Spanish Verb – Caer Conjugation

Let’s get back on the horse: Conjugation of the verb Caer

Of all the verbs, there is one that teaches us a lot: the verb Caer. Today we are going to learn how to conjugate and use this verb in Spanish. Caer is a verb that can be complex to understand if you are just starting out with the language. It can be translated as “to fall”, but things get a little tricky if we go deeper. Enough introductions, let’s get down to business!

Is it Caer or Caerse?

There is a confusion between the verb Caer and the verb Caerse and although today we will not cover all the uses of the verb Caer, we will talk about the most common ones so that you never fall into this mistake. Remember that the verb Caerse is used to talk about loss (usually accidental) of balance (usually accidental) or support, and is almost always used with people. On the other hand, the verb Caer is used if.

• Something/someone falls due to an external cause (to fall), for example: La casa se cayó cuando el terremoto ocurrió – The house fell down when the earthquake happened.
• You understand something (to realize), as in: Caí en cuenta de lo que me decías muy tarde – I realized what you were telling me too late.
• You want to talk about compatibility with someone or something (to get along, to be ok, to like), such as: Mi profesora de español me cae muy bien – I really like my Spanish teacher.

Verbals of Caer

Caer, like all verbs, has three types of verbals: infinitive, gerund and participle. These words, unlike the verb, cannot be conjugated, since they cease to be a verb. Identifying whether you are in front of a verbal or not is simple, you just have to see if there is another verb that has been conjugated, and you are probably in front of one.

	Verbal	Common use	Example	English
Infinitive	caer (to fall / falling)	Non conjugated / Noun	Levantarse es lo más importante al caer	Getting up is the most important thing when falling
Gerund	cayendo (falling)	Adverb	Está cayendo mucha nieve	A lot of snow is falling
Participle	caído (down)	Adjective	El sistema está caído, lo siento	The system is down, sorry

Caer, caigo, cayó

A stem-changing verb is characterized by changes in its stem (raíz) when conjugated. Another name for this type of verb? Irregular verb. Caer irregularity is manifested in the last vowel of the verb. Or, to make it clearer for you, the verb goes from having an “E” at the end, to having an “I” (or sometimes a “Y”). Now that you know that, let’s move on to the conjugations!

Caer Conjugation: Indicative Mood

Most of the things we say are things that we believe to be true or that we categorize as facts. That’s why the indicative mood in Spanish is the most commonly used and usually the first one you learn. It has two forms, the simple form (just the verb) and the compound form (when the auxiliary verb Haber is used).

Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood

Subject	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
	(fall)	(fell)	(fell)	(would fall)	(will fall)
yo	caigo	caí	caía	caería	caeré
tú	caes	caíste	caías	caerías	caerás
él/ella/ usted	cae	cayó	caía	caería	caerá
nosotros	caemos	caímos	caíamos	caeríamos	caeremos
ellos/ellas/ ustedes	caen	cayeron	caían	caerían	caerán

Examples

• Yo le caía bien a tu mama hasta que empezamos a salir – Your mom liked me until we started dating.
• Ustedes también caerían si una ola de ese tamaño les golpea – You too would fall if a wave of that size hits you.

Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood

Subject	Present Perfect	Preterite Perfect	Past Perfect (Pluperfect)	Conditional Perfect	Future Perfect
	(have/has fallen)	(had fallen)	(had fallen)	(would have fallen)	(will have fallen)
yo	he caído	hube caído	había caído	habría caído	habré caído
tú	has caído	hubiste caído	habías caído	habrías caído	habrás caído
él/ella/usted	ha caído	hubo caído	había caído	habría caído	habrá caído
nosotros	hemos caído	hubimos caído	habíamos caído	habríamos caído	habremos caído
ellos/ellas/ustedes	han caído	hubieron caído	habían caído	habrían caído	habrán caído

Caer Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

You could say that the subjunctive mood is the opposite of the indicative mood, since it does not deal with things that are (or we believe) real, but with things that are not actually happening, but that we want or think will happen, i.e. wishes or assumptions.

Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

Subject	Present	Imperfect	Imperfect 2	Future
yo	caiga	cayera	cayese	cayere
tú	caigas	cayeras	cayeses	cayeres
él/ella/usted	caiga	cayera	cayese	cayere
nosotros	caigamos	cayéramos	cayésemos	cayéremos
ellos/ellas/ustedes	caigan	cayeran	cayesen	cayeren

Examples

• No dejes que caigan en esa trampa – Don’t let them fall into that trap.
• Era más probable que cayésemos, no teníamos buen agarre – We were likely to fall, we didn’t have a good grip.

Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

Subject	Present Perfect	Past Perfect (Pluperfect)	Past Perfect 2 (Pluperfect 2)	Future Perfect
yo	haya caído	hubiera caído	hubiese caído	hubiere caído
tú	hayas caído	hubieras caído	hubieses caído	hubieres caído
él/ella/usted	haya caído	hubiera caído	hubiese caído	hubiere caído
nosotros	hayamos caído	hubiéramos caído	hubiésemos caído	hubiéremos caído
ellos/ellas/ustedes	hayan caído	hubieran caído	hubiesen caído	hubieren caído2

Caer Conjugation: Imperative Mood

Let’s look at the conjugations of the mood with which we express ourselves when giving advice, an order, as well as with which we give instructions or make a request. Pros? Fewer people to learn, only one verb tense. Cons? None!

Imperative Mood’s Conjugations

Subject	Affirmative	Negative
	(fall/let’s fall)	(don’t fall/let’s not fall)
tú	cae	no caigas
nosotros	caigamos	no caigamos
ustedes	caigan	no caigan

Example:

• ¡No caigas en eso! Es un error – Don’t fall for it! It is a mistake.

Caer – Quiz/Worksheet

Learning without practicing is like dropping a valuable object just before you get to the place where you were supposed to deliver it, so let’s put into practice what you have learned today.

1. La última vez que comí allí, me _______ mal la comida. – The last time I ate there, the food made me sick.

2. ¿ _______ en la tentación de ver la serie sin mí? – Did you fall into the temptation of watching the series without me?

3. Las acciones han _______ desde que renunció el CEO – The stock has fallen since the CEO resigned.

4. _______ en suponer cosas no está bien – Falling for the assumptions is not right.

5. Ojalá _______ la lluvia, el calor está horrible – I wish the rain would come, the heat is horrible.

Answers

1. cayó

2. caíste

3. caído

4. caer

5. cayera