Costar conjugation chart
Costar present tense
presente · I speak
| yo | I cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you cost | |
| vos | you cost | |
| él, ella, usted | it costs | |
| nosotros | we cost | |
| vosotros | you all cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they cost |
The highlighted forms change their stem. Notice that nosotros, vosotros and vos stay out: draw a line around the forms that change and you get a boot, which is why these are called “boot verbs.”
Costar preterite
pretérito · I spoke
| yo | I cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you cost | |
| vos | you cost | |
| él, ella, usted | it cost | |
| nosotros | we cost | |
| vosotros | you all cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they cost |
Regular: same endings as hablar.
Costar imperfect
pretérito imperfecto · I used to speak
| yo | I cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you cost | |
| vos | you cost | |
| él, ella, usted | it cost | |
| nosotros | we cost | |
| vosotros | you all cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they cost |
Regular: same endings as hablar.
Costar future
futuro · I will speak
| yo | I will cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you will cost | |
| vos | you will cost | |
| él, ella, usted | it will cost | |
| nosotros | we will cost | |
| vosotros | you all will cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they will cost |
Regular: same endings as hablar.
Costar conditional
condicional · I would speak
| yo | I would cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you would cost | |
| vos | you would cost | |
| él, ella, usted | it would cost | |
| nosotros | we would cost | |
| vosotros | you all would cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they would cost |
Regular: same endings as hablar.
Costar present subjunctive
presente de subjuntivo · that I speak
| yo | that I cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | that you cost | |
| vos | that you cost | |
| él, ella, usted | that it cost | |
| nosotros | that we cost | |
| vosotros | that you all cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | that they cost |
Irregular in yo, tú, él/ella/usted and ellos/ustedes (in red): cueste, cuestes…; the other forms are regular.
Costar imperfect subjunctive
imperfecto de subjuntivo · if I spoke
| yo | if I cost | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | if you cost | |
| vos | if you cost | |
| él, ella, usted | if it cost | |
| nosotros | if we cost | |
| vosotros | if you all cost | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | if they cost |
Regular: same endings as hablar.
In the subjunctive, vos takes the same form as tú in careful speech. The imperfect subjunctive also has an -se form (costase), more common in writing.
Costar affirmative commands
imperativo · speak!
| tú | ||
|---|---|---|
| vos | ||
| usted | ||
| nosotros | ||
| vosotros | ||
| ustedes |
The tú form is the él form of the present: cuesta. Usted, nosotros and ustedes come from the present subjunctive (cueste, costemos, cuesten).
Costar negative commands
imperativo negativo · don't speak!
| tú | ||
|---|---|---|
| vos | ||
| usted | ||
| nosotros | ||
| vosotros | ||
| ustedes |
Built from the present subjunctive: no + cuestes, cueste…
Always the verb haber + the past participle costado, which never changes.
Costar present perfect
pretérito perfecto · I have spoken
| yo | he costado |
|---|---|
| tú | has costado |
| vos | has costado |
| él, ella, usted | ha costado |
| nosotros | hemos costado |
| vosotros | habéis costado |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | han costado |
Costar pluperfect
pluscuamperfecto · I had spoken
| yo | había costado |
|---|---|
| tú | habías costado |
| vos | habías costado |
| él, ella, usted | había costado |
| nosotros | habíamos costado |
| vosotros | habíais costado |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habían costado |
Costar future perfect
futuro perfecto · I will have spoken
| yo | habré costado |
|---|---|
| tú | habrás costado |
| vos | habrás costado |
| él, ella, usted | habrá costado |
| nosotros | habremos costado |
| vosotros | habréis costado |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrán costado |
Costar conditional perfect
condicional perfecto · I would have spoken
| yo | habría costado |
|---|---|
| tú | habrías costado |
| vos | habrías costado |
| él, ella, usted | habría costado |
| nosotros | habríamos costado |
| vosotros | habríais costado |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrían costado |
Costar present perfect subjunctive
pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo · that I have spoken
| yo | haya costado |
|---|---|
| tú | hayas costado |
| vos | hayas costado |
| él, ella, usted | haya costado |
| nosotros | hayamos costado |
| vosotros | hayáis costado |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | hayan costado |
In Latin America, ustedes is the only “you all”; vosotros is used only in Spain. Vos is used in Argentina, Uruguay and much of Central America. Uncheck the boxes above to hide what you don’t need.
Watch out
The verb agrees with the thing, not with you: ¿cuánto cuesta? for one thing, ¿cuánto cuestan? for several. Costar also means something is hard for you, and then it works like gustar: me cuesta levantarme temprano (getting up early is hard for me).
Examples with costar
¿Cuánto cuestan los tacos?
How much are the tacos?
Me cuesta mucho levantarme temprano.
Getting up early is really hard for me.
El arreglo me costó una fortuna.
The repair cost me a fortune.
Practice costar
Type the right form and press Enter. A missing accent still counts, but I'll point it out.
Verbs like costar
Stem change o → ue (costar → cuestas). Same pattern:
poder puedesvolver vuelvescontar cuentasencontrar encuentrasrecordar recuerdasdormir duermesmorir mueresjugar juegas