Confesar Examples, Sentences and Quiz in Spanish

confesar means to confess, and it is a verb you will meet in everyday Spanish again and again. Confesar means to confess, and it is used for confessing a secret to a priest, confessing to the police and confessing that you lied. It is a stem-changing verb, e to ie, and it is stronger than admitir, with a religious or legal flavour. This page puts confesar to work: twelve example sentences in different tenses and persons, grouped by use, then two short dialogues where the verb appears naturally, then the common mistakes to avoid, and finally a ten-question quiz with explained answers. Every Spanish form on this page comes from the verified conjugation tables for confesar, and the full tables are on the confesar conjugation page if you need to check a form.

Example sentences

Everyday uses

  1. Yo confieso su secreto al sacerdote. — I confess his secret to the priest.
  2. Él confiesa todo a la policía. — He/she confesses everything to the police.
  3. Ayer, yo confesé que había mentido. — Yesterday, I confessed that he had lied.
  4. Antes, nosotros confesábamos sus pecados en la iglesia. — Before, we used to confess his sins in church.

In other tenses

  1. Mañana, tú confesarás su secreto al sacerdote. — Tomorrow, you will confess his secret to the priest.
  2. Yo confesaría todo a la policía. — I would confess everything to the police.
  3. Él ha confesado que había mentido. — He/she has confessed that he had lied.
  4. Espero que él confiese sus pecados en la iglesia. — I hope he/she confesses his sins in church.

With other people

  1. Nosotros confesamos su secreto al sacerdote. — We confess his secret to the priest.
  2. Vosotros confesáis todo a la policía. — You all confess everything to the police.
  3. Antes, ellos confesaban que había mentido. — Before, they used to confess that he had lied.
  4. Mañana, él confesará sus pecados en la iglesia. — Tomorrow, he/she will confess his sins in church.

Confesar in context

Two short dialogues that use confesar the way people really use it. Read them aloud — the verb forms will stick much faster in a conversation than in a table.

Dialogue 1: today and yesterday

  • Ana: "Hola, ¿qué tal?" — "Hello, how are you?"
  • Luis: "Hoy confieso su secreto al sacerdote." — "Today I confess his secret to the priest."
  • Ana: "¿Y ayer?" — "And yesterday?"
  • Luis: "Ayer, confesé que había mentido." — "Yesterday I confessed that he had lied."
  • Ana: "¿Y mañana, tú confesarás todo a la policía?" — "And tomorrow, will you will confess everything to the police?"
  • Luis: "Sí, claro. Y tú también." — "Yes, of course. And you too."

Dialogue 2: making plans

  • Marta: "Mañana, nosotros confesamos sus pecados en la iglesia." — "Tomorrow we confess his sins in church."
  • Carlos: "Perfecto. Yo confesaría todo a la policía si tuviera más tiempo." — "Perfect. I would would confess everything to the police if I had more time."
  • Marta: "Espero que él confiese su secreto al sacerdote." — "I hope he confesses his secret to the priest."
  • Carlos: "Seguro que sí. Él ya ha confesado que había mentido." — "Surely. He has already has confessed that he had lied."
  • Marta: "Vale, nos vemos mañana." — "OK, see you tomorrow."

Notice how the same verb changes with the tense: the present for the plan, the conditional for the wish, the subjunctive after espero que, and the present perfect for what has already happened. That is the whole point of learning a verb across its tenses, not just in one form.

Common mistakes

  1. Wrong: Yo confiesa su secreto al sacerdote. — Right: Yo confieso su secreto al sacerdote. — The person matters: confiesa is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is confieso. Using the third-person form with yo is one of the most common beginner errors.
  2. Wrong: Yo confeso todo a la policía. — Right: Yo confieso todo a la policía. — In the present, the correct first-person form is confieso, not confeso. confesar is a stem-changing verb (e → ie), so the stem changes in the present singular and third-person plural forms, while nosotros and vosotros keep the original stem.
  3. Wrong: Treating confesar and admitir as identical in every context. — Right: Confesar means to confess, while admitir means to admit, the lighter verb. — They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: confesar fits sentences such as Confieso su secreto al sacerdote, while admitir belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy confesado todo a la policía. — Right: Yo he confesado todo a la policía. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he confesado, has confesado, ha confesado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.
  5. Wrong: De niño, yo confesé que había mentido todos los días. — Right: De niño, yo confesaba que había mentido todos los días. — For a repeated habit in the past, use the imperfect (confesaba), not the preterite. The preterite (confesé) is for one finished action.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on confesar: four on the forms, three on the meaning, and three on spotting the correct sentence. Check the answer key below.

  1. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ su secreto al sacerdote. (present tense) A. confieso B. confiesas C. confiesa D. confesamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Él ___ todo a la policía. (preterite tense) A. confesé B. confesaste C. confesamos D. confesó

  3. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ que había mentido. (future tense) A. confesará B. confesaremos C. confesarás D. confesaré

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ sus pecados en la iglesia. (imperfect tense) A. confesabais B. confesábamos C. confesaba D. confesabas

  5. What does "Yo confieso su secreto al sacerdote." mean in English? A. I confess his secret to the priest. B. I confess everything to the police. C. I confess that he had lied. D. I confess his sins in church.

  6. What does "Él confesó todo a la policía." mean in English? A. He/she confessed his secret to the priest. B. He/she confessed that he had lied. C. He/she confessed his sins in church. D. He/she confessed everything to the police.

  7. What does "Nosotros confesaremos que había mentido." mean in English? A. We will confess everything to the police. B. We will confess his sins in church. C. We will confess that he had lied. D. We will confess his secret to the priest.

  8. Which sentence is correct? A. Yo confeso todo a la policía. B. Yo confiesa todo a la policía. C. Yo confieso todo a la policía.

  9. Which sentence is correct? A. Él confesé que había mentido. B. Él confesó que había mentido. C. Él confesaron que había mentido.

  10. Which sentence is correct? A. Espero que yo confiese sus pecados en la iglesia. B. Yo confese sus pecados en la iglesia. C. Yo confiese sus pecados en la iglesia.

Answer key

  1. confieso — The yo present form of confesar is confieso.
  2. confesó — The el preterite form of confesar is confesó.
  3. confesarás — The tu future form of confesar is confesarás.
  4. confesábamos — The nosotros imperfect form of confesar is confesábamos.
  5. I confess his secret to the priest. — The Spanish sentence uses the present form confieso, so the English is "I confess his secret to the priest." The other options use a different object or situation.
  6. He/she confessed everything to the police. — The Spanish sentence uses the preterite form confesó, so the English is "He/she confessed everything to the police." The other options use a different object or situation.
  7. We will confess that he had lied. — The Spanish sentence uses the future form confesaremos, so the English is "We will confess that he had lied." The other options use a different object or situation.
  8. Yo confieso todo a la policía. — The correct sentence is "Yo confieso todo a la policía." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  9. Él confesó que había mentido. — The correct sentence is "Él confesó que había mentido." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.
  10. Espero que yo confiese sus pecados en la iglesia. — The correct sentence is "Espero que yo confiese sus pecados en la iglesia." The other sentences use the wrong form or the wrong person for the subject.

Frequently asked questions

What does confesar mean, and when do I use it?

Confesar means to confess. Confesar means to confess, and it is used for confessing a secret to a priest, confessing to the police and confessing that you lied. It is a stem-changing verb, e to ie, and it is stronger than admitir, with a religious or legal flavour. A good first sentence to remember is Yo confieso su secreto al sacerdote. — "I confess his secret to the priest."

What is the difference between confesar and admitir?

Confesar means to confess, while admitir means to admit, the lighter verb. They appear in similar situations, but they are not interchangeable: use confesar when you mean to confess, as in Yo confieso todo a la policía., and use admitir for to admit, the lighter verb.

How do I say "I confess" in the past?

For one finished action, use the preterite: Yo confesé todo a la policía.. For a repeated habit or background in the past, use the imperfect: Yo confesaba que había mentido.. For something that has just happened, use the present perfect: Yo he confesado todo a la policía..

How do I practise confesar?

Start with the confesar conjugation page for the full tables, then the confesar in the present tense page for the tense in focus, and use the Spanish Verb Quiz to test the forms under pressure. The stem changes e to ie: yo confieso, tú confiesas, but nosotros confesamos keeps the e.

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