Conjugating the Spanish Verb Cambiar (to Change)

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like cambiar, 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).

Cambiar (kahm-bvee-ahr) (to change) is a regular -ar verb, so it’s pretty easy to conjugate. Here it is in the present tense:

The following examples show you cambiar at work:

• Nos cambiamos de ropa todos los días. (We change our clothes every day.)

• ¿Cambia usted dólares a pesos? (Do you change dollars to pesos?)

If you need to conjugate cambiar in another tense, the following tables show you the preterit, imperfect, and future forms.

You use the preterit tense like this:

• Cambié de nombre hace un mes. (I changed my name a month ago.)

• ¿Cambiaste la jaula del perro? (Did you change the dog's cage?)

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense in action:

• Nos cambiábamos los libros cada mes. (We used to change books every month.)

• ¿Cambiabas tu dinero en ese banco? (Did you use to change your money at that bank?)

The following samples use the future tense:

• Vosotros no cambiaréis vuestra conducta. (You will not change your behavior.)

• Las hojas cambiarán de color en el otoño. (The leaves will change color in the fall.)