Llegar Conjugation in Spanish
llegar means “arrive” in English, and it is one of the first verbs Spanish learners meet — it sits at number 13 in VerbFlow’s frequency list. You use it for arriving at a place, for arriving on time or late, and for reaching a goal or a number. 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 llegar — 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 llego a tiempo a clase todos los días.” — “I arrive on time to class every day.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: llegar
- English: to arrive
- Verb type: Irregular — spelling-changing
- Irregular in: no tense — fully regular
- Gerund: llegando
- Past participle: llegado
- 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 llegar. 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 | llego |
| tú | llegas |
| él/ella/Ud. | llega |
| nosotros/as | llegamos |
| vosotros/as | llegáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llegan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llegué |
| tú | llegaste |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegó |
| nosotros/as | llegamos |
| vosotros/as | llegasteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llegaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llegaba |
| tú | llegabas |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegaba |
| nosotros/as | llegábamos |
| vosotros/as | llegabais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llegaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llegaré |
| tú | llegarás |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegará |
| nosotros/as | llegaremos |
| vosotros/as | llegaréis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llegarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llegaría |
| tú | llegarías |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegaría |
| nosotros/as | llegaríamos |
| vosotros/as | llegaríais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llegarían |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he llegado |
| tú | has llegado |
| él/ella/Ud. | ha llegado |
| nosotros/as | hemos llegado |
| vosotros/as | habéis llegado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | han llegado |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había llegado |
| tú | habías llegado |
| él/ella/Ud. | había llegado |
| nosotros/as | habíamos llegado |
| vosotros/as | habíais llegado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habían llegado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré llegado |
| tú | habrás llegado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habrá llegado |
| nosotros/as | habremos llegado |
| vosotros/as | habréis llegado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrán llegado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría llegado |
| tú | habrías llegado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habría llegado |
| nosotros/as | habríamos llegado |
| vosotros/as | habríais llegado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrían llegado |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llegue |
| tú | llegues |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegue |
| nosotros/as | lleguemos |
| vosotros/as | lleguéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | lleguen |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | llegara |
| tú | llegaras |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegara |
| nosotros/as | llegáramos |
| vosotros/as | llegarais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | llegaran |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | llega |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegue |
| nosotros/as | lleguemos |
| vosotros/as | llegad |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | lleguen |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | llegues |
| él/ella/Ud. | llegue |
| nosotros/as | lleguemos |
| vosotros/as | lleguéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | lleguen |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Gerund | llegando |
| Past participle | llegado |
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Yo llego a tiempo a clase todos los días.” — “I arrive on time to class every day.”
Preterite
The preterite is used for completed actions in the past. For example: “Tú llegaste a Madrid ayer.” — “You arrived to Madrid yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Él llegaba tarde al trabajo antes.” — “He used to arrive late to work before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and probability. For example: “Yo llegaré a tiempo a clase mañana.” — “I will arrive on time to class tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Tú llegarías a Madrid algún día.” — “You would arrive to Madrid 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 llegado tarde al trabajo esta semana.” — “He has arrived late to work this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Yo había llegado a tiempo a clase antes de la fiesta.” — “I had arrived on time to class 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 llegado a Madrid para mañana.” — “You will have arrived to Madrid by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Él habría llegado tarde al trabajo ayer.” — “He would have arrived late to work yesterday.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. For example: “Es importante que yo llegue a tiempo a clase.” — “It is important that i arrive on time to class.”
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 llegaras a Madrid.” — “I wish you arrived to Madrid.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. The imperative of llegar gives a direct order; the negative forms use the present subjunctive pattern. For example: “¡Llega tarde al trabajo!” — “Arrive late to work!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. The imperative of llegar gives a direct order; the negative forms use the present subjunctive pattern. For example: “No llegues a tiempo a clase.” — “Do not arrive on time to class.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with llegar, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the Spanish and try to produce it from the English.
- “Yo llego a tiempo a clase todos los días.” — “I arrive on time to class every day.”
- “Tú llegaste a Madrid ayer.” — “You arrived to Madrid yesterday.”
- “Él llegaba tarde al trabajo antes.” — “He used to arrive late to work before.”
- “Yo llegaré a Madrid mañana.” — “I will arrive to Madrid tomorrow.”
- “Tú llegarías a tiempo a clase algún día.” — “You would arrive on time to class someday.”
- “Él ha llegado tarde al trabajo esta semana.” — “He has arrived late to work this week.”
- “Yo había llegado a tiempo a clase antes de la fiesta.” — “I had arrived on time to class before the party.”
- “Tú habrás llegado a Madrid para mañana.” — “You will have arrived to Madrid by tomorrow.”
- “Es importante que él llegue tarde al trabajo.” — “It is important that he arrive late to work.”
- “¡Llega a tiempo a clase!” — “Arrive on time to class!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Yo llegar a tiempo a clase.”
✓ Right: “Yo llego a tiempo a clase.”
The infinitive llegar never takes a subject. After yo you need the conjugated present form llego.
2. Confusing llegar with venir
✗ Wrong: “Yo vengo a tiempo a clase.”
✓ Right: “Yo llego a tiempo a clase.”
Llegar is to arrive; venir is to come towards the speaker.
3. Using the wrong auxiliary in perfect tenses
✗ Wrong: “Yo soy llegado a tiempo a clase.”
✓ Right: “Yo he llegado a tiempo a clase.”
Spanish perfect tenses are always built with haber, never with ser. The correct form is he + the participle llegado.
4. Dropping the written accent
✗ Wrong: “llegue”
✓ Right: “llegué”
The accent on llegué is part of the spelling in the preterite. Without it the form looks like a different word, so always write the accent.
5. Forgetting the spelling change in the preterite
✗ Wrong: “Yo llegé a tiempo a clase.”
✓ Right: “Yo llegué a tiempo a clase.”
Verbs ending in -gar change their spelling before e to keep the same sound, so the preterite yo form is llegué.
6. Using the preterite for a habitual past action
✗ Wrong: “Yo llegué a tiempo a clase antes.” (said of a repeated habit)
✓ Right: “Yo llegaba a tiempo a clase antes.”
The preterite llegué describes one finished action. For something you did regularly in the past, use the imperfect llegaba.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on llegar. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the yo form of llegar in the Present indicative?
- A) llegas
- B) llega
- C) llegamos
- D) llego
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of llegar in the Preterite?
- A) llegaste
- B) llegamos
- C) llegó
- D) llegué
What is the nosotros/as form of llegar in the Imperfect?
- A) llegabais
- B) llegábamos
- C) llegaba
- D) llegabas
What is the tú form of llegar in the Future?
- A) llegarás
- B) llegaré
- C) llegará
- D) llegaremos
What is the yo form of llegar in the Conditional?
- A) llegarías
- B) llegaríamos
- C) llegaríais
- D) llegaría
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of llegar in the Present subjunctive?
- A) lleguemos
- B) lleguéis
- C) llegue
- D) llegues
What is the yo form of llegar in the Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)?
- A) llegarais
- B) llegara
- C) llegaras
- D) llegáramos
What is the gerund of llegar?
- A) llegando
- B) queriendo
- C) pasando
- D) debiendo
What is the past participle of llegar?
- A) querido
- B) pasado
- C) debido
- D) llegado
What does llegar mean in English?
- A) to pass
- B) to have to
- C) to arrive
- D) to want
Answer key
- D) llego — the yo form of llegar in the present indicative is llego. The other options (llegas, llega, llegamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) llegó — the él/ella/Ud. form of llegar in the preterite is llegó. The other options (llegué, llegaste, llegamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) llegábamos — the nosotros/as form of llegar in the imperfect is llegábamos. The other options (llegaba, llegabas, llegaba) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) llegarás — the tú form of llegar in the future is llegarás. The other options (llegaré, llegará, llegaremos) are the same tense for different persons.
- D) llegaría — the yo form of llegar in the conditional is llegaría. The other options (llegarías, llegaría, llegaríamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) llegue — the él/ella/Ud. form of llegar in the present subjunctive is llegue. The other options (llegue, llegues, lleguemos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) llegara — the yo form of llegar in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra) is llegara. The other options (llegaras, llegara, llegáramos) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) llegando — the gerund of llegar is llegando; it is used with estar for the progressive. The other options are the gerunds of neighbouring verbs.
- D) llegado — the past participle of llegar is llegado; perfect tenses use haber + llegado. The other options are the participles of neighbouring verbs.
- C) to arrive — llegar means “to arrive” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.
Frequently asked questions
What does llegar mean in English?
llegar means “to arrive”. You use it for arriving at a place, for arriving on time or late, and for reaching a goal or a number. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is llegar regular or irregular?
llegar is irregular — spelling-changing, with no irregular tense — it follows the regular pattern throughout. The gerund is llegando and the past participle is llegado.
What are the gerund and past participle of llegar?
The gerund is llegando — use it with estar for actions in progress. The past participle is llegado — use it with haber for the perfect tenses, as in he llegado (I have arrived).
What is the difference between llegar and venir?
Llegar is to arrive; venir is to come towards the speaker. If you are unsure, check the full table for venir and compare the meanings in context.
How do I say “I arrive” in Spanish?
Say “Yo llego a tiempo a clase.” — “I arrive on time to class every day.” The yo form of the present is llego, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- llegar in the present tense — the full table and uses for this verb in its most practised tense.
- llegar examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- Querer conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Pasar conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Deber 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 llegar with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise llegar with the interactive tool.