Notar Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
notar means "to notice" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for noticing a change or a detail. 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. Notar is a regular -ar verb verb, and it is regular in every tense. 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 noto un cambio en su voz. — "Every day, I notice a change in her voice." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | notar |
| Translation | to notice |
| Verb type | Regular -ar verb |
| Gerund | notando |
| Past participle | notado |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | regular in every tense |
Full conjugation of notar
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | noto |
| tú | notas |
| él / ella / Ud. | nota |
| nosotros / nosotras | notamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | notan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | noté |
| tú | notaste |
| él / ella / Ud. | notó |
| nosotros / nosotras | notamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notasteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | notaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | notaba |
| tú | notabas |
| él / ella / Ud. | notaba |
| nosotros / nosotras | notábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notabais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | notaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | notaré |
| tú | notarás |
| él / ella / Ud. | notará |
| nosotros / nosotras | notaremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notaréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | notarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | notaría |
| tú | notarías |
| él / ella / Ud. | notaría |
| nosotros / nosotras | notaríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notaríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | notarían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | note |
| tú | notes |
| él / ella / Ud. | note |
| nosotros / nosotras | notemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | noten |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | notara |
| tú | notaras |
| él / ella / Ud. | notara |
| nosotros / nosotras | notáramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notarais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | notaran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he notado |
| tú | has notado |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha notado |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos notado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis notado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han notado |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había notado |
| tú | habías notado |
| él / ella / Ud. | había notado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos notado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais notado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían notado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré notado |
| tú | habrás notado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá notado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos notado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis notado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán notado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría notado |
| tú | habrías notado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría notado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos notado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais notado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían notado |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | nota |
| él / ella / Ud. | note |
| nosotros / nosotras | notemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notad |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | noten |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | notes |
| él / ella / Ud. | note |
| nosotros / nosotras | notemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | notéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | noten |
Gerund: notando · Past participle: notado
Notar 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. Example: Cada día, yo noto un cambio en su voz. — "Every day, I notice a change in her voice."
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 noté un cambio en su voz. — "Yesterday, I noticed a change in her voice."
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 notaba un cambio en su voz. — "Before, I noticed a change in her voice."
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 notaré un cambio en su voz. — "Tomorrow, I will notice a change in her voice."
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 notaría un cambio en su voz si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would notice a change in her voice 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. Example: Espero que ella note un cambio en su voz. — "I hope she will notice a change in her voice."
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 notara un cambio en su voz, todo cambiaría. — "If she noticed a change in her voice, 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 notado que la puerta está abierta varias veces. — "I have noticed that the door is open 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 notado un cambio en su voz antes de la reunión. — "I had noticed a change in her voice 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 notado un cambio en su voz. — "By tomorrow, I will have noticed a change in her voice."
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 notado un cambio en su voz si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have noticed a change in her voice 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: ¡nota un cambio en su voz! — "Notice a change in her voice!"
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 notes un cambio en su voz. — "Do not notice a change in her voice."
Example sentences with notar
Yo noto un cambio en su voz. — "I notice a change in her voice."
¿Tú notas que la puerta está abierta? — "Do you notice that the door is open?"
Ayer, él notó un cambio en su voz. — "Yesterday, he noticed a change in her voice."
Nosotros notamos que la puerta está abierta a tiempo. — "We noticed that the door is open on time."
Antes, ellos notaban un cambio en su voz. — "Before, they noticed a change in her voice."
Mañana, yo notaré que la puerta está abierta. — "Tomorrow, I will notice that the door is open."
Nosotros notaríamos un cambio en su voz si pudiéramos. — "We would notice a change in her voice if we could."
Yo he notado que la puerta está abierta varias veces. — "I have noticed that the door is open several times."
Espero que ella note un cambio en su voz. — "I hope she will notice a change in her voice."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy notando que la puerta está abierta. — "Right now, I am noticing that the door is open."
Common mistakes with notar
1. Dropping the accent on the preterite yo form
The preterite yo form is noté — 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 notar with observar (to observe)
notar means "to notice", while observar means "to observe". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use notar when you mean noticing a change or a detail, and observar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of observar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo noté un cambio en su voz (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo notaba un cambio en su voz (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 notado (haber + participle), never estoy notado. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When notar is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated notar is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: notar
1. Yo ___ un cambio en su voz.
a. nota b. noto c. notan
2. Ella ___ un cambio en su voz.
a. noto b. nota c. notan
3. Ayer, yo ___ un cambio en su voz.
a. noto b. noté c. nota
4. Ellos ___ un cambio en su voz ayer.
a. noto b. notaron c. nota
5. Antes, yo ___ un cambio en su voz.
a. noto b. notaba c. nota
6. Mañana, yo ___ un cambio en su voz.
a. noto b. notaré c. nota
7. Yo ___ un cambio en su voz si pudiera.
a. noto b. notaría c. nota
8. Espero que ella ___ un cambio en su voz.
a. noto b. note c. nota
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ que la puerta está abierta.
a. notado b. notando c. noto
10. Yo he ___ que la puerta está abierta varias veces.
a. notando b. notado c. noto
Answer key
noto — present tense, yo form.
nota — present tense, él/ella form.
noté — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
notaron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
notaba — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
notaré — future, yo form.
notaría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
note — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
notando — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
notado — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about notar
What does notar mean in English?
Notar means "to notice". It is used for noticing a change or a detail. A simple example is yo noto un cambio en su voz — "I notice a change in her voice."
Is notar regular or irregular?
Notar is a regular -ar verb verb, and it is regular in every tense. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form noto, the preterite yo form noté and the past participle notado — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of notar?
The gerund is notando (used for the progressive: estoy notando) and the past participle is notado (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he notado). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I notice" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo noté un cambio en su voz — "yesterday I noticed a change in her voice". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo notaba un cambio en su voz — "before, I noticed a change in her voice". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does notar take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Notar on its own takes the indicative — yo noto un cambio en su voz. You will meet the subjunctive with notar only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is note.