Rogar Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
rogar means "to beg, to plead" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for begging or pleading for something. 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. Rogar is a stem-changing -ar verb (o → ue); g → gu spelling change before e verb, and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. 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 ruego por una segunda oportunidad. — "Every day, I beg for a second chance." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | rogar |
| Translation | to beg, to plead |
| Verb type | Stem-changing -ar verb (o → ue); g → gu spelling change before e |
| Gerund | rogando |
| Past participle | rogado |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative |
Full conjugation of rogar
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ruego |
| tú | ruegas |
| él / ella / Ud. | ruega |
| nosotros / nosotras | rogamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | ruegan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | rogué |
| tú | rogaste |
| él / ella / Ud. | rogó |
| nosotros / nosotras | rogamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogasteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rogaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | rogaba |
| tú | rogabas |
| él / ella / Ud. | rogaba |
| nosotros / nosotras | rogábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogabais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rogaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | rogaré |
| tú | rogarás |
| él / ella / Ud. | rogará |
| nosotros / nosotras | rogaremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogaréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rogarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | rogaría |
| tú | rogarías |
| él / ella / Ud. | rogaría |
| nosotros / nosotras | rogaríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogaríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rogarían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | ruegue |
| tú | ruegues |
| él / ella / Ud. | ruegue |
| nosotros / nosotras | roguemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | roguéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rueguen |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | rogara |
| tú | rogaras |
| él / ella / Ud. | rogara |
| nosotros / nosotras | rogáramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogarais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rogaran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he rogado |
| tú | has rogado |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha rogado |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos rogado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis rogado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han rogado |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había rogado |
| tú | habías rogado |
| él / ella / Ud. | había rogado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos rogado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais rogado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían rogado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré rogado |
| tú | habrás rogado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá rogado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos rogado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis rogado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán rogado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría rogado |
| tú | habrías rogado |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría rogado |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos rogado |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais rogado |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían rogado |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | ruega |
| él / ella / Ud. | ruegue |
| nosotros / nosotras | roguemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | rogad |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rueguen |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | ruegues |
| él / ella / Ud. | ruegue |
| nosotros / nosotras | roguemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | roguéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | rueguen |
Gerund: rogando · Past participle: rogado
Rogar 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. In the present the stem changes (o → ue) in the yo, tú, él/ella and ellos/ellas forms, but not in nosotros or vosotros — compare ruego with rogamos. Example: Cada día, yo ruego por una segunda oportunidad. — "Every day, I beg for a second chance."
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. Watch the spelling in the preterite: g becomes gu before e, so the yo form is rogué. Example: Ayer, yo rogué por una segunda oportunidad. — "Yesterday, I begged for a second chance."
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 rogaba por una segunda oportunidad. — "Before, I begged for a second chance."
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 rogaré por una segunda oportunidad. — "Tomorrow, I will beg for a second chance."
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 rogaría por una segunda oportunidad si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would beg for a second chance 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. The present subjunctive is irregular for this verb: the yo form is ruegue, and all six persons follow from it. Example: Espero que ella ruegue por una segunda oportunidad. — "I hope she will beg for a second chance."
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 rogara por una segunda oportunidad, todo cambiaría. — "If she begged for a second chance, 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 rogado que me escuchen un momento varias veces. — "I have begged them to listen to me for a moment 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 rogado por una segunda oportunidad antes de la reunión. — "I had begged for a second chance 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 rogado por una segunda oportunidad. — "By tomorrow, I will have begged for a second chance."
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 rogado por una segunda oportunidad si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have begged for a second chance 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. The affirmative imperative is irregular for this verb: the tú form is ruega and the formal form is ruegue. Example: ¡ruega por una segunda oportunidad! — "Beg for a second chance!"
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 ruegues por una segunda oportunidad. — "Do not beg for a second chance."
Example sentences with rogar
Yo ruego por una segunda oportunidad. — "I beg for a second chance."
¿Tú ruegas que me escuchen un momento? — "Do you beg them to listen to me for a moment?"
Ayer, él rogó por una segunda oportunidad. — "Yesterday, he begged for a second chance."
Nosotros rogamos que me escuchen un momento a tiempo. — "We begged them to listen to me for a moment on time."
Antes, ellos rogaban por una segunda oportunidad. — "Before, they begged for a second chance."
Mañana, yo rogaré que me escuchen un momento. — "Tomorrow, I will beg them to listen to me for a moment."
Nosotros rogaríamos por una segunda oportunidad si pudiéramos. — "We would beg for a second chance if we could."
Yo he rogado que me escuchen un momento varias veces. — "I have begged them to listen to me for a moment several times."
Espero que ella ruegue por una segunda oportunidad. — "I hope she will beg for a second chance."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy rogando que me escuchen un momento. — "Right now, I am begging them to listen to me for a moment."
Common mistakes with rogar
1. Writing ✗ rogo instead of the correct preterite form
The correct preterite yo form is rogué: the spelling changes before e (g → gu, c → qu, z → c) so the sound stays the same. Writing it with the infinitive spelling is a spelling mistake, even though it sounds identical.
2. Confusing rogar with pedir (to ask for)
rogar means "to beg, to plead", while pedir means "to ask for". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use rogar when you mean begging or pleading for something, and pedir for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of pedir before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo rogué por una segunda oportunidad (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo rogaba por una segunda oportunidad (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 the indicative after rogar + que
After rogar, the subordinate clause takes the subjunctive: rogar que ella ruegue por una segunda oportunidad. The indicative (ruega) is wrong here, because rogar expresses a wish or a doubt, not a stated fact.
5. Using estar instead of haber in the perfect tenses
The present perfect is he rogado (haber + participle), never estoy rogado. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
Quiz: rogar
1. Yo ___ por una segunda oportunidad.
a. ruega b. ruego c. ruegan
2. Ella ___ por una segunda oportunidad.
a. ruego b. ruega c. ruegan
3. Ayer, yo ___ por una segunda oportunidad.
a. ruego b. rogué c. ruega
4. Ellos ___ por una segunda oportunidad ayer.
a. ruego b. rogaron c. ruega
5. Antes, yo ___ por una segunda oportunidad.
a. ruego b. rogaba c. ruega
6. Mañana, yo ___ por una segunda oportunidad.
a. ruego b. rogaré c. ruega
7. Yo ___ por una segunda oportunidad si pudiera.
a. ruego b. rogaría c. ruega
8. Espero que ella ___ por una segunda oportunidad.
a. ruego b. ruegue c. ruega
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ que me escuchen un momento.
a. rogado b. rogando c. ruego
10. Yo he ___ que me escuchen un momento varias veces.
a. rogando b. rogado c. ruego
Answer key
ruego — present tense, yo form.
ruega — present tense, él/ella form.
rogué — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
rogaron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
rogaba — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
rogaré — future, yo form.
rogaría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
ruegue — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
rogando — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
rogado — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about rogar
What does rogar mean in English?
Rogar means "to beg, to plead". It is used for begging or pleading for something. A simple example is yo ruego por una segunda oportunidad — "I beg for a second chance."
Is rogar regular or irregular?
Rogar is a stem-changing -ar verb (o → ue); g → gu spelling change before e verb, and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form ruego, the preterite yo form rogué and the past participle rogado — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of rogar?
The gerund is rogando (used for the progressive: estoy rogando) and the past participle is rogado (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he rogado). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I beg" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo rogué por una segunda oportunidad — "yesterday I begged for a second chance". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo rogaba por una segunda oportunidad — "before, I begged for a second chance". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does rogar take the subjunctive?
Yes, often. After rogar, a subordinate clause with que usually takes the subjunctive, because rogar expresses a wish or a doubt rather than a fact: rogar que ella ruegue por una segunda oportunidad. If you use the indicative there, the sentence sounds wrong to a native speaker.