Just as in English, verb tenses in Spanish indicate the time an action, process, or state of being occurs. Usually, verb tenses refer to the moment something is written or said as their reference point; these verbs are called absolute.
[Juana] [corrió rapidísimo].
In this sentence, Juana ran before this sentence was written. The moment it was written is its reference point.
But some verbs can also refer to other temporal reference points (moments in the past or future) that have been established in the same sentence by other words or phrases; these verbs are called relative.
[El entrenador] [le advirtió que su rival había corrido más rápido que ella].
In this sentence, her rival’s running happens before the trainer’s warning (reference point), which happens before the sentence was written.
Although verb tenses in Spanish refer to moments in the past, present, or future like they do in English, their categorization is not based on temporal categories. Verb tenses of the indicative and subjunctive moods are usually classified by their morphological structure, i.e., whether they are simple or compound. The only difference between these two classes is that simple verbs comprise a verb in its conjugated form, while compound verbs comprise two words, which are the conjugated form of the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the main verb.
In the following table, the conjugations of the verb cantar, which exemplify verb tenses of the indicative mood, are classified as simple or compound.
Indicative mood
| SIMPLE | COMPOUND |
|---|---|
| Present Presente (CANTO) | Compound present perfect Pretérito perfecto compuesto (HE CANTADO) |
| Preterit Pretérito perfecto simple (CANTÉ) | Pluperfect Pretérito pluscuamperfecto (HABÍA CANTADO) |
| Imperfect Pretérito imperfecto (CANTABA) | Past anterior Pretérito anterior (HUBE CANTADO) |
| Future Futuro simple (CANTARÉ) | Compound future Futuro compuesto (HABRÉ CANTADO) |
| Conditional Condicional simple (CANTARÍA) | Compound conditional Condicional compuesto (HABRÍA CANTADO) |
Although the subjunctive mood in English has only one present tense and two past tenses, there are six verb tenses of the subjunctive mood in Spanish.
Subjunctive mood
| SIMPLE | COMPOUND |
|---|---|
| Present Presente (CANTE) | Compound present perfect Pretérito perfecto compuesto (HAYA CANTADO) |
| Imperfect Pretérito imperfect (CANTARA O CANTASE) | Pluperfect Pretérito pluscuamperfecto (HUBIERA O HUBIESE CANTADO) |
The future tenses of the subjunctive are gradually becoming obsolete, although they still may be used in a few legal and administrative texts. The subjunctive of the simple future (cantare) has been replaced with the present (cante) and the imperfect (cantara or cantase) and the subjunctive of the compound future has been replaced with the pluperfect (hubiera or hubisese cantado).
Keep in mind that not all Spanish verb tenses—either of the indicative and subjunctive moods—have a direct counterpart in English, but some of them do.