Acertar Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
acertar means "to get right, to hit the target" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for getting something right, or hitting a target. Learning it properly means more than memorising one form: the verb changes across thirteen tenses, and this page gives you every one of them, with the exact forms from the VerbFlow engine, so you can check any person or tense in seconds. Acertar is a stem-changing -ar verb (e → ie) verb, and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. That matters because the patterns on this page are the patterns you will reuse every time you speak or write. Work through the tables first, then read the notes under each tense — they explain when to use each tense and what to watch out for with this verb in particular. A natural example is: Cada día, yo acierto la respuesta a la primera. — "Every day, I get right the answer first time." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | acertar |
| Translation | to get right, to hit the target |
| Verb type | Stem-changing -ar verb (e → ie) |
| Gerund | acertando |
| Past participle | acertado |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative |
Full conjugation of acertar
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acierto |
| tú | aciertas |
| él / ella / Ud. | acierta |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | aciertan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acerté |
| tú | acertaste |
| él / ella / Ud. | acertó |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertasteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acertaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acertaba |
| tú | acertabas |
| él / ella / Ud. | acertaba |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertabais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acertaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acertaré |
| tú | acertarás |
| él / ella / Ud. | acertará |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertaremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertaréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acertarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acertaría |
| tú | acertarías |
| él / ella / Ud. | acertaría |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertaríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertaríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acertarían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acierte |
| tú | aciertes |
| él / ella / Ud. | acierte |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acierten |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | acertara |
| tú | acertaras |
| él / ella / Ud. | acertara |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertáramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertarais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acertaran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he acertado |
| tú | has acertado |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha acertado |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos acertado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis acertado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han acertado |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había acertado |
| tú | habías acertado |
| él / ella / Ud. | había acertado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos acertado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais acertado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían acertado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré acertado |
| tú | habrás acertado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá acertado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos acertado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis acertado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán acertado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría acertado |
| tú | habrías acertado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría acertado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos acertado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais acertado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían acertado |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | acierta |
| él / ella / Ud. | acierte |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertad |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acierten |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | aciertes |
| él / ella / Ud. | acierte |
| nosotros / nosotras | acertemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | acertéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | acierten |
Gerund: acertando · Past participle: acertado
Acertar in every tense — notes and examples
Present indicative
The present is the tense for habits, facts and what is happening now. It is the first tense to master, because the present subjunctive and the affirmative imperative are both built from the present yo form. In the present the stem changes (e → ie) in the yo, tú, él/ella and ellos/ellas forms, but not in nosotros or vosotros — compare acierto with acertamos. Example: Cada día, yo acierto la respuesta a la primera. — "Every day, I get right the answer first time."
Preterite
The preterite is for completed actions in the past — things that started and finished at a definite moment. Use it for a single event, a sequence of events, or an action with a clear end. Example: Ayer, yo acerté la respuesta a la primera. — "Yesterday, I got right the answer first time."
Imperfect
The imperfect is for the past without a definite end: habits, background scenes, descriptions and actions in progress when something else happened. It never states when the action finished. Example: Antes, yo acertaba la respuesta a la primera. — "Before, I got right the answer first time."
Future
The future is for what will happen, and also for guesses about the present ("I wonder if…"). For regular verbs it is the infinitive plus the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. Example: Mañana, yo acertaré la respuesta a la primera. — "Tomorrow, I will get right the answer first time."
Conditional
The conditional is for what would happen — polite requests, hypothetical results and reported expectations. It shares its stem with the future, so any irregular future stem appears here too. Example: Yo acertaría la respuesta a la primera si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would get right the answer first time if I had the chance."
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is for wishes, doubts, emotions and other non-facts after que, and after expressions such as ojalá, es importante que or no creo que. It is not a tense for stating facts. The present subjunctive is irregular for this verb: the yo form is acierte, and all six persons follow from it. Example: Espero que ella acierte la respuesta a la primera. — "I hope she will get right the answer first time."
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
The imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms) is for wishes and doubts about the past, and for the if-part of hypothetical sentences (si + imperfect subjunctive, conditional). This page shows the -ra forms from the engine. Example: Si ella acertara la respuesta a la primera, todo cambiaría. — "If she got right the answer first time, everything would change."
Present perfect
The present perfect (haber + past participle) is for past actions connected to the present — recent events, experience, or something that has just happened. The auxiliary is always haber. Example: Yo he acertado el blanco con la flecha varias veces. — "I have got right the target with the arrow several times."
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (había + past participle) is the past of the past: something that had already happened before another past event. Example: Yo había acertado la respuesta a la primera antes de la reunión. — "I had got right the answer first time before the meeting."
Future perfect
The future perfect (habré + past participle) is for something that will already be finished by a future moment, or for a guess about the past. It is less common in speech than the simple future. Example: Para mañana, yo habré acertado la respuesta a la primera. — "By tomorrow, I will have got right the answer first time."
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect (habría + past participle) is for what would have happened — the past of the conditional, used for regrets and unreal past conditions. Example: Yo habría acertado la respuesta a la primera si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have got right the answer first time if I had had time."
Imperative — affirmative
The affirmative imperative is for direct orders, instructions and invitations. The tú form comes from the present él/ella form, and the formal, nosotros and plural forms come from the present subjunctive. The affirmative imperative is irregular for this verb: the tú form is acierta and the formal form is acierte. Example: ¡acierta la respuesta a la primera! — "Get right the answer first time!"
Imperative — negative
The negative imperative (no + subjunctive) is for telling someone not to do something. All five persons come from the present subjunctive, which is why they look different from the affirmative tú form. Example: No aciertes la respuesta a la primera. — "Do not get right the answer first time."
Example sentences with acertar
Yo acierto la respuesta a la primera. — "I get right the answer first time."
¿Tú aciertas el blanco con la flecha? — "Do you get right the target with the arrow?"
Ayer, él acertó la respuesta a la primera. — "Yesterday, he got right the answer first time."
Nosotros acertamos el blanco con la flecha a tiempo. — "We got right the target with the arrow on time."
Antes, ellos acertaban la respuesta a la primera. — "Before, they got right the answer first time."
Mañana, yo acertaré el blanco con la flecha. — "Tomorrow, I will get right the target with the arrow."
Nosotros acertaríamos la respuesta a la primera si pudiéramos. — "We would get right the answer first time if we could."
Yo he acertado el blanco con la flecha varias veces. — "I have got right the target with the arrow several times."
Espero que ella acierte la respuesta a la primera. — "I hope she will get right the answer first time."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy acertando el blanco con la flecha. — "Right now, I am getting right the target with the arrow."
Common mistakes with acertar
1. Writing ✗ acerto instead of the correct present form
The correct yo form in the present is acierto. Learners often build it straight from the infinitive, but this verb changes its stem or spelling in the present, so memorise the yo form — the present subjunctive and the formal imperative are built from it.
2. Confusing acertar with equivocarse (to make a mistake)
acertar means "to get right, to hit the target", while equivocarse means "to make a mistake". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use acertar when you mean getting something right, or hitting a target, and equivocarse for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of equivocarse before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo acerté la respuesta a la primera (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo acertaba la respuesta a la primera (imperfect: what used to happen). If you can add "yesterday" or "last week", you usually want the preterite; if you can add "used to", you want the imperfect.
4. Using estar instead of haber in the perfect tenses
The present perfect is he acertado (haber + participle), never estoy acertado. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When acertar is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated acertar is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: acertar
1. Yo ___ la respuesta a la primera.
a. acierta b. acierto c. aciertan
2. Ella ___ la respuesta a la primera.
a. acierto b. acierta c. aciertan
3. Ayer, yo ___ la respuesta a la primera.
a. acierto b. acerté c. acierta
4. Ellos ___ la respuesta a la primera ayer.
a. acierto b. acertaron c. acierta
5. Antes, yo ___ la respuesta a la primera.
a. acierto b. acertaba c. acierta
6. Mañana, yo ___ la respuesta a la primera.
a. acierto b. acertaré c. acierta
7. Yo ___ la respuesta a la primera si pudiera.
a. acierto b. acertaría c. acierta
8. Espero que ella ___ la respuesta a la primera.
a. acierto b. acierte c. acierta
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ el blanco con la flecha.
a. acertado b. acertando c. acierto
10. Yo he ___ el blanco con la flecha varias veces.
a. acertando b. acertado c. acierto
Answer key
acierto — present tense, yo form.
acierta — present tense, él/ella form.
acerté — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
acertaron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
acertaba — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
acertaré — future, yo form.
acertaría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
acierte — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
acertando — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
acertado — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about acertar
What does acertar mean in English?
Acertar means "to get right, to hit the target". It is used for getting something right, or hitting a target. A simple example is yo acierto la respuesta a la primera — "I get right the answer first time."
Is acertar regular or irregular?
Acertar is a stem-changing -ar verb (e → ie) verb, and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form acierto, the preterite yo form acerté and the past participle acertado — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of acertar?
The gerund is acertando (used for the progressive: estoy acertando) and the past participle is acertado (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he acertado). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I get right" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo acerté la respuesta a la primera — "yesterday I got right the answer first time". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo acertaba la respuesta a la primera — "before, I got right the answer first time". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does acertar take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Acertar on its own takes the indicative — yo acierto la respuesta a la primera. You will meet the subjunctive with acertar only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is acierte.