Fumar Conjugation in Spanish

fumar is the Spanish verb for «to smoke». As a regular -ar verb verb it follows the -ar endings, and the tables on this page list every form so you never have to guess. You will find the present, the past tenses, the future, the conditional, the perfect tenses, the subjunctive and the imperative, each with a short note on when to use it. Start with the present tense: «Yo fumo todos los días» — I smoke every day. Then work down the page tense by tense, and finish with the quiz.

Quick facts

  • Infinitive: fumar
  • English: to smoke
  • Verb type: regular -ar verb
  • Ending: -ar
  • Gerund: fumando
  • Past participle: fumado
  • Auxiliary verb: haber (all perfect tenses are formed with haber + fumado)

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for fumar, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

Full conjugation tables

Every form below comes from the verified conjugation tables for fumar. The imperfect subjunctive is shown in its -ra forms; the -se forms use the same stem.

Gerund: fumando · Past participle: fumado

Present Indicative

Person Form
yo fumo
tú fumas
él/ella/Ud. fuma
nosotros/as fumamos
vosotros/as fumáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. fuman

The present is the tense you will use most with fumar. It covers daily routines, permanent facts and actions in progress. Learn the yo form fumo first, then the tú and él forms, which are the ones that change the stem in stem-changing verbs.

Preterite

Person Form
yo fumé
tú fumaste
él/ella/Ud. fumó
nosotros/as fumamos
vosotros/as fumasteis
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumaron

The preterite of fumar reports what happened. «Ayer yo fumé por la tarde» places the action firmly in finished time. It is the tense of stories and reports, not of background description.

Imperfect

Person Form
yo fumaba
tú fumabas
él/ella/Ud. fumaba
nosotros/as fumábamos
vosotros/as fumabais
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumaban

The imperfect of fumar paints the background of a past scene: repeated actions, states and descriptions. «Antes, yo fumaba todos los días» is the pattern. Pair it with the preterite when one event interrupts another.

Future

Person Form
yo fumaré
tú fumarás
él/ella/Ud. fumará
nosotros/as fumaremos
vosotros/as fumaréis
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumarán

The future of fumar looks forward: what will happen tomorrow, next week or next year. «Mañana yo fumaré sin falta» is the pattern. Remember that the future can also express probability about the present in Spanish.

Conditional

Person Form
yo fumaría
tú fumarías
él/ella/Ud. fumaría
nosotros/as fumaríamos
vosotros/as fumaríais
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumarían

The conditional of fumar is the tense of «would»: what you would do, what would happen, what you would like. «Si pudiera, yo fumaría sin dudarlo» shows the pattern. It is built on the infinitive, just like the future.

Present Perfect

Person Form
yo he fumado
tú has fumado
él/ella/Ud. ha fumado
nosotros/as hemos fumado
vosotros/as habéis fumado
ellos/ellas/Uds. han fumado

The present perfect of fumar says «have done»: the action is finished but its result still matters now. «Hoy yo he fumado dos veces» is the pattern. Learn the participle fumado well — every perfect tense depends on it.

Pluperfect

Person Form
yo había fumado
tú habías fumado
él/ella/Ud. había fumado
nosotros/as habíamos fumado
vosotros/as habíais fumado
ellos/ellas/Uds. habían fumado

The pluperfect of fumar steps one event further back than the preterite. «Antes de salir, yo había fumado» is the pattern: first this happened, then the story moved on. It is haber in the imperfect plus fumado.

Future Perfect

Person Form
yo habré fumado
tú habrás fumado
él/ella/Ud. habrá fumado
nosotros/as habremos fumado
vosotros/as habréis fumado
ellos/ellas/Uds. habrán fumado

The future perfect of fumar combines the future of haber with fumado. «Para el viernes, yo habré fumado ya» is the pattern. Use it when the completion matters more than the action itself.

Conditional Perfect

Person Form
yo habría fumado
tú habrías fumado
él/ella/Ud. habría fumado
nosotros/as habríamos fumado
vosotros/as habríais fumado
ellos/ellas/Uds. habrían fumado

The conditional perfect of fumar is the tense of «would have done». «Yo habría fumado si hubiera podido» is the pattern. It is built from haber in the conditional plus fumado.

Present Subjunctive

Person Form
yo fume
tú fumes
él/ella/Ud. fume
nosotros/as fumemos
vosotros/as fuméis
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumen

The present subjunctive of fumar is the mood of what is wished, doubted or demanded rather than stated as fact. «Espero que tú fumes» is the pattern. If the trigger is in the past, switch to the imperfect subjunctive instead.

Imperfect Subjunctive (-ra forms)

Person Form
yo fumara
tú fumaras
él/ella/Ud. fumara
nosotros/as fumáramos
vosotros/as fumarais
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumaran

The imperfect subjunctive of fumar handles the hypothetical past and the polite conditional. «Ojalá yo fumara más a menudo» is the pattern. The -ra forms in the table are the standard ones; the -se forms use the same stem with -se endings.

Imperative — Affirmative

Person Form
tú fuma
él/ella/Ud. fume
nosotros/as fumemos
vosotros/as fumad
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumen

There is no yo form in the imperative — you cannot command yourself.

The affirmative imperative of fumar is for orders and instructions. «¡fuma, por favor!» is the pattern. Remember there is no yo form in the imperative, and the nosotros form doubles as a suggestion: «¡fumemos!» means «let's do it».

Imperative — Negative

Person Form
tú fumes
él/ella/Ud. fume
nosotros/as fumemos
vosotros/as fuméis
ellos/ellas/Uds. fumen

There is no yo form in the imperative — you cannot command yourself.

The negative imperative of fumar is built on the present subjunctive: «¡No fumes!». Learn it as a set with the subjunctive table above, and never follow no with the affirmative command form.

Example sentences

  1. Yo fumo todos los días. — I smoke every day.
  2. Ayer yo fumé por la tarde. — Yesterday I smoked in the afternoon.
  3. Antes, yo fumaba todos los días. — In the past, I used to smoke every day.
  4. Mañana yo fumaré sin falta. — Tomorrow I will smoke without fail.
  5. Si tuviera más tiempo, yo fumaría ahora mismo. — If I had more time, I would smoke right now.
  6. Hoy yo he fumado dos veces. — Today I have smoked twice.
  7. Espero que tú fumes pronto. — I hope You smoke soon.
  8. Si yo fumara, todo sería distinto. — If I smoked, everything would be different.
  9. Ahora mismo yo estoy fumando. — Right now I am smoking.
  10. ¡fuma, por favor! — Smoke, please!

Common mistakes

1. Using the imperfect for a finished event

Wrong: Ayer yo fumaba.

Right: Ayer yo fumé.

Yesterday's finished action needs the preterite, fumé. The imperfect fumaba describes what used to happen or what was going on, not a single completed event.

2. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger

Wrong: Espero que tú fumas.

Right: Espero que tú fumes.

After espero que, Spanish requires the subjunctive: fumes, not the indicative fumas. Wishes, hopes and doubts all trigger this change.

3. Using the affirmative imperative after no

Wrong: No fuma.

Right: No fumes.

Negative commands use the subjunctive-based forms: no fumes. The affirmative fuma can never follow no.

4. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

Wrong: Yo fumar todos los días.

Right: Yo fumo todos los días.

The infinitive fumar names the action; it never works as the main verb of a sentence. Conjugate it for the person: yo fumo.

5. Confusing the gerund with the past participle

Wrong: He fumando.

Right: He fumado.

The perfect tenses use haber plus the past participle: he fumado. The gerund fumando goes with estar for actions in progress («Estoy fumando»), never with haber.

Quiz

Test yourself on the forms above. Choose the correct answer, then check the key below.

1. What is the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of fumar in the present indicative?

- (a) fumas
- (b) fuman
- (c) fuma
- (d) fumo

2. What is the yo form of fumar in the preterite?

- (a) fumó
- (b) fumé
- (c) fumaste
- (d) fumamos

3. What is the tú form of fumar in the imperfect?

- (a) fumábamos
- (b) fumaba
- (c) fumabas
- (d) fumaba

4. What is the él/ella/Ud. form of fumar in the future?

- (a) fumaré
- (b) fumarás
- (c) fumará
- (d) fumaremos

5. What is the nosotros/as form of fumar in the conditional?

- (a) fumaría
- (b) fumaríamos
- (c) fumaría
- (d) fumarías

6. What is the vosotros/as form of fumar in the present perfect?

- (a) ha fumado
- (b) he fumado
- (c) has fumado
- (d) habéis fumado

7. What is the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of fumar in the present subjunctive?

- (a) fume
- (b) fumes
- (c) fume
- (d) fumen

8. What is the yo form of fumar in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)?

- (a) fumáramos
- (b) fumara
- (c) fumaras
- (d) fumara

9. What is the gerund of fumar?

- (a) fumado
- (b) fumando
- (c) fumo
- (d) fumar

10. What is the past participle of fumar?

- (a) fumado
- (b) fumé
- (c) fumando
- (d) fumar

Answer key

1. (b) — In the present indicative, the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of fumar is fuman. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 2. (b) — In the preterite, the yo form of fumar is fumé. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 3. (c) — In the imperfect, the tú form of fumar is fumabas. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 4. (c) — In the future, the él/ella/Ud. form of fumar is fumará. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 5. (b) — In the conditional, the nosotros/as form of fumar is fumaríamos. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 6. (d) — In the present perfect, the vosotros/as form of fumar is habéis fumado. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 7. (d) — In the present subjunctive, the ellos/ellas/Uds. form of fumar is fumen. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 8. (b) — In the imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms), the yo form of fumar is fumara. The other options are the same tense but different persons. 9. (b) — The gerund of fumar is fumando. It is used with estar for the progressive: «Estoy fumando». 10. (a) — The past participle of fumar is fumado. It follows haber in all the perfect tenses: «he fumado».

Frequently asked questions

Is fumar regular or irregular?

Yes — fumar is a regular -ar verb. Learn the endings once and they work in every tense, with the stem fum unchanged throughout.

What are the gerund and past participle of fumar?

The gerund is fumando and the past participle is fumado. Use the gerund with estar for actions in progress («Estoy fumando») and the participle with haber for the perfect tenses («he fumado»).

How do I say «I smoke» in Spanish?

Say «Yo fumo todos los días». That is the yo form of the present tense, the form you need for talking about yourself right now.

What is the difference between the preterite and the imperfect of fumar?

Use the preterite (fumé) for a single finished event and the imperfect (fumaba) for habits and background. «Ayer yo fumé» reports something that happened and ended; «Antes, yo fumaba» describes what used to happen.

When do I use the subjunctive with fumar?

Use the subjunctive after wishes, doubts, emotions and impersonal expressions — for example «Espero que tú fumes». The trigger sits in the main clause; once it is there, the subjunctive form is required, not a stylistic choice.

How do I use fumar in the present perfect?

Put haber in the present before the past participle: «Hoy yo he fumado». The participle fumado never changes for person — only haber changes — so once you know the participle, the whole perfect tense follows.

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