Spanish For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like traer, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

In the present tense, traer (trah-ehr) (to bring) has an irregular yo form, but otherwise it conjugates like a regular -er verb. Here’s the present tense conjugation:

The Present Tense of Traer
Conjugation Translation
yo traigo I bring
tú traes You (informal) bring
él/ella/ello/uno trae He/she/one brings
usted trae You (formal) bring
nosotros traemos We bring
vosotros traéis You all (informal) bring
ellos/ellas traen They bring
ustedes traen You all (formal) bring

The following examples show you traer in action:

  • Traigo flores para ti. (I bring flowers for you.)

  • Traemos muchas revistas. (We bring a lot of magazines.)

In the preterit, traer is completely irregular. Take a look:

The Preterit Tense of Traer
Conjugation Translation
yo traje I brought
tú trajiste You (informal) brought
él/ella/ello/uno trajo He/she/one brought
usted trajo You (formal) brought
nosotros trajimos We brought
vosotros trajisteis You all (informal) brought
ellos/ellas trajeron They brought
ustedes trajeron You all (formal) brought

You use the preterit tense like this:

  • Él trajo sus libros a la biblioteca. (He brought his books to the library.)

  • ¿Trajiste tu terno? (Did you bring your suit?)

You’re off the hook with the stem change in the imperfect and future forms; traer conjugates normally in these tenses. Check out the following tables and examples.

The Imperfect Tense of Traer
Conjugation Translation
yo traía I used to bring
tú traías You (informal) used to bring
él/ella/ello/uno traía He/she/one used to bring
usted traía You (formal) used to bring
nosotros traíamos We used to bring
vosotros traíais You all (informal) used to bring
ellos/ellas traían They used to bring
ustedes traían You all (formal) used to bring

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

  • ¿Traían ustedes sus libros a la clase? (Did you used to bring your books to class?)

  • Sí. Los traímos a la clase. (Yes. We used to bring them to class.)

The Future Tense of Traer
Conjugation Translation
yo traeré I will bring
tú traerás You (informal) will bring
él/ella/ello/uno traerá He/she/one will bring
usted traerá You (formal) will bring
nosotros traeremos We will bring
vosotros traeréis You all (informal) will bring
ellos/ellas traerán They will bring
ustedes traerán You all (formal) will bring

The following samples put the future tense to work:

  • Ellos traerán sus quejas. (They will bring their complaints.)

  • Tú y yo traeremos nuestras soluciones. (You and I will bring our solutions.)

About This Article

This article can be found in the category: