Adivinar Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
adivinar means "to guess" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for guessing an answer, a number or a secret. 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. Adivinar is a regular -ar verb verb, and it is regular in every tense. 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 adivino el número que pienso. — "Every day, I guess the number I am thinking of." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | adivinar |
| Translation | to guess |
| Verb type | Regular -ar verb |
| Gerund | adivinando |
| Past participle | adivinado |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | regular in every tense |
Full conjugation of adivinar
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adivino |
| tú | adivinas |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivina |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivináis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adiviné |
| tú | adivinaste |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivinó |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinasteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adivinaba |
| tú | adivinabas |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivinaba |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinabais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adivinaré |
| tú | adivinarás |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivinará |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinaremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinaréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adivinaría |
| tú | adivinarías |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivinaría |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinaríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinaríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinarían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adivine |
| tú | adivines |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivine |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinen |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | adivinara |
| tú | adivinaras |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivinara |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivináramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinarais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinaran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he adivinado |
| tú | has adivinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha adivinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos adivinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis adivinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han adivinado |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había adivinado |
| tú | habías adivinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | había adivinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos adivinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais adivinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían adivinado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré adivinado |
| tú | habrás adivinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá adivinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos adivinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis adivinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán adivinado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría adivinado |
| tú | habrías adivinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría adivinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos adivinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais adivinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían adivinado |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | adivina |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivine |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinad |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinen |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | adivines |
| él / ella / Ud. | adivine |
| nosotros / nosotras | adivinemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | adivinéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | adivinen |
Gerund: adivinando · Past participle: adivinado
Adivinar 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. Example: Cada día, yo adivino el número que pienso. — "Every day, I guess the number I am thinking of."
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 adiviné el número que pienso. — "Yesterday, I guessed the number I am thinking of."
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 adivinaba el número que pienso. — "Before, I guessed the number I am thinking of."
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 adivinaré el número que pienso. — "Tomorrow, I will guess the number I am thinking of."
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 adivinaría el número que pienso si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would guess the number I am thinking of 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. Example: Espero que ella adivine el número que pienso. — "I hope she will guess the number I am thinking of."
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 adivinara el número que pienso, todo cambiaría. — "If she guessed the number I am thinking of, 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 adivinado la respuesta correcta varias veces. — "I have guessed the correct answer 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 adivinado el número que pienso antes de la reunión. — "I had guessed the number I am thinking of 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 adivinado el número que pienso. — "By tomorrow, I will have guessed the number I am thinking of."
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 adivinado el número que pienso si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have guessed the number I am thinking of 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. Example: ¡adivina el número que pienso! — "Guess the number I am thinking of!"
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 adivines el número que pienso. — "Do not guess the number I am thinking of."
Example sentences with adivinar
Yo adivino el número que pienso. — "I guess the number I am thinking of."
¿Tú adivinas la respuesta correcta? — "Do you guess the correct answer?"
Ayer, él adivinó el número que pienso. — "Yesterday, he guessed the number I am thinking of."
Nosotros adivinamos la respuesta correcta a tiempo. — "We guessed the correct answer on time."
Antes, ellos adivinaban el número que pienso. — "Before, they guessed the number I am thinking of."
Mañana, yo adivinaré la respuesta correcta. — "Tomorrow, I will guess the correct answer."
Nosotros adivinaríamos el número que pienso si pudiéramos. — "We would guess the number I am thinking of if we could."
Yo he adivinado la respuesta correcta varias veces. — "I have guessed the correct answer several times."
Espero que ella adivine el número que pienso. — "I hope she will guess the number I am thinking of."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy adivinando la respuesta correcta. — "Right now, I am guessing the correct answer."
Common mistakes with adivinar
1. Dropping the accent on the preterite yo form
The preterite yo form is adiviné — with the accent. Without it the word is misspelled, and in some verbs the accent is the only thing separating one tense from another.
2. Confusing adivinar with suponer (to suppose)
adivinar means "to guess", while suponer means "to suppose". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use adivinar when you mean guessing an answer, a number or a secret, and suponer for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of suponer before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo adiviné el número que pienso (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo adivinaba el número que pienso (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 adivinado (haber + participle), never estoy adivinado. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When adivinar is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated adivinar is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: adivinar
1. Yo ___ el número que pienso.
a. adivina b. adivino c. adivinan
2. Ella ___ el número que pienso.
a. adivino b. adivina c. adivinan
3. Ayer, yo ___ el número que pienso.
a. adivino b. adiviné c. adivina
4. Ellos ___ el número que pienso ayer.
a. adivino b. adivinaron c. adivina
5. Antes, yo ___ el número que pienso.
a. adivino b. adivinaba c. adivina
6. Mañana, yo ___ el número que pienso.
a. adivino b. adivinaré c. adivina
7. Yo ___ el número que pienso si pudiera.
a. adivino b. adivinaría c. adivina
8. Espero que ella ___ el número que pienso.
a. adivino b. adivine c. adivina
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ la respuesta correcta.
a. adivinado b. adivinando c. adivino
10. Yo he ___ la respuesta correcta varias veces.
a. adivinando b. adivinado c. adivino
Answer key
adivino — present tense, yo form.
adivina — present tense, él/ella form.
adiviné — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
adivinaron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
adivinaba — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
adivinaré — future, yo form.
adivinaría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
adivine — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
adivinando — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
adivinado — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about adivinar
What does adivinar mean in English?
Adivinar means "to guess". It is used for guessing an answer, a number or a secret. A simple example is yo adivino el número que pienso — "I guess the number I am thinking of."
Is adivinar regular or irregular?
Adivinar is a regular -ar verb verb, and it is regular in every tense. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form adivino, the preterite yo form adiviné and the past participle adivinado — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of adivinar?
The gerund is adivinando (used for the progressive: estoy adivinando) and the past participle is adivinado (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he adivinado). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I guess" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo adiviné el número que pienso — "yesterday I guessed the number I am thinking of". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo adivinaba el número que pienso — "before, I guessed the number I am thinking of". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does adivinar take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Adivinar on its own takes the indicative — yo adivino el número que pienso. You will meet the subjunctive with adivinar only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is adivine.