Mentir conjugation chart
Mentir present tense
presente · I speak
| yo | I lie | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you lie | |
| vos | you lie | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she lies | |
| nosotros | we lie | |
| vosotros | you all lie | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they lie |
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.”
Mentir preterite
pretérito · I spoke
| yo | I lied | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you lied | |
| vos | you lied | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she lied | |
| nosotros | we lied | |
| vosotros | you all lied | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they lied |
Irregular in él/ella/usted and ellos/ustedes (in red): mintió, mintieron…; the other forms are regular.
Mentir imperfect
pretérito imperfecto · I used to speak
| yo | I used to lie | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you used to lie | |
| vos | you used to lie | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she used to lie | |
| nosotros | we used to lie | |
| vosotros | you all used to lie | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they used to lie |
Regular: same endings as vivir.
Mentir future
futuro · I will speak
| yo | I will lie | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you will lie | |
| vos | you will lie | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she will lie | |
| nosotros | we will lie | |
| vosotros | you all will lie | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they will lie |
Regular: same endings as vivir.
Mentir conditional
condicional · I would speak
| yo | I would lie | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you would lie | |
| vos | you would lie | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she would lie | |
| nosotros | we would lie | |
| vosotros | you all would lie | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they would lie |
Regular: same endings as vivir.
Mentir present subjunctive
presente de subjuntivo · that I speak
| yo | that I lie | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | that you lie | |
| vos | that you lie | |
| él, ella, usted | that he/she lie | |
| nosotros | that we lie | |
| vosotros | that you all lie | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | that they lie |
Irregular stem mi- + -enta, -entas, -ntamos, -ntáis, -entan.
Mentir imperfect subjunctive
imperfecto de subjuntivo · if I spoke
| yo | if I lied | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | if you lied | |
| vos | if you lied | |
| él, ella, usted | if he/she lied | |
| nosotros | if we lied | |
| vosotros | if you all lied | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | if they lied |
Irregular stem minti- + -era, -eras, -éramos, -erais, -eran.
In the subjunctive, vos takes the same form as tú in careful speech. The imperfect subjunctive also has an -se form (mintiese), more common in writing.
Mentir affirmative commands
imperativo · speak!
| tú | lie! | |
|---|---|---|
| vos | lie! | |
| usted | lie! | |
| nosotros | let's lie! | |
| vosotros | lie! | |
| ustedes | lie! |
The tú form is the él form of the present: miente. Usted, nosotros and ustedes come from the present subjunctive (mienta, mintamos, mientan).
Mentir negative commands
imperativo negativo · don't speak!
| tú | don't lie! | |
|---|---|---|
| vos | don't lie! | |
| usted | don't lie! | |
| nosotros | let's not lie! | |
| vosotros | don't lie! | |
| ustedes | don't lie! |
Built from the present subjunctive: no + mientas, mienta…
Always the verb haber + the past participle mentido, which never changes.
Mentir present perfect
pretérito perfecto · I have spoken
| yo | he mentido |
|---|---|
| tú | has mentido |
| vos | has mentido |
| él, ella, usted | ha mentido |
| nosotros | hemos mentido |
| vosotros | habéis mentido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | han mentido |
Mentir pluperfect
pluscuamperfecto · I had spoken
| yo | había mentido |
|---|---|
| tú | habías mentido |
| vos | habías mentido |
| él, ella, usted | había mentido |
| nosotros | habíamos mentido |
| vosotros | habíais mentido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habían mentido |
Mentir future perfect
futuro perfecto · I will have spoken
| yo | habré mentido |
|---|---|
| tú | habrás mentido |
| vos | habrás mentido |
| él, ella, usted | habrá mentido |
| nosotros | habremos mentido |
| vosotros | habréis mentido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrán mentido |
Mentir conditional perfect
condicional perfecto · I would have spoken
| yo | habría mentido |
|---|---|
| tú | habrías mentido |
| vos | habrías mentido |
| él, ella, usted | habría mentido |
| nosotros | habríamos mentido |
| vosotros | habríais mentido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrían mentido |
Mentir present perfect subjunctive
pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo · that I have spoken
| yo | haya mentido |
|---|---|
| tú | hayas mentido |
| vos | hayas mentido |
| él, ella, usted | haya mentido |
| nosotros | hayamos mentido |
| vosotros | hayáis mentido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | hayan mentido |
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
English “lie” is two verbs in Spanish: mentir is not telling the truth, and lying down is acostarse or estar acostado. “To lie to someone” uses an indirect object: me mentiste (you lied to me).
Examples with mentir
No te miento, fue increíble.
I'm not lying to you, it was amazing.
¿Por qué me mentiste?
Why did you lie to me?
Nunca le mentiría a mi mamá.
I would never lie to my mom.
Practice mentir
Type the right form and press Enter. A missing accent still counts, but I'll point it out.
Verbs like mentir
Stem change e → ie (mentir → mientes). Same pattern:
tener tienesquerer quieresvenir vienespensar piensasempezar empiezascomenzar comienzascerrar cierrasentender entiendes