Invertir Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
invertir means "to invest" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for investing money, or investing time. 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. Invertir is a stem-changing -ir verb (e → ie), and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, preterite, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, 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 invierto mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Every day, I invest my savings in a business." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | invertir |
| Translation | to invest |
| Verb type | Stem-changing -ir verb (e → ie) |
| Gerund | invirtiendo |
| Past participle | invertido |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | present, present-subjunctive, preterite, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative |
Full conjugation of invertir
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invierto |
| tú | inviertes |
| él / ella / Ud. | invierte |
| nosotros / nosotras | invertimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invertís |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | invierten |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invertí |
| tú | invertiste |
| él / ella / Ud. | invirtió |
| nosotros / nosotras | invertimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invertisteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | invirtieron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invertía |
| tú | invertías |
| él / ella / Ud. | invertía |
| nosotros / nosotras | invertíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invertíais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | invertían |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invertiré |
| tú | invertirás |
| él / ella / Ud. | invertirá |
| nosotros / nosotras | invertiremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invertiréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | invertirán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invertiría |
| tú | invertirías |
| él / ella / Ud. | invertiría |
| nosotros / nosotras | invertiríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invertiríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | invertirían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invierta |
| tú | inviertas |
| él / ella / Ud. | invierta |
| nosotros / nosotras | invirtamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invirtáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | inviertan |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | invirtiera |
| tú | invirtieras |
| él / ella / Ud. | invirtiera |
| nosotros / nosotras | invirtiéramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invirtierais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | invirtieran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he invertido |
| tú | has invertido |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha invertido |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos invertido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis invertido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han invertido |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había invertido |
| tú | habías invertido |
| él / ella / Ud. | había invertido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos invertido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais invertido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían invertido |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré invertido |
| tú | habrás invertido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá invertido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos invertido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis invertido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán invertido |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría invertido |
| tú | habrías invertido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría invertido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos invertido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais invertido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían invertido |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | invierte |
| él / ella / Ud. | invierta |
| nosotros / nosotras | invirtamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invertid |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | inviertan |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | inviertas |
| él / ella / Ud. | invierta |
| nosotros / nosotras | invirtamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | invirtáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | inviertan |
Gerund: invirtiendo · Past participle: invertido
Invertir 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 invierto with invertimos. Example: Cada día, yo invierto mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Every day, I invest my savings in a business."
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 invertí mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Yesterday, I invested my savings in a business."
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 invertía mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Before, I invested my savings in a business."
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 invertiré mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Tomorrow, I will invest my savings in a business."
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 invertiría mis ahorros en un negocio si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would invest my savings in a business 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 stem changes e → ie in the stressed persons (invierta, inviertas, invierta, inviertan) and e → i in nosotros and vosotros (invirtamos, invirtáis). Example: Espero que ella invierta mis ahorros en un negocio. — "I hope she will invest my savings in a business."
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 invirtiera mis ahorros en un negocio, todo cambiaría. — "If she invested my savings in a business, 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 invertido tiempo en aprender español varias veces. — "I have invested time in learning Spanish 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 invertido mis ahorros en un negocio antes de la reunión. — "I had invested my savings in a business 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 invertido mis ahorros en un negocio. — "By tomorrow, I will have invested my savings in a business."
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 invertido mis ahorros en un negocio si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have invested my savings in a business 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: ¡invierte mis ahorros en un negocio! — "Invest my savings in a business!"
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 inviertas mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Do not invest my savings in a business."
Example sentences with invertir
Yo invierto mis ahorros en un negocio. — "I invest my savings in a business."
¿Tú inviertes tiempo en aprender español? — "Do you invest time in learning Spanish?"
Ayer, él invirtió mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Yesterday, he invested my savings in a business."
Nosotros invertimos tiempo en aprender español a tiempo. — "We invested time in learning Spanish on time."
Antes, ellos invertían mis ahorros en un negocio. — "Before, they invested my savings in a business."
Mañana, yo invertiré tiempo en aprender español. — "Tomorrow, I will invest time in learning Spanish."
Nosotros invertiríamos mis ahorros en un negocio si pudiéramos. — "We would invest my savings in a business if we could."
Yo he invertido tiempo en aprender español varias veces. — "I have invested time in learning Spanish several times."
Espero que ella invierta mis ahorros en un negocio. — "I hope she will invest my savings in a business."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy invirtiendo tiempo en aprender español. — "Right now, I am investing time in learning Spanish."
Common mistakes with invertir
1. Dropping the accent on the preterite yo form
The preterite yo form is invertí — 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 invertir with gastar (to spend)
invertir means "to invest", while gastar means "to spend". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use invertir when you mean investing money, or investing time, and gastar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of gastar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo invertí mis ahorros en un negocio (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo invertía mis ahorros en un negocio (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 invertido (haber + participle), never estoy invertido. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When invertir is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated invertir is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: invertir
1. Yo ___ mis ahorros en un negocio.
a. invierte b. invierto c. invierten
2. Ella ___ mis ahorros en un negocio.
a. invierto b. invierte c. invierten
3. Ayer, yo ___ mis ahorros en un negocio.
a. invierto b. invertí c. invierte
4. Ellos ___ mis ahorros en un negocio ayer.
a. invierto b. invirtieron c. invierte
5. Antes, yo ___ mis ahorros en un negocio.
a. invierto b. invertía c. invierte
6. Mañana, yo ___ mis ahorros en un negocio.
a. invierto b. invertiré c. invierte
7. Yo ___ mis ahorros en un negocio si pudiera.
a. invierto b. invertiría c. invierte
8. Espero que ella ___ mis ahorros en un negocio.
a. invierto b. invierta c. invierte
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ tiempo en aprender español.
a. invertido b. invirtiendo c. invierto
10. Yo he ___ tiempo en aprender español varias veces.
a. invirtiendo b. invertido c. invierto
Answer key
invierto — present tense, yo form.
invierte — present tense, él/ella form.
invertí — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
invirtieron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
invertía — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
invertiré — future, yo form.
invertiría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
invierta — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
invirtiendo — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
invertido — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about invertir
What does invertir mean in English?
Invertir means "to invest". It is used for investing money, or investing time. A simple example is yo invierto mis ahorros en un negocio — "I invest my savings in a business."
Is invertir regular or irregular?
Invertir is a stem-changing -ir verb (e → ie), and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, preterite, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form invierto, the preterite yo form invertí and the past participle invertido — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of invertir?
The gerund is invirtiendo (used for the progressive: estoy invirtiendo) and the past participle is invertido (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he invertido). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I invest" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo invertí mis ahorros en un negocio — "yesterday I invested my savings in a business". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo invertía mis ahorros en un negocio — "before, I invested my savings in a business". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does invertir take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Invertir on its own takes the indicative — yo invierto mis ahorros en un negocio. You will meet the subjunctive with invertir only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is invierta.