Traer Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
traer means "to bring" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for bringing something, or someone, to a place. 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. Traer is a irregular -er verb verb, and it is irregular in: present, preterite, present-subjunctive, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, past-participle, present-perfect, pluperfect, future-perfect, conditional-perfect, 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 traigo un pastel a la fiesta. — "Every day, I bring a cake to the party." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | traer |
| Translation | to bring |
| Verb type | Irregular -er verb |
| Gerund | trayendo |
| Past participle | traído |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | irregular in: present, preterite, present-subjunctive, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, past-participle, present-perfect, pluperfect, future-perfect, conditional-perfect, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative |
Full conjugation of traer
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | traigo |
| tú | traes |
| él / ella / Ud. | trae |
| nosotros / nosotras | traemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traéis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traen |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | traje |
| tú | trajiste |
| él / ella / Ud. | trajo |
| nosotros / nosotras | trajimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | trajisteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | trajeron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | traía |
| tú | traías |
| él / ella / Ud. | traía |
| nosotros / nosotras | traíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traíais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traían |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | traeré |
| tú | traerás |
| él / ella / Ud. | traerá |
| nosotros / nosotras | traeremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traeréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traerán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | traería |
| tú | traerías |
| él / ella / Ud. | traería |
| nosotros / nosotras | traeríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traeríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traerían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | traiga |
| tú | traigas |
| él / ella / Ud. | traiga |
| nosotros / nosotras | traigamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traigáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traigan |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | trajera |
| tú | trajeras |
| él / ella / Ud. | trajera |
| nosotros / nosotras | trajéramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | trajerais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | trajeran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he traído |
| tú | has traído |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha traído |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos traído |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis traído |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han traído |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había traído |
| tú | habías traído |
| él / ella / Ud. | había traído |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos traído |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais traído |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían traído |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré traído |
| tú | habrás traído |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá traído |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos traído |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis traído |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán traído |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría traído |
| tú | habrías traído |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría traído |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos traído |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais traído |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían traído |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | trae |
| él / ella / Ud. | traiga |
| nosotros / nosotras | traigamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traed |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traigan |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | traigas |
| él / ella / Ud. | traiga |
| nosotros / nosotras | traigamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | traigáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | traigan |
Gerund: trayendo · Past participle: traído
Traer 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 traigo un pastel a la fiesta. — "Every day, I bring a cake to the party."
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. The preterite uses an irregular stem: the yo form is traje and the él/ella form is trajo. Learn this stem, because the imperfect subjunctive is built on it too. Example: Ayer, yo traje un pastel a la fiesta. — "Yesterday, I brought a cake to the party."
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 traía un pastel a la fiesta. — "Before, I brought a cake to the party."
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 traeré un pastel a la fiesta. — "Tomorrow, I will bring a cake to the party."
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 traería un pastel a la fiesta si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would bring a cake to the party 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 traiga, and all six persons follow from it. Example: Espero que ella traiga un pastel a la fiesta. — "I hope she will bring a cake to the party."
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. The imperfect subjunctive uses the irregular preterite stem: the yo form is trajera. Example: Si ella trajera un pastel a la fiesta, todo cambiaría. — "If she brought a cake to the party, 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. These perfect tenses use the irregular past participle traído after haber — never the regular -ido form. Example: Yo he traído a mi abuela a casa varias veces. — "I have brought my grandmother home several times."
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (había + past participle) is the past of the past: something that had already happened before another past event. These perfect tenses use the irregular past participle traído after haber — never the regular -ido form. Example: Yo había traído un pastel a la fiesta antes de la reunión. — "I had brought a cake to the party 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. These perfect tenses use the irregular past participle traído after haber — never the regular -ido form. Example: Para mañana, yo habré traído un pastel a la fiesta. — "By tomorrow, I will have brought a cake to the party."
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. These perfect tenses use the irregular past participle traído after haber — never the regular -ido form. Example: Yo habría traído un pastel a la fiesta si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have brought a cake to the party 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 trae and the formal form is traiga. Example: ¡trae un pastel a la fiesta! — "Bring a cake to the party!"
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 traigas un pastel a la fiesta. — "Do not bring a cake to the party."
Example sentences with traer
Yo traigo un pastel a la fiesta. — "I bring a cake to the party."
¿Tú traes a mi abuela a casa? — "Do you bring my grandmother home?"
Ayer, él trajo un pastel a la fiesta. — "Yesterday, he brought a cake to the party."
Nosotros trajimos a mi abuela a casa a tiempo. — "We brought my grandmother home on time."
Antes, ellos traían un pastel a la fiesta. — "Before, they brought a cake to the party."
Mañana, yo traeré a mi abuela a casa. — "Tomorrow, I will bring my grandmother home."
Nosotros traeríamos un pastel a la fiesta si pudiéramos. — "We would bring a cake to the party if we could."
Yo he traído a mi abuela a casa varias veces. — "I have brought my grandmother home several times."
Espero que ella traiga un pastel a la fiesta. — "I hope she will bring a cake to the party."
Ahora mismo, yo estoy trayendo a mi abuela a casa. — "Right now, I am bringing my grandmother home."
Common mistakes with traer
1. Using the present tense for a finished past action
For one finished event use the preterite traje, not the present traigo. Ayer yo traje un pastel a la fiesta places the action firmly in the past; the present tense cannot do that job.
2. Confusing traer with llevar (to take, to carry)
traer means "to bring", while llevar means "to take, to carry". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use traer when you mean bringing something, or someone, to a place, and llevar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of llevar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo traje un pastel a la fiesta (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo traía un pastel a la fiesta (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 traído (haber + participle), never estoy traído. Haber is the only auxiliary for compound tenses in Spanish.
5. Using the infinitive after a conjugated verb without a connector
When traer is followed by another verb, check whether Spanish needs que or a preposition between them. A bare infinitive after a conjugated traer is a common English-speaker error — say the full construction you have practised on this page.
Quiz: traer
1. Yo ___ un pastel a la fiesta.
a. trae b. traigo c. traen
2. Ella ___ un pastel a la fiesta.
a. traigo b. trae c. traen
3. Ayer, yo ___ un pastel a la fiesta.
a. traigo b. traje c. trae
4. Ellos ___ un pastel a la fiesta ayer.
a. traigo b. trajeron c. trae
5. Antes, yo ___ un pastel a la fiesta.
a. traigo b. traía c. trae
6. Mañana, yo ___ un pastel a la fiesta.
a. traigo b. traeré c. trae
7. Yo ___ un pastel a la fiesta si pudiera.
a. traigo b. traería c. trae
8. Espero que ella ___ un pastel a la fiesta.
a. traigo b. traiga c. trae
9. Ahora mismo, yo estoy ___ a mi abuela a casa.
a. traído b. trayendo c. traigo
10. Yo he ___ a mi abuela a casa varias veces.
a. trayendo b. traído c. traigo
Answer key
traigo — present tense, yo form.
trae — present tense, él/ella form.
traje — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
trajeron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
traía — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
traeré — future, yo form.
traería — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
traiga — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
trayendo — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund.
traído — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about traer
What does traer mean in English?
Traer means "to bring". It is used for bringing something, or someone, to a place. A simple example is yo traigo un pastel a la fiesta — "I bring a cake to the party."
Is traer regular or irregular?
Traer is a irregular -er verb verb, and it is irregular in: present, preterite, present-subjunctive, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, past-participle, present-perfect, pluperfect, future-perfect, conditional-perfect, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form traigo, the preterite yo form traje and the past participle traído — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of traer?
The gerund is trayendo (used for the progressive: estoy trayendo) and the past participle is traído (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he traído). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I bring" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo traje un pastel a la fiesta — "yesterday I brought a cake to the party". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo traía un pastel a la fiesta — "before, I brought a cake to the party". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does traer take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Traer on its own takes the indicative — yo traigo un pastel a la fiesta. You will meet the subjunctive with traer only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is traiga.