Opinar Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
opinar means "to think, to have an opinion" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for giving your opinion on a topic. 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. Opinar 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 opino sobre la nueva ley. — "Every day, I think about the new law." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | opinar |
| Translation | to think, to have an opinion |
| Verb type | Regular -ar verb |
| Gerund | opinando |
| Past participle | opinado |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | regular in every tense |
Full conjugation of opinar
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opino |
| tú | opinas |
| él / ella / Ud. | opina |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opináis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opiné |
| tú | opinaste |
| él / ella / Ud. | opinó |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinasteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opinaba |
| tú | opinabas |
| él / ella / Ud. | opinaba |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinabais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opinaré |
| tú | opinarás |
| él / ella / Ud. | opinará |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinaremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinaréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opinaría |
| tú | opinarías |
| él / ella / Ud. | opinaría |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinaríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinaríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinarían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opine |
| tú | opines |
| él / ella / Ud. | opine |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinen |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | opinara |
| tú | opinaras |
| él / ella / Ud. | opinara |
| nosotros / nosotras | opináramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinarais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinaran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he opinado |
| tú | has opinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha opinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos opinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis opinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han opinado |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había opinado |
| tú | habías opinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | había opinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos opinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais opinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían opinado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré opinado |
| tú | habrás opinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá opinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos opinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis opinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán opinado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría opinado |
| tú | habrías opinado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría opinado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos opinado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais opinado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían opinado |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | opina |
| él / ella / Ud. | opine |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinad |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinen |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | opines |
| él / ella / Ud. | opine |
| nosotros / nosotras | opinemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | opinéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | opinen |
Gerund: opinando · Past participle: opinado
Opinar 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 opino sobre la nueva ley. — "Every day, I think about the new law."
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 opiné sobre la nueva ley. — "Yesterday, I thought about the new law."
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 opinaba sobre la nueva ley. — "Before, I thought about the new law."
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 opinaré sobre la nueva ley. — "Tomorrow, I will think about the new law."
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 opinaría sobre la nueva ley si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would think about the new law 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 opine sobre la nueva ley. — "I hope she will think about the new law."
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 opinara sobre la nueva ley, todo cambiaría. — "If she thought about the new law, 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 opinado que el plan necesita más tiempo varias veces. — "I have thought that the plan needs more time 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 opinado sobre la nueva ley antes de la reunión. — "I had thought about the new law 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 opinado sobre la nueva ley. — "By tomorrow, I will have thought about the new law."
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 opinado sobre la nueva ley si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have thought about the new law 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: ¡opina sobre la nueva ley! — "Think about the new law!"
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 opines sobre la nueva ley. — "Do not think about the new law."
Example sentences with opinar
Yo opino sobre la nueva ley. — "I think about the new law."
¿Tú opinas que el plan necesita más tiempo? — "Do you think that the plan needs more time?"
Ayer, él opinó sobre la nueva ley. — "Yesterday, he thought about the new law."
Nosotros opinamos que el plan necesita más tiempo a tiempo. — "We thought that the plan needs more time on time."
Antes, ellos opinaban sobre la nueva ley. — "Before, they thought about the new law."
Mañana, yo opinaré que el plan necesita más tiempo. — "Tomorrow, I will think that the plan needs more time."
Nosotros opinaríamos sobre la nueva ley si pudiéramos. — "We would think about the new law if we could."
Yo he opinado que el plan necesita más tiempo varias veces. — "I have thought that the plan needs more time several times."
Espero que ella opine sobre la nueva ley. — "I hope she will think about the new law."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy opinando que el plan necesita más tiempo. — "Right now, I am thinking that the plan needs more time."
Common mistakes with opinar
1. Dropping the accent on the preterite yo form
The preterite yo form is opiné — 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 opinar with pensar (to think)
opinar means "to think, to have an opinion", while pensar means "to think". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use opinar when you mean giving your opinion on a topic, and pensar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of pensar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo opiné sobre la nueva ley (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo opinaba sobre la nueva ley (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 opinado (haber + participle), never estoy opinado. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Dropping the preposition before the complement
opinar takes sobre here: yo opino sobre la nueva ley. Dropping the preposition (yo opino la nueva ley) sounds wrong to a native speaker, so learn the verb together with its preposition.
Quiz: opinar
1. Yo ___ sobre la nueva ley.
a. opina b. opino c. opinan
2. Ella ___ sobre la nueva ley.
a. opino b. opina c. opinan
3. Ayer, yo ___ sobre la nueva ley.
a. opino b. opiné c. opina
4. Ellos ___ sobre la nueva ley ayer.
a. opino b. opinaron c. opina
5. Antes, yo ___ sobre la nueva ley.
a. opino b. opinaba c. opina
6. Mañana, yo ___ sobre la nueva ley.
a. opino b. opinaré c. opina
7. Yo ___ sobre la nueva ley si pudiera.
a. opino b. opinaría c. opina
8. Espero que ella ___ sobre la nueva ley.
a. opino b. opine c. opina
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ que el plan necesita más tiempo.
a. opinado b. opinando c. opino
10. Yo he ___ que el plan necesita más tiempo varias veces.
a. opinando b. opinado c. opino
Answer key
opino — present tense, yo form.
opina — present tense, él/ella form.
opiné — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
opinaron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
opinaba — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
opinaré — future, yo form.
opinaría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
opine — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
opinando — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
opinado — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about opinar
What does opinar mean in English?
Opinar means "to think, to have an opinion". It is used for giving your opinion on a topic. A simple example is yo opino sobre la nueva ley — "I think about the new law."
Is opinar regular or irregular?
Opinar 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 opino, the preterite yo form opiné and the past participle opinado — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of opinar?
The gerund is opinando (used for the progressive: estoy opinando) and the past participle is opinado (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he opinado). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I think" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo opiné sobre la nueva ley — "yesterday I thought about the new law". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo opinaba sobre la nueva ley — "before, I thought about the new law". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does opinar take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Opinar on its own takes the indicative — yo opino sobre la nueva ley. You will meet the subjunctive with opinar only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is opine.