Trabajar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Trabajar In Spanish

Trabajar conjugation patterns are great for practicing and reinforcing the conjugation of -AR verbs in Spanish. As a result, in this guide, you’ll learn how to conjugate this verb. Here is a quick summary of what we’ll cover:

Overview of Trabajar

Verb CharacteristicProperty
Verb Type-AR
IrregularNo
InfinitiveTrabajar
Gerund (Present Participle) FormTrabajando
Past Participle FormTrabajado
SynonymsLaborar, dedicarse.

Indicative Conjugations of Trabajar

Present tense

The present tense conjugations of trabajar are used to talk about a person’s current job or work they perform. They can describe where people work or what their profession is. For instance: ¿En qué trabaja tu esposa?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajoI work
TrabajasYou work
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajaHe/She works
You (formal) work
NosotrosTrabajamosWe work
VosotrosTrabajáisYou work
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajanThey work
You (plural) work

Preterite tense

Trabajar preterite conjugations are regular. Conjugate this verb to the past preterite tense to talk about a person’s work at a specific moment in the past. For example: En 1995, Tom trabajó conmigo.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajéI worked
TrabajasteYou worked
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajóHe/She worked
You (formal) worked
NosotrosTrabajaronWe worked
VosotrosTrabajasteisYou worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajaronThey worked
You (plural) worked

Imperfect tense

Use trabajar in the imperfect indicative form to describe someone’s work in the past. These descriptions can refer to their job position, the quality of their job, or where they used to work. For example: Mi hermana trabajaba con mi abuela. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajabaI worked
I used to work
TrabajabasYou worked
You used to work
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajabaHe/She worked
He/She used to work

You (formal) worked
You (formal) used to work
NosotrosTrabajábamosWe worked
We used to work
VosotrosTrabajabaisYou worked
You used to work
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajabanThey worked
They used to work

You (plural) worked
You (plural) used to work

Near future

Use the structure ir (present tense) + a + infinitive (in this case, ‘trabajar’) to conjugate the Spanish near or immediate future. These forms of ‘trabajar’ convey that someone is about to go to work. Mañana no vamos a trabajar. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoVoy a trabajarI’m going to work
Vas a trabajarYou’re going to work
Él / Ella
Usted
Va a trabajarHe/She is going to work
You (formal) are going to work
NosotrosVamos a trabajarWe’re going to work
VosotrosVais a trabajarYou’re going to work
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Van a trabajarThey’re going to work
You (plural) are going to work

Future simple tense

Trabajar future tense conjugations express that people will work on something or a certain way at some point in the future. Here is an example: Mañana trabajaremos todo el día. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajaréI will work
TrabajarásYou will work
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajaráHe/She will work
You (formal) will work
NosotrosTrabajaremosWe will work
VosotrosTrabajaréisYou (formal) will work
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajaránThey will work
You (plural) will work

Conditional tense

In the Spanish conditional tense, trabajar is used to express that people would work. If needed, you can add circumstances that need to be met for people to work on something or in a certain place. For instance: Yo nunca trabajaría aquí. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajaríaI would work
TrabajaríasYou would work
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajaríaHe/She would work
You (formal) would work
NosotrosTrabajaríamosWe would work
VosotrosTrabajaríaisYou would work
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajaríanThey would work
You (plural) would work

Present perfect tense

The Spanish present perfect indicative is formed with the structure haber in the present tense + trabajado (past participle). Use these conjugations to talk about where or how people have or haven’t worked. For instance: Nunca hemos trabajado tan tarde. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHe trabajadoI have worked
Has trabajadoYou have worked
Él / Ella
Usted
Ha trabajadoHe/She has worked
You (formal) have worked
NosotrosHemos trabajadoWe have worked
VosotrosHabéis trabajadoYou have worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Han trabajadoThey have worked
You (plural) have worked

Past perfect

Conjugate trabajar to the Spanish past perfect to express that people had worked somewhere or with another person before another prior action or point in the past. For example: ¿Ya habías trabajado aquí?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabía trabajadoI had worked
Habías trabajadoYou had worked
Él / Ella
Usted
Había trabajadoHe/She had worked
You (formal) had worked
NosotrosHabíamos trabajadoWe had worked
VosotrosHabíais trabajadoYou had worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habían trabajadoThey had worked
You (plural) had worked

Future perfect

In the future perfect tense, trabajar communicates that someone will have worked by or before a certain point in the future. For example: Este mes, habré trabajado todos los fines de semana. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabré trabajadoI will have worked
Habrás trabajadoYou will have worked
Él / Ella
Usted
Habrá trabajadoHe/She will have worked
You (formal) will have worked
NosotrosHabremos trabajadoWe will have worked
VosotrosHabréis trabajadoYou will have worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habrán trabajadoThey will have worked
You (plural) will have worked

Conditional perfect

When conjugated to the Spanish conditional perfect tense, trabajar is used to express that someone would have worked somewhere if a past condition had been met. You can also use this tense to make hypotheses that are difficult to accomplish about a person’s work. 

For example: Si te hubieran ofrecido más dinero, ¿habrías trabajado aquí? 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabría trabajadoI would have worked
Habrías trabajadoYou would have worked
Él / Ella
Usted
Habría trabajadoHe/She would have worked
You (formal) would have worked
NosotrosHabríamos trabajadoWe would have worked
VosotrosHabríais trabajadoYou would have worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habrían trabajadoThey would have worked
You (plural) would have worked

Progressive tenses

The progressive tenses of trabajar allow you to express that someone is working at the moment of speaking. Or, in the case of past forms (preterite and imperfect), to communicate that a past action was in progress when someone was working. 

The progressive tenses are formed with estar + trabajando (present participle). Here is a sentence: ¿Estabas trabajando?

Progressive TenseFormulaTranslation Example
PresentEstar (present) + trabajandoI am working
PreteriteEstar (preterite) + trabajandoYou were working
ImperfectEstar (imperfect) + trabajandoHe was working
FutureEstar (future) + trabajandoWe will be working
ConditionalEstar (conditional) + trabajandoThey would be working

Trabajar Subjunctive Conjugations

The Spanish subjunctive allows you to express wishes, doubt or hypothetical situations. Below are the trabajar conjugation charts for the subjunctive tenses.

Present subjunctive

Trabajar present subjunctive conjugations express hopes, wishes, or requests related to a person working. For example: Quiero que trabajen todo el día. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajeI work
TrabajesYou work
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajeHe/She works
You (formal) work
NosotrosTrabajemosWe work
VosotrosTrabajéisYou work
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajenThey work
You (plural) work

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber in the present subjunctive + trabajado is the formula we use to conjugate ‘trabajar’ to the present perfect subjunctive. These conjugations are used to wonder or wish that a person has worked in a certain way or somewhere. For example: Dudo que Luis haya trabajado todo el día. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHaya trabajadoI have worked
Hayas trabajadoYou have worked
Él / Ella
Usted
Haya trabajadoHe/She has worked
You (formal) have worked
NosotrosHayamos trabajadoWe have worked
VosotrosHayáis trabajadoYou have worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Hayan trabajadoThey have worked
You (plural) have worked

Imperfect subjunctive

Use the imperfect subjunctive conjugations of ‘trabajar’ to refer to past suggestions, requests, wishes, or expectations you had about a person working. Esperaba que no trabajaras hoy.

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

Latin American Spanish version

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajaraI worked
TrabajarasYou worked
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajaraHe/She worked
You (formal) worked
NosotrosTrabajáramosWe worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajaranThey worked
You (plural) worked

Note: In Latin American Spanish, the pronoun vosotros is not used. As a result, we’ve omitted this pronoun from the previous conjugation table. 

Castilian Spanish version

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoTrabajaseI worked
TrabajasesYou worked
Él / Ella
Usted
TrabajaseHe/She worked
You (formal) worked
NosotrosTrabajásemosWe worked
VosotrosTrabajaseisYou worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
TrabajasenThey worked
You (plural) worked

Past perfect subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive of trabajar communicates that someone would have worked if a past condition was met. We also use this tense to talk about regrets related to working. For example: Si hubieras trabajado aquí, habrías ganado más dinero. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHubiera trabajadoI had worked
Hubieras trabajadoYou had worked
Él / Ella
Usted
Hubiera trabajadoHe/She had worked
You (formal) had worked
NosotrosHubiéramos trabajadoWe had worked
VosotrosHubierais trabajadoYou had worked
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Hubieran trabajadoThey had worked
You (plural) had worked

Trabajar Imperative Conjugations

To give orders to people, we must use the imperative tense in Spanish

Affirmative commands

Use trabajar’s affirmative commands to order someone to work. For instance: Trabaja más duro. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
TrabajaWork
UstedTrabajeWork
VosotrosTrabajadWork
UstedesTrabajenWork

Negative commands

To order people not to work, you must conjugate trabajar to the negative imperative. For example: Papá, no trabajes más, descansa. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
No trabajesDon’t work
UstedNo trabajeDon’t work
VosotrosNo trabajéisDon’t work
UstedesNo trabajenDon’t work

Meanings of Trabajar & Examples

Now that you’ve learned how to conjugate trabajar in Spanish, you should check these examples to see how to use this verb in real-world contexts.

[Trabajar conjugated] + [complement]

Mañana trabajamos hasta las 10. 
Tomorrow, we work until 10. 

¿Tú trabajarías de maestra? 
Would you work as a teacher? 

Sally siempre ha trabajado en este hospital. 
Sally has always worked at this hospital. 

Take Note: You can combine trabajar with Spanish prepositions to deliver different meanings, such as schedules, work positions, and workplaces. 

Download Trabajar Conjugation Charts & Uses Cheat sheets

I’ve created a PDF with the trabajar conjugation tables for future reference if you need a refresher on all of this verb’s tenses. It also includes its uses and real-world examples.

Practice Quiz: Trabajar Conjugation

Now that you know how to conjugate trabajar in Spanish, you can master this verb by taking the trabajar conjugation practice quiz. This can help you commit all of this verb’s forms to memory.

Daniela Sanchez

¡Hola! Soy Daniela Sanchez, I've been studying Spanish professionally as well as teaching it in Mexico and online for over 10 years. I’ve taught Spanish to a wide array of foreigners from many backgrounds. Over the years, I've made it my mission to work hard on refining many challenging to understand grammar topics to make my students' learning experiences easier, faster and more enjoyable. Read More About Me

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