Llamar Conjugation in Spanish
llamar means “call” in English, and it is one of the first verbs Spanish learners meet — it sits at number 25 in VerbFlow’s frequency list. You use it for phoning someone, for calling someone by name, and for calling for help. Because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. This page gives you the complete conjugation of llamar — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Yo llamo a mi madre por teléfono todos los días.” — “I call my mother on the phone every day.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: llamar
- English: to call
- Verb type: Regular -ar verb
- Irregular in: no tense — fully regular
- Gerund: llamando
- Past participle: llamado
- Auxiliary: haber (all perfect tenses are formed with haber + the past participle)
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for llamar. Learn the present tense first, then the preterite and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llamo |
| tú | llamas |
| él/ella/Ud. | llama |
| nosotros/as | llamamos |
| vosotros/as | llamáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llaman |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llamé |
| tú | llamaste |
| él/ella/Ud. | llamó |
| nosotros/as | llamamos |
| vosotros/as | llamasteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llamaba |
| tú | llamabas |
| él/ella/Ud. | llamaba |
| nosotros/as | llamábamos |
| vosotros/as | llamabais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llamaré |
| tú | llamarás |
| él/ella/Ud. | llamará |
| nosotros/as | llamaremos |
| vosotros/as | llamaréis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llamaría |
| tú | llamarías |
| él/ella/Ud. | llamaría |
| nosotros/as | llamaríamos |
| vosotros/as | llamaríais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamarían |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he llamado |
| tú | has llamado |
| él/ella/Ud. | ha llamado |
| nosotros/as | hemos llamado |
| vosotros/as | habéis llamado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | han llamado |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había llamado |
| tú | habías llamado |
| él/ella/Ud. | había llamado |
| nosotros/as | habíamos llamado |
| vosotros/as | habíais llamado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habían llamado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré llamado |
| tú | habrás llamado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habrá llamado |
| nosotros/as | habremos llamado |
| vosotros/as | habréis llamado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrán llamado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría llamado |
| tú | habrías llamado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habría llamado |
| nosotros/as | habríamos llamado |
| vosotros/as | habríais llamado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrían llamado |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llame |
| tú | llames |
| él/ella/Ud. | llame |
| nosotros/as | llamemos |
| vosotros/as | llaméis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamen |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llamara |
| tú | llamaras |
| él/ella/Ud. | llamara |
| nosotros/as | llamáramos |
| vosotros/as | llamarais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamaran |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | llama |
| él/ella/Ud. | llame |
| nosotros/as | llamemos |
| vosotros/as | llamad |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamen |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | llames |
| él/ella/Ud. | llame |
| nosotros/as | llamemos |
| vosotros/as | llaméis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llamen |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Gerund | llamando |
| Past participle | llamado |
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Yo llamo a mi madre por teléfono todos los días.” — “I call my mother on the phone every day.”
Preterite
The preterite is used for completed actions in the past. For example: “Tú llamaste al médico ayer.” — “You called the doctor yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Él llamaba a Luis por su nombre antes.” — “He used to call Luis by his name before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and probability. For example: “Yo llamaré a mi madre por teléfono mañana.” — “I will call my mother on the phone tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Tú llamarías al médico algún día.” — “You would call the doctor someday.”
Present perfect
The present perfect is used for recent past actions and life experience, formed with haber + the past participle. For example: “Él ha llamado a Luis por su nombre esta semana.” — “He has called Luis by his name this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Yo había llamado a mi madre por teléfono antes de la fiesta.” — “I had called my mother on the phone before the party.”
Future perfect
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Tú habrás llamado al médico para mañana.” — “You will have called the doctor by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Él habría llamado a Luis por su nombre ayer.” — “He would have called Luis by his name yesterday.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Es importante que yo llame a mi madre por teléfono.” — “It is important that i call my mother on the phone.”
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)
The imperfect subjunctive (-ra) is used for the past subjunctive: wishes and hypotheticals about the past, and clauses after a past-tense trigger. For example: “Ojalá tú llamaras al médico.” — “I wish you called the doctor.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. The imperative of llamar gives a direct order; the negative forms use the present subjunctive pattern. For example: “¡Llama a Luis por su nombre!” — “Call Luis by his name!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. The imperative of llamar gives a direct order; the negative forms use the present subjunctive pattern. For example: “No llames a mi madre por teléfono.” — “Do not call my mother on the phone.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with llamar, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the Spanish and try to produce it from the English.
- “Yo llamo a mi madre por teléfono todos los días.” — “I call my mother on the phone every day.”
- “Tú llamaste al médico ayer.” — “You called the doctor yesterday.”
- “Él llamaba a Luis por su nombre antes.” — “He used to call Luis by his name before.”
- “Yo llamaré al médico mañana.” — “I will call the doctor tomorrow.”
- “Tú llamarías a mi madre por teléfono algún día.” — “You would call my mother on the phone someday.”
- “Él ha llamado a Luis por su nombre esta semana.” — “He has called Luis by his name this week.”
- “Yo había llamado a mi madre por teléfono antes de la fiesta.” — “I had called my mother on the phone before the party.”
- “Tú habrás llamado al médico para mañana.” — “You will have called the doctor by tomorrow.”
- “Es importante que él llame a Luis por su nombre.” — “It is important that he call Luis by his name.”
- “¡Llama a mi madre por teléfono!” — “Call my mother on the phone!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Yo llamar a mi madre por teléfono.”
✓ Right: “Yo llamo a mi madre por teléfono.”
The infinitive llamar never takes a subject. After yo you need the conjugated present form llamo.
2. Confusing llamar with decir
✗ Wrong: “Yo digo a mi madre por teléfono.”
✓ Right: “Yo llamo a mi madre por teléfono.”
Llamar is to call or phone; use the personal a before the person called.
3. Using the wrong auxiliary in perfect tenses
✗ Wrong: “Yo soy llamado a mi madre por teléfono.”
✓ Right: “Yo he llamado a mi madre por teléfono.”
Spanish perfect tenses are always built with haber, never with ser. The correct form is he + the participle llamado.
4. Dropping the written accent
✗ Wrong: “llame”
✓ Right: “llamé”
The accent on llamé is part of the spelling in the preterite. Without it the form looks like a different word, so always write the accent.
5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “Ojalá tú llamas a mi madre por teléfono.”
✓ Right: “Ojalá tú llames a mi madre por teléfono.”
After ojalá Spanish needs the subjunctive, so use llames here, not the indicative llamas.
6. Using the preterite for a habitual past action
✗ Wrong: “Yo llamé a mi madre por teléfono antes.” (said of a repeated habit)
✓ Right: “Yo llamaba a mi madre por teléfono antes.”
The preterite llamé describes one finished action. For something you did regularly in the past, use the imperfect llamaba.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on llamar. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the yo form of llamar in the Present indicative?
- A) llamas
- B) llama
- C) llamamos
- D) llamo
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of llamar in the Preterite?
- A) llamaste
- B) llamamos
- C) llamó
- D) llamé
What is the nosotros/as form of llamar in the Imperfect?
- A) llamabais
- B) llamábamos
- C) llamaba
- D) llamabas
What is the tú form of llamar in the Future?
- A) llamarás
- B) llamaré
- C) llamará
- D) llamaremos
What is the yo form of llamar in the Conditional?
- A) llamarías
- B) llamaríamos
- C) llamaríais
- D) llamaría
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of llamar in the Present subjunctive?
- A) llamemos
- B) llaméis
- C) llame
- D) llames
What is the yo form of llamar in the Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)?
- A) llamarais
- B) llamara
- C) llamaras
- D) llamáramos
What is the gerund of llamar?
- A) llamando
- B) encontrando
- C) viniendo
- D) pensando
What is the past participle of llamar?
- A) encontrado
- B) venido
- C) pensado
- D) llamado
What does llamar mean in English?
- A) to come
- B) to think
- C) to call
- D) to find
Answer key
- D) llamo — the yo form of llamar in the present indicative is llamo. The other options (llamas, llama, llamamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) llamó — the él/ella/Ud. form of llamar in the preterite is llamó. The other options (llamé, llamaste, llamamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) llamábamos — the nosotros/as form of llamar in the imperfect is llamábamos. The other options (llamaba, llamabas, llamaba) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) llamarás — the tú form of llamar in the future is llamarás. The other options (llamaré, llamará, llamaremos) are the same tense for different persons.
- D) llamaría — the yo form of llamar in the conditional is llamaría. The other options (llamarías, llamaría, llamaríamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) llame — the él/ella/Ud. form of llamar in the present subjunctive is llame. The other options (llame, llames, llamemos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) llamara — the yo form of llamar in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra) is llamara. The other options (llamaras, llamara, llamáramos) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) llamando — the gerund of llamar is llamando; it is used with estar for the progressive. The other options are the gerunds of neighbouring verbs.
- D) llamado — the past participle of llamar is llamado; perfect tenses use haber + llamado. The other options are the participles of neighbouring verbs.
- C) to call — llamar means “to call” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.
Frequently asked questions
What does llamar mean in English?
llamar means “to call”. You use it for phoning someone, for calling someone by name, and for calling for help. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is llamar regular or irregular?
llamar is regular -ar verb, with no irregular tense — it follows the regular pattern throughout. The gerund is llamando and the past participle is llamado.
What are the gerund and past participle of llamar?
The gerund is llamando — use it with estar for actions in progress. The past participle is llamado — use it with haber for the perfect tenses, as in he llamado (I have called).
What is the difference between llamar and decir?
Llamar is to call or phone; use the personal a before the person called. If you are unsure, check the full table for decir and compare the meanings in context.
How do I say “I call” in Spanish?
Say “Yo llamo a mi madre por teléfono.” — “I call my mother on the phone every day.” The yo form of the present is llamo, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- llamar in the present tense — the full table and uses for this verb in its most practised tense.
- llamar examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- Encontrar conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Venir conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Pensar conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Present tense guide — how the present tense works for regular verbs.
- Preterite tense guide — how the preterite works, and when to choose it over the imperfect.
- Verb Conjugator — practise llamar with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise llamar with the interactive tool.