Usar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Usar In Spanish

If you’re learning how to conjugate verbs in Spanish, usar conjugation patterns can help you practice -AR regular verbs. Since this verb is also crucial for your communication, in this guide, we’ll go over: 

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

Overview of Usar

Depending on the context, usar means ‘to use’, ‘to exercise’ or ‘to wear’. The usar conjugation charts below only have one translation to keep the tables as clear as possible. You can learn more about the meanings of ‘usar’ in the section Uses & Meanings. 

Indicative Conjugations of Usar

Present tense

Usar conjugated to the Spanish present tense expresses what someone habitually uses. For example: Mi mamá usa mucho esta bicicleta. 

Preterite tense

Usar’s preterite conjugations refer to the things people used. Use adverbs of time to pinpoint the specific time when this action occurred. For instance: Gracias, siempre no usé tu computadora. 

Imperfect tense

Conjugate pensar to the imperfect tense in Spanish to talk about the things people used for an extended period of time in the past. For example: Martha siempre usaba la misma falda. 

Near future

Use ir in the present tense + a + usar to form the Spanish near future tense. We use this tense to say that someone will use something soon. For example: Mamá, ¿vas a usar el carro en la tarde?

Future simple tense

When conjugated to the future simple tense in Spanish, usar conveys that someone will use something at some point in the future. For instance: Si quieres agárrala, no la usaremos hoy. 

Conditional tense

The conditional forms of this verb allow you to say that someone would use something. These usar conjugations can help you build conditional or hypothetical sentences related to using something. For example: Si yo fuera tú, no usaría las cosas de Mariana. 

Present perfect tense

In Spanish, the present perfect tense is built with haber’s present tense conjugations + usado. You can use these conjugations to say whether someone has used something. For instance: Oigan, ¿ya han usado la nueva copiadora?

Past perfect

When conjugated to the past perfect tense, usar expresses that someone had used something before a past reference point. To form the Spanish past tense, use the imperfect forms of haber + the past participle of ‘usar’. Quebré mi celular nuevo y todavía no lo había usado. 

Future perfect

The usar future perfect conjugations communicate that someone will have used something by or before a point in the future. For instance: ¿Crees que Claudia ya habrá usado la blusa que le di?

Conditional perfect

The conditional perfect forms of usar express that someone would have used something if a past circumstance occurred. For example: No habría usado tu carro si no hubiera sido una emergencia. 

Progressive tenses

Estar conjugations + usando (present participle form) is how you form the progressive tenses in Spanish. When using these tenses, you’re expressing that someone is using something at the moment of speaking. For example: ¿Quién está usando la estufa?

Usar Subjunctive Conjugations

The subjunctive mood in Spanish communicates a person’s wishes, demands, hopes, requests, advice, uncertainty about something, or hypothetical situations. Below, we’ll review the usar conjugation tables for the most important subjunctive tenses. 

Present subjunctive

Usar subjunctive conjugations are regular. You can use these forms to talk about wishes, suggestions, demands or suggestions about someone using something. For example: La maestra no quiere que usemos el celular en clase. 

Present perfect subjunctive

The perfect subjunctive conjugations of ‘usar’ are used to wonder or wish a person has already used something. This tense is formed with the present subjunctive forms of ‘haber’ + usado. For example: Dudo que hayan usado el programa que les pedí. 

Imperfect subjunctive

Usar conjugated to the Spanish imperfect subjunctive tense communicates past hopes, wishes, requests, or suggestions someone had about a person using something. For example: Les dije que no usaran mis cosas. 

Latin American and Castilian Spanish have their specific conjugation model for this tense: 

Latin American Spanish version

Note: Vosotros is not one of the subject pronouns used in Latin American Spanish. As a result, the previous usar conjugation for this pronoun isn’t included in the above chart. 

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

In Spanish, the past perfect subjunctive conjugations of usar express that someone would have used something if a past action took place. These forms can also express regret or the hypothetical results if someone had used something. 

For example: Te hubieras visto más bonita si hubieras usado la falda roja.

Usar Imperative Conjugations

To command people to use or not use something, you must conjugate usar to the imperative mood in Spanish. 

Affirmative commands

In the affirmative imperative, usar is a regular verb. These forms allow you to order someone to use something. For example: Toma, usa esta pluma, por favor. 

Negative commands

On the other hand, you can use the Spanish negative imperative forms to command people not to use something. ¡No usen el celular en clase!

Meanings of Usar & Examples

Since you’ve just seen how to conjugate usar in Spanish, in this section, we’ll review the most common applications of this verb. Depending on the sentence, usar means to ‘use’ or ‘wear’: 

[Usar conjugated] + [complement]

¿Qué vas a usar para la fiesta?
What are you going to wear for the party?

Dejé mi celular en la mesa y alguien lo usó. 
I left my phone on the table and someone used it. 

En México, no se usa el pronombre vosotros.
 In Mexico, they don’t use the pronoun ‘vosotros’. 

Take Note: If it’s clear what the thing someone uses is, you can replace it with a Spanish direct object pronoun. With this verb, it’s common to use sentences with passive voice with se (like example 3). These constructions refer to the things a large group of people use.

Download Usar Conjugation Charts & Uses Cheat sheet

Usar is an important Spanish verb with a regular -AR conjugation pattern. You can find out how to conjugate this verb and its pattern by checking out the usar conjugation reference guide.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Usar Conjugation

Now that know how to conjugate this verb, you should take this usar conjugation practice quiz.

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