It is inevitable to read the word play and not think of children, childhood or fun. And there is nothing better than learning by playing, or simply playing for fun. When you are learning a new language there are words that are like Thanos, inevitable, and Jugar is one of those verbs that, at first, can make us run to ask our teacher the typical “How do you say…” phrase. Whether you’re playing with words, toys or someone’s heart, you’re going to have to know how the verb changes when you’ll use it. Let’s go, let’s conjugate!
Meaning of Jugar
In Spanish, Jugar means to play. That same verb we associate with going to the park, visiting your cousins or classmates, it is also the verb we use to talk about the new edition of Resident Evil (video games) or to talk about the Mets vs Yankees game (and sports in general).
As a typical English to Spanish learning thing, you probably associate “to play” also with the art of using a musical instrument, but no, in Spanish when talking about instruments, the verb “tocar” is the verb you will have to use. In Spanish, tocamos instrumentos (play an instrument) and jugamos a las escondidas (play hide and seek).
What Type of Verb is Jugar?
Jugar is an irregular verb, that is to say that it is a chameleon verb: (almost) every time you are going to conjugate it, it will have a different form, so you will have to play the memory game to get familiar with its use in everyday sentences.
Here we love that you can learn in a simpler way, and if there is any way to make you have advantages in Spanish is with certain hacks or patterns that this language has. With Jugar, for example, when you try to conjugate it, you will be able to notice two important changes, the first one is with the suffixes:
The suffix jug– sometimes changes to jueg–
The second hack has more to do with spelling, and basically has to do with that rule that says:
If the e comes after the g it is changed to gu
This means that you should not write juege, but juegue.
Verbals of Jugar
In case you’ve never heard what a verbal is, they are those words that look like verbs but sometimes change their function as a verb, becoming nouns and even adverbs. In Spanish, the verbals of the verb Jugar are the gerund, the participle and the infinitive. Please keep in mind that they are nothing if they are not accompanied by another conjugated verb!
| Verbal | Common use | Example | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | Jugar (to play) | Non conjugated / Noun | Quiero poder ir a jugar con mis primos. | I want to be able to go and play with my cousins. |
| Gerund | Jugando (playing) | Adverb/ Periphrasis | Estábamos jugando, pero empezó a llover. | We were playing but it started to rain. |
| Participle | Jugado (played) | Adjective | Si hubiésemos jugado la habríamos pasado mejor que viendo tv. | If we had played, we would have had a better time than watching TV. |
Spanish Verb Jugar Conjugation
Jugar is a pleasant word, the variations (because it is an irregular verb), are not complicated or too many, which helps a lot when you need to learn by heart. The changes are in the present tense and there are just a few of them.
Jugar Conjugation: Indicative Mood
The verb Jugar has two forms in the indicative mood: simple and compound. The first part of this juego (game) is to learn the times by heart. So, here is a thorough list with the times and how they change with each subject to whom the sentences are addressed.
Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood
| Subject | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (play) | (played) | (played) | (would play) | (will play) | |
| yo | juego | jugué | jugaba | jugaría | jugaré |
| tú | juegas | jugaste | jugabas | jugarías | jugarás |
| él/ella/usted | juega | jugó | jugaba | jugaría | jugará |
| nosotros | jugamos | jugamos | jugábamos | jugaríamos | jugaremos |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | juegan | jugaron | jugaban | jugarían | jugarán |
Examples:
- Yo juego en el equipo más grande de mi pueblo – I play for the biggest team in my town.
- Ustedes jugarían unas tres veces por semana, si ganan – You would play about three times a week if you win.
Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood
| Subject | Present Perfect | Preterite Perfect | Past Perfect (Pluperfect) | Conditional Perfect | Future Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (have/has played) | (had played) | (had played) | (would have played) | (will have played) | |
| yo | he jugado | hube jugado | había jugado | habría jugado | habré jugado |
| tú | has jugado | hubiste jugado | habías jugado | habrías jugado | habrás jugado |
| él/ella/usted | ha jugado | hubo jugado | había jugado | habría jugado | habrá jugado |
| nosotros | hemos jugado | hubimos jugado | habíamos jugado | habríamos jugado | habremos jugado |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | han jugado | hubieron jugado | habían jugado | habrían jugado | habrán jugado |
Examples:
- Nosotros hubiésemos jugado con los niños de nuestros amigos hasta el cansancio – We would have played with our friends’ children to exhaustion.
- Ellos habrán jugado aproximadamente 30 horas cuando terminen el modo normal de GTA IV – They will have played approximately 30 hours when they finish the normal mode of GTA IV.
Jugar Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood
Think about what you want most currently, (I know, you wish you were playing instead of studying) making associations is a good trick to achieve memorization. The subjunctive mood is about wishes and hypotheses, so every time you think of making a sentence that has hopes or wishes, it belongs to this mood. To make sentences with this mood, you are going to use these words:
Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present | Imperfect | Imperfect 2 | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | juegue | jugara | jugase | jugare |
| tú | juegues | jugaras | jugases | jugares |
| él/ella | juegue | jugara | jugase | jugare |
| nosotros | juguemos | jugáramos | jugásemos | jugáremos |
| ustedes | jueguen | jugaran | jugasen | jugaren |
| ellos/ellas | jueguen | jugaran | jugasen | jugaren |
Examples:
- Sería un sueño hecho realidad que yo jugare en la final internacional de Fornite – It would be a dream come true for me to play in the international finals of Fornite.
- Si tú jugaras en modo libre te divertirías, sólo te veo golpeando el teclado cuando pierdes – If you played in free mode you would have fun, I only see you hitting the keyboard when you lose.
Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present Perfect | Past Perfect (Pluperfect) | Past Perfect 2 (Pluperfect 2) | Future Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | haya jugado | hubiera jugado | hubiese jugado | hubiere jugado |
| tú | hayas jugado | hubieras jugado | hubieses jugado | hubieres jugado |
| él/ella | haya jugado | hubiera jugado | hubiese jugado | hubiere jugado |
| nosotros | hayamos jugado | hubiéramos jugado | hubiésemos jugado | hubiéremos jugado |
| ustedes | hayan jugado | hubieran jugado | hubiesen jugado | hubieren jugado |
| ellos/ellas | hayan jugado | hubieran jugado | hubiesen jugado | hubieren jugado |
Examples:
- El Barcelona hubiera jugado la final de la Champion si no hubiese perdido la semana pasada – Barcelona would have played in the Champion’s Cup final had they not lost last week.
- Si hubieres jugado tus 4 horas de entrenamiento, tendrías más habilidades – If you had played your 4 hours of training, you would have more skills.
Jugar Conjugation: Imperative Mood
Have you noticed that when you talk to yourself giving yourself orders, you become a second person? This is because in both English and Spanish, it is impossible to give an order to the first person (Yo). So, in this mood we have fewer subjects, good news, less to memorize!
Imperative Mood’s Conjugations
| Subject | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| (play / let’s play) | (don’t play / let’s not play | |
| tú | juega | no juegues |
| nosotros | juguemos | no juguemos |
| ustedes | jueguen | no jueguen |
Examples:
- ¡Ernesto! ¡No juegues con el jarrón de 200 años de tu abuela! – Ernesto! Don’t play with your grandmother’s 200-year-old vase!
- Ustedes tres jueguen en el equipo de los globos azules, y ustedes cuatro jueguen en el equipo de globos rojos – You three play on the blue balloon team, and you four, play on the red balloon team.
Spanish Verb Jugar – Quiz/Worksheet
Here are a couple of suggested exercises for you to practice, a way to play and learn more about the verb conjugations. The best tool is to practice it in real conversations, without thinking that you are going to make a mistake (surely you will make a mistake, but that will never be the most important thing), so let’s go!
1. Ellas ______ en el equipo nacional de clavados desde que tienen 15 años de edad. They have played on the national diving team since they were 15 years old.
2. Mi mejor amigo y yo ______ en la consola de mi vecino el próximo lunes. My best friend and I will be playing on my neighbor’s console next Monday.
3. Mi hermano Daniel y yo ______ todos los días a las escondidas en la casa de nuestra abuela. – My brother Daniel and I played hide-and-seek every day at our grandmother’s house.
4. Sebastián ______ béisbol en su adultez si no se hubiese lesionado en su adolescencia. – Sebastian would have played baseball as an adult had he not been injured as a teenager.
5. Diana no seas odiosa, ______ con tu hermanita. – Diana, don’t be hateful, play with your little sister.
6. Cuando ustedes ______ todos las pistas de carrera de Mario Kart, podrán elegir su favorita. – When you have played all the Mario Kart racetracks, you will be able to choose your favorite one.
7. Mi amor, ______ a que tú friegas los platos hoy, ¿si? Mañana barro el piso. My love, let’s play that you do the dishes today, okay? I’ll sweep the floor tomorrow.
8. Luke y Nate dején de pelear vayan y ______ en el patio. – Luke and Nate stop fighting, go and play in the yard.
9. Mamá! David nunca deja que yo ______ con su Nintendo 64, ¡dice que estoy muy pequeño para jugar! – Mom! David never lets me play with his Nintendo 64, he says I’m too little to play!
10. Nosotros vamos a ______ dos partidas y ustedes ______ las dos siguientes partidas. – We will play two games and you play the next two games.
Answers
Hey, don’t cheat. Don’t come here without having filled in all the blanks in all the exercises.
1. han jugado
2. jugaremos
3. jugábamos
4. hubiera jugado
5. juega
6. hayan jugado
7. juguemos
8. jueguen
9. Juegue
10. jugar / jueguen
About the Author:
Specializations: Spanish Tutors on Zoom
Bio: 28-year-old graphic designer and writer with 7 years of experience, passionate about communication in all its aspects as the main tool to forge links. I consider myself a detailed, patient, and empathetic person, so even if you consider yourself a difficult student, I will know how to guide you to reach the level of Spanish you need for whatever activity you have in mind. As a student of Literature, I always had the same love for books and their stories, as well as for the Spanish language and its formation. I believe that the best way to learn is to be passionate about what you are learning and that is what I always want to achieve with my students. I have worked with children, adolescents, and adults, so I have knowledge about the different learning stages that a person can go through and the different strategies to approach them.
View my Profile to Book a Private Spanish Lesson
Other articles: Spanish & English Vocabulary for the Oil & Gas Industry, Spanish & English Vocabulary for Telecommunications Workers, Spanish & English Vocabulary for HVAC Professionals, Spanish for Landscapers, Learn Spanish for Dentists: Vocabulary & Terminology Guide