Ofrecer Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
ofrecer means "to offer" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for offering something, or offering help. 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. Ofrecer is a irregular -er verb; c → zc spelling change before o and a verb, and it is regular in its endings, with a spelling change. 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 ofrezco una taza de café. — "Every day, I offer a cup of coffee." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | ofrecer |
| Translation | to offer |
| Verb type | Irregular -er verb; c → zc spelling change before o and a |
| Gerund | ofreciendo |
| Past participle | ofrecido |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | regular in its endings, with a spelling change |
Full conjugation of ofrecer
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofrezco |
| tú | ofreces |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrece |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofrecemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofrecéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrecen |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofrecí |
| tú | ofreciste |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofreció |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofrecimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofrecisteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrecieron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofrecía |
| tú | ofrecías |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrecía |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofrecíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofrecíais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrecían |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofreceré |
| tú | ofrecerás |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrecerá |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofreceremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofreceréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrecerán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofrecería |
| tú | ofrecerías |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrecería |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofreceríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofreceríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrecerían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofrezca |
| tú | ofrezcas |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrezca |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofrezcamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofrecáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrezcan |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ofreciera |
| tú | ofrecieras |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofreciera |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofreciéramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofrecierais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrecieran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he ofrecido |
| tú | has ofrecido |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha ofrecido |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos ofrecido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis ofrecido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han ofrecido |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había ofrecido |
| tú | habías ofrecido |
| él / ella / Ud. | había ofrecido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos ofrecido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais ofrecido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían ofrecido |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré ofrecido |
| tú | habrás ofrecido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá ofrecido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos ofrecido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis ofrecido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán ofrecido |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría ofrecido |
| tú | habrías ofrecido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría ofrecido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos ofrecido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais ofrecido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían ofrecido |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | ofrece |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrezca |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofrezcamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofreced |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrezcan |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | ofrezcas |
| él / ella / Ud. | ofrezca |
| nosotros / nosotras | ofrezcamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | ofrecáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ofrezcan |
Gerund: ofreciendo · Past participle: ofrecido
Ofrecer 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. Watch the spelling in the present: c becomes zc before o, so the yo form is ofrezco, not the form you would expect from the infinitive. Example: Cada día, yo ofrezco una taza de café. — "Every day, I offer a cup of coffee."
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 ofrecí una taza de café. — "Yesterday, I offered a cup of coffee."
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 ofrecía una taza de café. — "Before, I offered a cup of coffee."
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 ofreceré una taza de café. — "Tomorrow, I will offer a cup of coffee."
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 ofrecería una taza de café si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would offer a cup of coffee 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 ofrezca una taza de café. — "I hope she will offer a cup of coffee."
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 ofreciera una taza de café, todo cambiaría. — "If she offered a cup of coffee, 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 ofrecido mi ayuda sin dudarlo varias veces. — "I have offered my help without hesitating 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 ofrecido una taza de café antes de la reunión. — "I had offered a cup of coffee 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 ofrecido una taza de café. — "By tomorrow, I will have offered a cup of coffee."
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 ofrecido una taza de café si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have offered a cup of coffee 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: ¡ofrece una taza de café! — "Offer a cup of coffee!"
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 ofrezcas una taza de café. — "Do not offer a cup of coffee."
Example sentences with ofrecer
Yo ofrezco una taza de café. — "I offer a cup of coffee."
¿Tú ofreces mi ayuda sin dudarlo? — "Do you offer my help without hesitating?"
Ayer, él ofreció una taza de café. — "Yesterday, he offered a cup of coffee."
Nosotros ofrecimos mi ayuda sin dudarlo a tiempo. — "We offered my help without hesitating on time."
Antes, ellos ofrecían una taza de café. — "Before, they offered a cup of coffee."
Mañana, yo ofreceré mi ayuda sin dudarlo. — "Tomorrow, I will offer my help without hesitating."
Nosotros ofreceríamos una taza de café si pudiéramos. — "We would offer a cup of coffee if we could."
Yo he ofrecido mi ayuda sin dudarlo varias veces. — "I have offered my help without hesitating several times."
Espero que ella ofrezca una taza de café. — "I hope she will offer a cup of coffee."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy ofreciendo mi ayuda sin dudarlo. — "Right now, I am offering my help without hesitating."
Common mistakes with ofrecer
1. Writing ✗ ofreco instead of the correct present form
The correct yo form in the present is ofrezco. Learners often build it straight from the infinitive, but this verb changes its stem or spelling in the present, so memorise the yo form — the present subjunctive and the formal imperative are built from it.
2. Confusing ofrecer with dar (to give)
ofrecer means "to offer", while dar means "to give". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use ofrecer when you mean offering something, or offering help, and dar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of dar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo ofrecí una taza de café (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo ofrecía una taza de café (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 ofrecido (haber + participle), never estoy ofrecido. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When ofrecer is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated ofrecer is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: ofrecer
1. Yo ___ una taza de café.
a. ofrece b. ofrezco c. ofrecen
2. Ella ___ una taza de café.
a. ofrezco b. ofrece c. ofrecen
3. Ayer, yo ___ una taza de café.
a. ofrezco b. ofrecí c. ofrece
4. Ellos ___ una taza de café ayer.
a. ofrezco b. ofrecieron c. ofrece
5. Antes, yo ___ una taza de café.
a. ofrezco b. ofrecía c. ofrece
6. Mañana, yo ___ una taza de café.
a. ofrezco b. ofreceré c. ofrece
7. Yo ___ una taza de café si pudiera.
a. ofrezco b. ofrecería c. ofrece
8. Espero que ella ___ una taza de café.
a. ofrezco b. ofrezca c. ofrece
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ mi ayuda sin dudarlo.
a. ofrecido b. ofreciendo c. ofrezco
10. Yo he ___ mi ayuda sin dudarlo varias veces.
a. ofreciendo b. ofrecido c. ofrezco
Answer key
ofrezco — present tense, yo form.
ofrece — present tense, él/ella form.
ofrecí — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
ofrecieron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
ofrecía — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
ofreceré — future, yo form.
ofrecería — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
ofrezca — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
ofreciendo — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
ofrecido — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about ofrecer
What does ofrecer mean in English?
Ofrecer means "to offer". It is used for offering something, or offering help. A simple example is yo ofrezco una taza de café — "I offer a cup of coffee."
Is ofrecer regular or irregular?
Ofrecer is a irregular -er verb; c → zc spelling change before o and a verb, and it is regular in its endings, with a spelling change. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form ofrezco, the preterite yo form ofrecí and the past participle ofrecido — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of ofrecer?
The gerund is ofreciendo (used for the progressive: estoy ofreciendo) and the past participle is ofrecido (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he ofrecido). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I offer" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo ofrecí una taza de café — "yesterday I offered a cup of coffee". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo ofrecía una taza de café — "before, I offered a cup of coffee". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does ofrecer take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Ofrecer on its own takes the indicative — yo ofrezco una taza de café. You will meet the subjunctive with ofrecer only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is ofrezca.