Skip to content
fluentbyear

SPANISH VERB

observar

to watch, to observe

  • #133 most used
  • Regular -ar verb
  • Gerund: observando
  • Past participle: observado

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Presente · now, habits and facts

  1. yo I watch
  2. tú you watch
  3. usted, él, ella he/she watches
  4. nosotros we watch
  5. vosotros Spain you all watch
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they watch

Past

Pretérito indefinido · finished actions

  1. yo I watched
  2. tú you watched
  3. usted, él, ella he/she watched
  4. nosotros we watched
  5. vosotros Spain you all watched
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they watched

Imperfect

Pretérito imperfecto · “used to” and “was …ing”

  1. yo I used to watch
  2. tú you used to watch
  3. usted, él, ella he/she used to watch
  4. nosotros we used to watch
  5. vosotros Spain you all used to watch
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they used to watch

Future

Futuro · plans and promises; in speech, “voy a hablar” is just as common

  1. yo I will watch
  2. tú you will watch
  3. usted, él, ella he/she will watch
  4. nosotros we will watch
  5. vosotros Spain you all will watch
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they will watch

Conditional

Condicional · “would”

  1. yo I would watch
  2. tú you would watch
  3. usted, él, ella he/she would watch
  4. nosotros we would watch
  5. vosotros Spain you all would watch
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas they would watch

Present subjunctive

Presente de subjuntivo · wishes, doubts, “que …”

  1. yo (that) I watch
  2. tú (that) you watch
  3. usted, él, ella (that) he/she watch
  4. nosotros (that) we watch
  5. vosotros Spain (that) you all watch
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas (that) they watch

Past subjunctive

Imperfecto de subjuntivo · “if I were”, “si …”

  1. yo (if) I watched
  2. tú (if) you watched
  3. usted, él, ella (if) he/she watched
  4. nosotros (if) we watched
  5. vosotros Spain (if) you all watched
  6. ustedes, ellos, ellas (if) they watched

Imperative

Imperativo · requests and orders; a negative one uses the subjunctive (no hables)

  1. tú watch!
  2. usted watch! (formal)
  3. nosotros watch! (let’s)
  4. vosotros Spain watch! (all of you)
  5. ustedes watch! (all of you)

How to use observar

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Me gusta observar a la gente desde el café.

    I like watching people from the café.

  2. Past

    Observamos las estrellas desde la playa anoche.

    We watched the stars from the beach last night.

  3. Imperfect

    El gato observaba a los pájaros desde la ventana.

    The cat watched the birds from the window.

  4. Future

    La enfermera te observará durante la noche.

    The nurse will keep an eye on you overnight.

  5. Conditional

    Yo observaría cómo lo hacen antes de intentarlo.

    I'd watch how they do it before trying.

  6. Present subjunctive

    El maestro quiere que observemos el experimento en silencio.

    The teacher wants us to watch the experiment in silence.

  7. Past subjunctive

    El guía nos pidió que observáramos sin tocar nada.

    The guide asked us to look without touching anything.

  8. Imperative

    ¡Observa bien, lo voy a hacer una sola vez!

    Watch carefully, I'm only going to do it once!

Good to know

  • "Observar" is to watch closely; "mirar" is just to look.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: regular -ar verb.