How to Conjugate Leer

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1 Indicative

2 Subjunctive

3 Imperative

4 Perfect

5 Perfect Subjunctive

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Last Updated: September 16, 2021

The Spanish verb leer means "to read" in English. Most of its conjugated forms follow the standard rules that apply to all "-er" verbs, but a few of the forms are irregular, as noted below. If you need to conjugate "leer" for your next lesson and are not quite sure how to do so, look through the following guide.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Indicative

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   1
   Use the present indicative. The present indicative is almost always the first verb form you will learn when studying Spanish. It is used to talk about current actions. In the case of leer, the present indicative is used to refer to the act of reading when that act is presently going on.

   • Example: "She is reading the novel," Ella lee la novela.
   • yo: leo
   • tú: lees
   • él/ella/usted: lee
   • nosotros/-as: leemos
   • vosotros/-as: leéis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leen
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   2
   Conjugate leer in the preterit indicative. Use the preterit indicative to refer to the act of reading when that act has concretely happened in the past and has since come to a clear end and is no longer being performed.

   • The verb leer is irregular in the preterit indicative.
   • Example: "I read that novel last month," Lei esa novela el mes pasado.
   • yo: leí
   • tú: leíste
   • él/ella/usted: leyó
   • nosotros/-as: leímos
   • vosotros/-as: leísteis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leyeron
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   3
   Learn the imperfect indicative. The imperfect indicative should be used to refer to the act of reading when that act has concretely happened in the past but has not come to a final or definite end. It is often used as a background tense for an action that was in progress when another action (in the preterit) took place. Alternatively, it is used for habitual events in the past.

   • Example: "They used to read frequently," Ellos leían con frecuencia.
   • yo: leía
   • tú: leías
   • él/ella/usted: leía
   • nosotros/-as: leíamos
   • vosotros/-as: leíais
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leían
4. 4
   Know the future indicative. The future indicative tense should be used to describe an act of reading that will definitely happen at some point in the future.

   • Example: "We will read that novel next week," Leeremos esa novela la semana próxima.
   • yo: leeré
   • tú: leerás
   • él/ella/usted: leerá
   • nosotros/-as: leeremos
   • vosotros/-as: leeréis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leerán
5. 5
   Switch to the conditional indicative. The conditional indicative is used to describe an act of reading that would be done at some point in the future as long as another condition or circumstance ends up being true.

   • Example: "In that case, Pablo would read Hemingway's novel," En ese caso, Pablo leería la novela de Hemingway.
   • yo: leería
   • tú: leerías
   • él/ella/usted: leería
   • nosotros/-as: leeríamos
   • vosotros/-as: leeríais
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leerían
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Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Subjunctive

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   1
   Conjugate leer in the present subjunctive. Use the present subjunctive when you need to describe an act of reading that is supposedly presently going on when one doubts or denies that it is actually going on.

   • Example: "I doubt that they read many books," Dudo que ellos lean muchos libros.
   • yo: lea
   • tú: leas
   • él/ella/usted: lea
   • nosotros/-as: leamos
   • vosotros/-as: leáis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: lean
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   2
   Learn the imperfect subjunctive. The imperfect subjunctive is used to describe an act of seeing that one doubts or denies has happened in the past.

   • Note that there are two forms of the imperfect subjunctive for all six tenses of the conjugation.
   • The verb leer is irregular in the imperfect subjunctive.
   • Example: "I doubt that you read that book," Dudo que leyeras ese libro.
   • yo: leyera or leyese
   • tú: leyeras or leyeses
   • él/ella/usted: leyera or leyese
   • nosotros/-as: leyéramos or leyésemos
   • vosotros/-as: leyerais or leyeseis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leyeran or leyesen
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   3
   Use the future subjunctive. The verb leer is irregular in the future subjunctive. The future subjunctive should be used when you need to describe an act of reading that may happen in the future when one doubts that the act will actually happen.

   • Example: "I doubt that we will read that book," Dudo que leyéremos ese libro.
   • yo: leyere
   • tú: leyeres
   • él/ella/usted: leyere
   • nosotros/-as: leyéremos
   • vosotros/-as: leyereis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: leyeren
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Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Imperative

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   1
   Opt for the affirmative imperative. Use the affirmative imperative form of leer to issue a command instructing someone to read something.

   • Note that there is no imperative conjugation for the singular first person "yo," or "I" in English, because you cannot issue a command to yourself.
   • Example: "Read the newspaper," Lee el periódico.
   • tú: lee
   • él/ella/usted: lea
   • nosotros/-as: leamos
   • vosotros/-as: leed
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: lean
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   2
   Switch to the negative imperative. When you need to tell or command someone to not read something, you would use the negative imperative, which differs from the affirmative imperative.

   • Note that there is no imperative conjugation for the singular first person "yo," or "I" in English, because you cannot issue a command to yourself.
   • Example: "Do not read the newspaper," No leas el periódico.
   • tú: no leas
   • él/ella/usted: no lea
   • nosotros/-as: no leamos
   • vosotros/-as: no leáis
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: no lean
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Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Perfect

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   1
   Learn the present perfect conjugation of leer. Use the present perfect form to describe an act of reading that originated before the present time without excluding or denying the possibility that the same act is not still ongoing oor that it may be repeated again.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "I have read that book," He leido ese libro.
   • yo: he leído
   • tú: has leído
   • él/ella/usted: ha leído
   • nosotros/-as: hemos leído
   • vosotros/-as: habéis leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: han leído
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   2
   Conjugate in the preterit perfect. The preterit perfect tense should be used to describe an act of reading when that act has happened at a fixed, definite point in the past.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "She had read that book," Ella hubo leido ese libro.
   • yo: hube leído
   • tú: hubiste leído
   • él/ella/usted: hubo leído
   • nosotros/-as: hubimos leído
   • vosotros/-as: hubisteis leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: hubieron leído
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   3
   Know the past perfect conjugation. Use the past perfect form of leer to describe the act of having read something at a fixed but undefined point somewhere in the past.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "They had read that book last week," Ellos habían leído ese libro semana pasada.
   • yo: había leído
   • tú: habías leído
   • él/ella/usted: había leído
   • nosotros/-as: habíamos leído
   • vosotros/-as: habíais leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: habían leído
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   4
   Use the conditional perfect form. The conditional perfect should be used to refer to an act of reading that would have happened had a certain condition had also been met.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "We would have read that book if you recommended it," Habríamos leído ese libro si lo recomienda.
   • yo: habría leído
   • tú: habrías leído
   • él/ella/usted: habría leído
   • nosotros/-as: habríamos leído
   • vosotros/-as: habríais leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: habrían leído
5. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/6\/6d\/Conjugate-Leer-Step-15.jpg\/v4-460px-Conjugate-Leer-Step-15.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/6\/6d\/Conjugate-Leer-Step-15.jpg\/aid3682330-v4-728px-Conjugate-Leer-Step-15.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>License: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" class=\"external text\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/3.0\/\">Creative Commons<\/a><br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
   5
   Opt for the future perfect. The future perfect form of leer should be used to describe a situation or object that will have been read by a certain point.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "I will have read that book if I finish my homework," Habré leído ese libro si si termino mi tarea.
   • yo: habré leído
   • tú: habrás leído
   • él/ella/usted: habrá leído
   • nosotros/-as: habremos leído
   • vosotros/-as: habréis leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: habrán leído
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Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Perfect Subjunctive

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   1
   Learn the present perfect subjunctive form of leer. Use the present perfect subjunctive to describe a supposed act of reading that one doubts or denies has happened at any point in the past.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "I doubt that she has read that book," Dudo que ella haya leído ese libro.
   • yo: haya leído
   • tú: hayas leído
   • él/ella/usted: haya leído
   • nosotros/-as: hayamos leído
   • vosotros/-as: hayáis leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: hayan leído
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   2
   Use the past perfect subjunctive. The past perfect subjunctive should be used to describe a supposed act of reading that one doubts or denies has been done at a fixed point in the past.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "I doubt that he had read the newspaper," Dudo que él hubiera leído el periódico.
   • yo: hubiera leído
   • tú: hubieras leído
   • él/ella/usted: hubiera leído
   • nosotros/-as: hubiéramos leído
   • vosotros/-as: hubierais leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: hubieran leído
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   3
   Conjugate leer in the future perfect subjunctive. Use the future perfect subjunctive to describe an act of reading that one doubts or denies will have happened.

   • This verb form consists of the conjugated helping verb, "haber," and the singular past participle of the word "leer."
   • Example: "I doubt that I would have read that book if you did not recommend it," Dudo que yo hubiere leído ese libro si no lo recomiendo.
   • yo: hubiere leído
   • tú: hubieres leído
   • él/ella/usted: hubiere leído
   • nosotros/-as: hubiéremos leído
   • vosotros/-as: hubiereis leído
   • ellos/ellas/ustedes: hubieren leído
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