Recordar Conjugation in Spanish
recordar means “remember” in English, and it is one of the first verbs Spanish learners meet — it sits at number 50 in VerbFlow’s frequency list. You use it for remembering names, for remembering old days, and for remembering a password. 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 recordar — 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 recuerdo tu nombre todos los días.” — “I remember your name every day.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: recordar
- English: to remember
- Verb type: Irregular — stem-changing (o → ue)
- Irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative
- Gerund: recordando
- Past participle: recordado
- 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 recordar. 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 | recuerdo |
| tú | recuerdas |
| él/ella/Ud. | recuerda |
| nosotros/as | recordamos |
| vosotros/as | recordáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recuerdan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | recordé |
| tú | recordaste |
| él/ella/Ud. | recordó |
| nosotros/as | recordamos |
| vosotros/as | recordasteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recordaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | recordaba |
| tú | recordabas |
| él/ella/Ud. | recordaba |
| nosotros/as | recordábamos |
| vosotros/as | recordabais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recordaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | recordaré |
| tú | recordarás |
| él/ella/Ud. | recordará |
| nosotros/as | recordaremos |
| vosotros/as | recordaréis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recordarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | recordaría |
| tú | recordarías |
| él/ella/Ud. | recordaría |
| nosotros/as | recordaríamos |
| vosotros/as | recordaríais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recordarían |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he recordado |
| tú | has recordado |
| él/ella/Ud. | ha recordado |
| nosotros/as | hemos recordado |
| vosotros/as | habéis recordado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | han recordado |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había recordado |
| tú | habías recordado |
| él/ella/Ud. | había recordado |
| nosotros/as | habíamos recordado |
| vosotros/as | habíais recordado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habían recordado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré recordado |
| tú | habrás recordado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habrá recordado |
| nosotros/as | habremos recordado |
| vosotros/as | habréis recordado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrán recordado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría recordado |
| tú | habrías recordado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habría recordado |
| nosotros/as | habríamos recordado |
| vosotros/as | habríais recordado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrían recordado |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | recuerde |
| tú | recuerdes |
| él/ella/Ud. | recuerde |
| nosotros/as | recordemos |
| vosotros/as | recordéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recuerden |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | recordara |
| tú | recordaras |
| él/ella/Ud. | recordara |
| nosotros/as | recordáramos |
| vosotros/as | recordarais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recordaran |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | recuerda |
| él/ella/Ud. | recuerde |
| nosotros/as | recordemos |
| vosotros/as | recordad |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recuerden |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | recuerdes |
| él/ella/Ud. | recuerde |
| nosotros/as | recordemos |
| vosotros/as | recordéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | recuerden |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Gerund | recordando |
| Past participle | recordado |
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. With recordar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Yo recuerdo tu nombre todos los días.” — “I remember your name every day.”
Preterite
The preterite is used for completed actions in the past. For example: “Tú recordaste aquellos días con cariño ayer.” — “You remembered those days fondly yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Él recordaba la contraseña antes.” — “He used to remember the password before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and probability. For example: “Yo recordaré tu nombre mañana.” — “I will remember your name tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Tú recordarías aquellos días con cariño algún día.” — “You would remember those days fondly 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 recordado la contraseña esta semana.” — “He has remembered the password this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Yo había recordado tu nombre antes de la fiesta.” — “I had remembered your name 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 recordado aquellos días con cariño para mañana.” — “You will have remembered those days fondly by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Él habría recordado la contraseña ayer.” — “He would have remembered the password yesterday.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. With recordar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Es importante que yo recuerde tu nombre.” — “It is important that i remember your name.”
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 recordaras aquellos días con cariño.” — “I wish you remembered those days fondly.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. With recordar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “¡Recuerda la contraseña!” — “Remember the password!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. With recordar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “No recuerdes tu nombre.” — “Do not remember your name.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with recordar, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the Spanish and try to produce it from the English.
- “Yo recuerdo tu nombre todos los días.” — “I remember your name every day.”
- “Tú recordaste aquellos días con cariño ayer.” — “You remembered those days fondly yesterday.”
- “Él recordaba la contraseña antes.” — “He used to remember the password before.”
- “Yo recordaré aquellos días con cariño mañana.” — “I will remember those days fondly tomorrow.”
- “Tú recordarías tu nombre algún día.” — “You would remember your name someday.”
- “Él ha recordado la contraseña esta semana.” — “He has remembered the password this week.”
- “Yo había recordado tu nombre antes de la fiesta.” — “I had remembered your name before the party.”
- “Tú habrás recordado aquellos días con cariño para mañana.” — “You will have remembered those days fondly by tomorrow.”
- “Es importante que él recuerde la contraseña.” — “It is important that he remember the password.”
- “¡Recuerda tu nombre!” — “Remember your name!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Yo recordar tu nombre.”
✓ Right: “Yo recuerdo tu nombre.”
The infinitive recordar never takes a subject. After yo you need the conjugated present form recuerdo.
2. Confusing recordar with olvidar
✗ Wrong: “Yo olvido tu nombre.”
✓ Right: “Yo recuerdo tu nombre.”
Recordar is to remember; olvidar is to forget.
3. Using the wrong auxiliary in perfect tenses
✗ Wrong: “Yo soy recordado tu nombre.”
✓ Right: “Yo he recordado tu nombre.”
Spanish perfect tenses are always built with haber, never with ser. The correct form is he + the participle recordado.
4. Dropping the written accent
✗ Wrong: “recorde”
✓ Right: “recordé”
The accent on recordé 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 o → ue stem change
✗ Wrong: “Yo recordo tu nombre.”
✓ Right: “Yo recuerdo tu nombre.”
recordar changes its stem vowel in the present tense (o → ue), so the yo form is recuerdo, not the unchanged stem.
6. Using the preterite for a habitual past action
✗ Wrong: “Yo recordé tu nombre antes.” (said of a repeated habit)
✓ Right: “Yo recordaba tu nombre antes.”
The preterite recordé describes one finished action. For something you did regularly in the past, use the imperfect recordaba.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on recordar. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the yo form of recordar in the Present indicative?
- A) recuerdas
- B) recuerda
- C) recordamos
- D) recuerdo
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of recordar in the Preterite?
- A) recordaste
- B) recordamos
- C) recordó
- D) recordé
What is the nosotros/as form of recordar in the Imperfect?
- A) recordabais
- B) recordábamos
- C) recordaba
- D) recordabas
What is the tú form of recordar in the Future?
- A) recordarás
- B) recordaré
- C) recordará
- D) recordaremos
What is the yo form of recordar in the Conditional?
- A) recordarías
- B) recordaríamos
- C) recordaríais
- D) recordaría
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of recordar in the Present subjunctive?
- A) recordemos
- B) recordéis
- C) recuerde
- D) recuerdes
What is the yo form of recordar in the Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)?
- A) recordarais
- B) recordara
- C) recordaras
- D) recordáramos
What is the gerund of recordar?
- A) recordando
- B) recibiendo
What is the past participle of recordar?
- A) recibido
- B) recordado
What does recordar mean in English?
- A) to remember
- B) to receive
Answer key
- D) recuerdo — the yo form of recordar in the present indicative is recuerdo. The other options (recuerdas, recuerda, recordamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) recordó — the él/ella/Ud. form of recordar in the preterite is recordó. The other options (recordé, recordaste, recordamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) recordábamos — the nosotros/as form of recordar in the imperfect is recordábamos. The other options (recordaba, recordabas, recordaba) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) recordarás — the tú form of recordar in the future is recordarás. The other options (recordaré, recordará, recordaremos) are the same tense for different persons.
- D) recordaría — the yo form of recordar in the conditional is recordaría. The other options (recordarías, recordaría, recordaríamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) recuerde — the él/ella/Ud. form of recordar in the present subjunctive is recuerde. The other options (recuerde, recuerdes, recordemos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) recordara — the yo form of recordar in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra) is recordara. The other options (recordaras, recordara, recordáramos) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) recordando — the gerund of recordar is recordando; it is used with estar for the progressive. The other options are the gerunds of neighbouring verbs.
- B) recordado — the past participle of recordar is recordado; perfect tenses use haber + recordado. The other options are the participles of neighbouring verbs.
- A) to remember — recordar means “to remember” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.
Frequently asked questions
What does recordar mean in English?
recordar means “to remember”. You use it for remembering names, for remembering old days, and for remembering a password. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is recordar regular or irregular?
recordar is irregular — stem-changing (o → ue), and it is irregular in these tenses: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The gerund is recordando and the past participle is recordado.
What are the gerund and past participle of recordar?
The gerund is recordando — use it with estar for actions in progress. The past participle is recordado — use it with haber for the perfect tenses, as in he recordado (I have remembered).
What is the difference between recordar and olvidar?
Recordar is to remember; olvidar is to forget. If you are unsure, check the full table for olvidar and compare the meanings in context.
How do I say “I remember” in Spanish?
Say “Yo recuerdo tu nombre.” — “I remember your name every day.” The yo form of the present is recuerdo, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- recordar in the present tense — the full table and uses for this verb in its most practised tense.
- recordar examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- Spanish irregular verbs — every common irregular Spanish verb, grouped by pattern.
- Recibir 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 recordar with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise recordar with the interactive tool.
- Subjunctive Helper — practise recordar with the interactive tool.