Meanings of Seguir
Sigue intentándolo: el verbo seguir (to follow/to continue).
The verb ‘’seguir’’ in Spanish can have two different meanings, depending on the context we use it and the message we want to transmit. One of them can be defined as to be behind something or someone, as we used to follow in English. For example: Yo sigo los pasos (I follow the steps).
Another meaning is retaking an activity we were doing or just to keep doing it, the same way we use to continue in English. For example: ‘’Él continúa/sigue haciendo ejercicio (He continues working out).
Let’s learn together!
Before you continue reading, remember:
- You is a pronoun which has different meanings. However, in Spanish we have 3 important pronouns: tú, usted, ustedes. Tú is used when you have confidence with the person you are talking to, usted is more formal and ustedes is used when talking to more than one person.
- In Spanish, we have unspoken subjects, so it is not needed to use a pronoun every time as we do in English.
Read the following examples:
- Yo sigo tu canal de YouTube. – (I follow your YouTube channel).
- Tú seguiste mintiendo. – (You kept on lying).
- Usted seguía buscando a su hija. – (You were still looking for your daughter).
- Nosotros seguiremos las instrucciones. – (We will follow the instructions).
- Ellos me seguirían cuando salga. – (They would follow me when I go out).
Seguir Indicative Mood
These are some examples of phrases in the indicative mood of this interesting verb. Do you recognize these tenses?
| Subject | Present | Perfect Preterit (Past) | Imperfect preterit (Past) | Future simple | Conditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yo (I) | Sigo | Seguí | Seguía | Seguiré | Seguiría |
| Tú (you) | Sigues | Seguiste | Seguías | Seguirás | Seguirías |
| Él (he) / ella (she) / usted (you: formal) | Sigue | Siguió | Seguía | Seguirá | Seguiría |
| Nosotros (we) | Seguimos | Seguimos | Seguíamos | Seguiremos | Seguiríamos |
| Ustedes (you: plural) / ellos (They: mas.) / ellas (They: fem.) | Siguen | Siguieron | Seguían | Seguirán | Seguirían |
Analyze the previous chart and let’s review some examples.
We use the present tense to express that we are behind something or someone. For example: Yo sigo tus consejos (I follow your pieces of advice). However, this can also be used to say that someone keeps certain behavior although the verb ‘’continuar’’ can also work. For example: “Ella sigue/continúa peleando”
We use the perfect preterit when we want to communicate that someone or something was followed in the past, without being a continuous action: Él me siguió, pero se cansó. (He followed me, but got tired).
We generally use the imperfect preterite to talk about actions (in the gerund) that may seem repetitive: Yo seguía hablando, pero tú no escuchabas (I kept talking, but you weren’t listening).
We use the future tense to talk about promises (which may sound a bit intimidating): Te seguiré donde quiera que vayas (I will follow you wherever you go).
We use the simple conditional tense to express that you may follow someone or something, if a certain thing happens: Si voy de mochilero a Europa, ¿me seguirías? (If I go backpacking in Europe, would you follow me?).
| Subject | Compounded perfect preterit (Present perfect) | Pluperfect (past perfect) | Perfect future | Perfect Conditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yo (I) | He seguido | Había seguido | Habré seguido | Habría seguido |
| Tú (you) | Has seguido | Habías seguido | Habrás seguido | Habrías seguido |
| Él (he) / ella (she) / usted (you: formal) | Ha seguido | Había seguido | Habrá seguido | Habría seguido |
| Nosotros (we) | Hemos seguido | Habíamos seguido | Habremos seguido | Habríamos seguido |
| Ustedes (you: plural) / ellos (They: mas.) / ellas (They: fem.) | Han seguido | Habían seguido | Habrán seguido | Habrían seguido |
Let’s see some of the most used Perfect Tenses of the Indicative Mood
We build compounded tenses using the verb ‘’HABER’’ (HAVE) and the past participle of the main verb, in this case seguir -> seguido.
We use the compounded perfect preterit to express an action that we performed in the past, but which has some connection with the present: He seguido tu trabajo desde el año pasado (I have been following your work since last year.).
We use the pluperfect to speak of the past of the past, i.e. an action that happened before another action also located in the past: Antes de encontrarlos, ya los habíamos seguido por un rato (Before we found them, we had already followed them for a while.).
We use the perfect future when we speak of following someone or something before a certain time in the future: Antes que terminemos la carrera, habrán seguido mis pasos como diseñador (Before we finish our degree, they will have followed in my footsteps as a designer.).
We use perfect conditional to discuss and ask about actions that could be taken in the future, if something else were to happen (or not): ¿Me habrías seguido amando, si no te hubiese mentido? (Would you have continued to love me, if I had not lied to you?)
In Spanish, we also have two other verbal modes: the subjunctive and the imperative mood.
Forms of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present | Imperfect preterit | Pluperfect | Perfect preterit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yo (I) | Siga | Siguiera | Hubiera seguido | Haya seguido |
| Tú (you) | Sigas | Siguieras | Hubieras seguido | Hayas seguido |
| Él (he) / ella (she) / usted (you: formal) | Siga | Siguiera | Hubiera seguido | Haya seguido |
| Nosotros (we) | Sigamos | Siguiéramos | Hubiéramos seguido | Hayamos seguido |
| Ustedes (you: plural) / ellos (They: mas.) / ellas (They: fem.) | Sigan | Siguieran | Hubieran seguido | Hayan seguido |
Subjunctive is usually used to express wishes, wants and hopes. But also, to speak about hypothetical or fictional situations. They are usually introduced by the words: que, ojalá, espero (que), si…, cuando. Examples:
Hopes: Espero que sigas estudiando medicina (I hope you will continue to study medicine).
Wishes: Ojalá siguieran transmitiendo He-Man (I wish they were still broadcasting He-Man).
Hypothesis: Si hubiera seguido por ese camino, ahora sería alguien distinto (If I had followed that path, I would be someone different now).
Fictional: Podrás ir a dormir cuando hayas seguido mis instrucciones (You will be able to go to sleep when you have followed my instructions).
The Imperative Mood
| Subject | Imperative |
|---|---|
| Tú (you) | Sigue |
| Usted (you: formal) | Siga |
| Nosotros (you) | Sigamos |
| Ustedes (you: plural) | Sigan |
- Sigue molestando al perro y te morderá (Keep bothering the dog, and he’ll bite you).
- Siga los pasos y obtendrá un delicioso omelette (Follow the steps, and you will get a delicious omelette).
- Sigamos adelante, ya estamos por llegar (Let’s keep going, we are almost there).
- Sigan ese camino, los llevará a su destino (Follow this path, it will lead you to your destination).
Quiz/Worksheet – Seguir:
Now that you know the cojugations of Seguir, can you identify when to use them? Fill the blank spaces!
1. Los lobos _____ el rastro de sus presas. (Wolves follow the trail of their prey.).
2. Es improbable que el proceso legal ____ _____ su curso. (It is unlikely that the legal process has followed its course.).
3. ¿Puedo pasar? – Sí claro, ¡_____ adelante! (- May I come in? – Yes, of course, go ahead!).
4. Aunque fuera un texto más largo, no lo ____ _____ leyendo (Even if it were a longer text, I would not have continued reading it.).
5. Si te vas a quedar este verano, _____ nuestras reglas (If you’re staying this summer, you’ll follow our rules.).
6. El desempeño del equipo _____ empeorando este año (The team’s performance continued to worsen this year.).
Answers:
1. Siguen
2. Haya seguido
3. Sigue
4. Habría seguido
5. Seguirás
6. Siguió
Before you go, did you know that among Spanish speakers’ culture, “Sigue intentando” is an expression used when we want to encourage someone to continue making efforts to achieve something?
About the Author:
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Bio: I am Julio Martinez, I have studied a bachelor’s degree in language teaching since 2019, and I am close to get graduated. I have work as English teacher in some institutions in Colombia, I have also worked as tutor supporting some students to improve their Spanish levels and as tutor for personalized French classes. By the same way, I speak not only Spanish and English but also French and Portuguese, I have been participating in a research group of language teaching for people with difficulties. As well as, I have participated in different seminars of different institutions and Universities in the field of languages teaching.
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