado nada. 

Conditional perfect

When conjugated to the conditional perfect tense, this verb communicates that someone would have needed to do something or if a past action condition had taken place. For instance: Habríamos necesitado más tiempo para completar ese proyecto. 

Progressive tenses

The progressive tenses of this verb emphasize that someone needs something at the moment of speaking. Use estar’s conjugations + present participle form of ‘necesitar’ to form these conjugations. For example: Por ahora, no estamos necesitando más empleados. 

Necesitar Subjunctive Conjugations

Use the Spanish subjunctive mood to express hopes, advice, demands, desires, doubts or hypothetical situations. In the sections below, you’ll find the necesitar conjugation charts for the most important subjunctive tenses. 

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive conjugation of necesitar is used to suggest or wish that someone needs something. For example: Espero que no necesitemos más azúcar. 

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber (present subjunctive) + necesitado is the formula you must use to conjugate the present perfect subjunctive in Spanish. When using these conjugations, necesitar expresses doubt or hopes about whether a person has already needed something. 

For instance: ¿Crees que los chicos hayan necesitado ayuda con su tarea?

Imperfect subjunctive

Conjugate necesitar to the imperfect subjunctive to talk about your past suggestions, wishes, or demands about someone needing something. For instance: Me gustaría que me necesitaras más. 

The imperfect subjunctive tense uses two different endings depending on the type of Spanish use:

Latin American Spanish version

Note: Remember that vosotros is exclusively used in Castilian Spanish. As a result, the necesitar conjugation for vosotros has been omitted in the Latin American Spanish conjugation chart.  

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive conjugations of necesitar express that someone would have needed something if a past circumstance had been fulfilled. These forms also convey regret for needing or not needing something. Si el proyecto hubiera sido más largo, hubiera necesitado más ayuda. 

Necesitar Imperative Conjugations

In Spanish, we use the imperative mood to instruct or command people.

Affirmative commands

Necesitar affirmative imperative conjugations are used to strongly suggest to people what they need. For example: Señora, necesita descansar.

Negative commands

On the other hand, you can use the negative commands of this verb to tell people they don’t need something. Tranquilo, no los necesitas. 

Meanings of Necesitar & Examples

In the sections above, we’ve learned how to conjugate necesitar in Spanish. So, now we’ll review some structures and simple rules to use this verb correctly. 

Necesitar is a Spanish transitive verb, meaning we must mention or imply what someone needs. If you’re referring to an activity (example #2), use an infinitive verb. But, use nouns or Spanish direct object pronouns when referring to people or things (examples #1 and #3).

[Necesitar conjugated] + [complement]

Te necesito. 
I need you. 

En unos días, necesitaré ir al dentista. 
I will need to go to the dentist in a few days.

¿Para qué necesitaban mi teléfono?
Why did you guys need my phone?

Take Note: In Spanish, necesitar is a verb that triggers the subjunctive when used to say that we need someone to do something. Necesito que me ayudes. 

Download Necesitar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

Necesitar is a common verb that can help you practice the -AR conjugation model. Here is a cheat sheets PDF which contains all the necesitar conjugation charts. It also contains the short definitions and uses section where you’ll find example sentences for using this verb in real-world daily conversations.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Necesitar Conjugation

Now that you’ve learned how to conjugate necesitar in Spanish, you should practice your knowledge by taking this necesitar conjugation practice quiz.

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