Livin’ La Vida Loca: The Complete Guide to the Vivir Conjugation

Today, we’re bringing you a key and incredibly useful verb in Spanish: vivir (to live). Just like in English, this verb has different uses.

We’ll start by explaining what type of verb vivir is and then move on to vivir conjugation basics. We’ll make our way to more challenging tenses and go through a whole set of idioms and phrases. We’ll finish things off with a few song recommendations. Are you ready to start living?

What kind of verb is vivir?

Vivir is a regular verb. Yes, you heard that right. We are looking at a completely regular verb today! That means that the vivir conjugation follows the same rules as every other Spanish verb ending in -IR.

We’ll look at this irregularity in the next section, but rest assured, the vivir conjugation is an easy one.

Meanings of vivir

The interesting thing about vivir is its meaning. As we mentioned above, it works similarly to English. We can use vivir, for example, to:

• Express that something or someone is alive: Viven. (They live.)
• Describe someone living their life: Vive como quiere. (He/She lives however he/she likes.)
• State that someone lives on: Siempre vivirás en mis recuerdos. (You will always live in my memory.)
• Denote where someone physically lives: Viven en España. (They live in Spain.)
• Specify cohabitation: Viven juntos. (They live together.)

We’ll go over some other uses of this verb, but this gives you an idea of how you can use vivir.

Verbals of vivir: infinitive, gerund and participle

Now, let’s dive into the vivir conjugation. We’ll begin by looking at its verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. As you might know, Spanish verbals work as nouns, adjectives and adverbs instead of actual verbs. That can sound confusing, but it’s fairly easy to get used to. We’ll give you some examples below to show you how the vivir conjugation verbals work.

Infinitive

Vivir (to live)

• Quiero vivir la vida al máximo. (I want to live life to the fullest.)

Gerund

Viviendo (living)

• Ahora estoy viviendo en Barcelona. (I am living in Barcelona now.)

Participle

Vivido (lived)

• Había vivido años sola. (She had lived on her own for years.)

Vivir conjugation for all levels

Living day to day: vivir conjugation for beginners

The Spanish indicative mood (used to state facts and express opinions) includes 10 tenses. In this section, we’ll go over the four most common forms of the vivir conjugation: presente (present), pretérito imperfecto (imperfect preterite, a form of the past tense), pretérito perfecto (perfect preterite, another form of the past tense) and futuro (future). Since vivir is a regular verb, you’ll have these down in no time!

Subject	Present	Imperfect Preterite	Perfect Preterite	Future
Yo (I)	vivo	vivía	viví	viviré
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	vives vivís	vivías	viviste	vivirás
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	vive	vivía	vivió	vivirá
Nosotros (We)	vivimos	vivíamos	vivimos	viviremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	vivís viven	vivíais vivían	vivisteis vivieron	viviréis vivirán
Ellos (Them)	viven	vivían	vivieron	vivirán

Vivir conjugation examples for beginners

• Present: ¿Vivís en Córdoba todavía? (Do you still live in Cordoba?)
• Imperfect preterite: No vivían juntos. (They didn’t live together.)
• Perfect preterite: Viví siempre así. (I always lived this way.)
• Future: Viviremos para siempre. (We’ll live forever.)

Living a full life: vivir conjugation for intermediate students

You’ve got the basics; it’s time for a challenge. So, we will now focus on the compound tenses of the vivir conjugation, also in the indicative mood.

The haber conjugation helps with the compound side of these tenses. They only use one form of vivir: the participle “vivido”. Compound tenses in Spanish are formed with the correct form of the verb haber + the past participle of the verb in question (i.e., vivido), which carries the meaning.

The table below includes the pretérito perfecto (preterite perfect), pluscuamperfecto (pluperfect) and futuro compuesto (future perfect) tenses for vivir. It can also be useful to review our article on the haber conjugation.

Subject	Preterite Perfect	Pluperfect	Future Perfect
Yo (I)	he vivido	había vivido	habré vivido
Tu/Vos (You)	has vivido	habías vivido	habrás vivido
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	ha vivido	había vivido	habrá vivido
Nosotros (We)	hemos vivido	habíamos vivido	habremos vivido
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	habéis vivido han vivido	habíais vivido habían vivido	habréis vivido habrán vivido
Ellos (Them)	han vivido	habían vivido	habrán vivido

Vivir conjugation examples for intermediate level

• Preterite perfect: Habéis vivido lo peor. (You have lived through the worst.)
• Pluperfect: ¿Habías vivido en el centro? (Had you lived downtown?)
• Future perfect: ¡Si habrá vivido! (The things she/he must have lived through!)

Living on the edge: vivir conjugation for advanced learners

We know you are eager for more. So, in this section, we’ll tackle the subjunctive mood. We never get tired of saying the Spanish mood is quite moody. It’s used to express doubts, emotions, desires, and the unknown. Below, we’ll look at its presente (present), imperfecto (imperfect) and futuro (future) tenses for the vivir conjugation.

Subject	Present	Imperfect	Future
Yo (I)	viva	viviera or viviese	viviere
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	vivas	vivieras or vivieses	vivieres
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	viva	viviera or viviese	viviere
Nosotros (We)	vivamos	viviéramos or viviésemos	viviéremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	viváis vivan	vivierais or vivieseis vivieran or viviesen	viviereis vivieren
Ellos (Them)	vivan	vivieran or viviesen	vivieren

• Present: ¡Viva el Rey! (Long live the King!)
• Imperfect: Si vivieses así, me preocuparía. (If you lived this way, I would be worried.)
• Si viviereis en el extranjero, entenderíais otras culturas. (If you were to live abroad, you would understand other cultures.)

It is rare to hear the subjunctive future in conversation nowadays. This tense has been relegated to literature or legal contexts.

Extra vivir conjugation: conditional tenses and imperative

Let’s live and learn for a little longer. In this final section of the vivir conjugation, we’ll cover three more tenses: the condicional simple (simple conditional), the condicional compuesto (conditional perfect) and the imperative.

Subject	Simple Conditional	Conditional Perfect	Imperative
Yo (I)	viviría	habría vivido
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	vivirías	habrías vivido	¡vive! ¡viví!
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	viviría	habría vivido	¡viva!
Nosotros (We)	viviríamos	habríamos vivido	¡vivamos!
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	viviríais vivirían	habríais vivido habrían vivido	¡vivid! ¡vivan!
Ellos (Them)	vivirían	habrían vivido	¡vivan!

Vivir conjugation examples in the conditional tenses and the imperative

• Simple conditional: Si pudiese, viviría en una mansión. (If I could, I would live in a mansion.)
• Conditional perfect: Si hubiesen tenido dinero, habrían vivido de otra manera. (If they had had money, they would have lived differently.)
• Imperative: ¡Vivan! (Live!)

If you want more information on conditional tenses, you can read this article.

Live to the fullest: idioms and phrases with vivir

Now that we are proficient in the vivir conjugation, it’s time to have some fun with idioms and phrases.

No dejar vivir

This phrase translates to “not let live” and means to annoy/disturb someone.

Vivir para ver

Literally meaning “live to see,” this phrase is used as a response to an unexpected situation, particularly a negative one.

¡Viva!

Similar to “hurrah,” this expression is used to cheer. It can also be used as “long live” as in one of our earlier examples of vivir.

Vivir deprisa

Meaning “to live fast,” this idiom implies that someone is overworking or not taking care of themselves.

¿Quién vive?

This phrase comes from the French “Qui vive?” used by castle sentinels to see whether someone approaching was friend or foe. It literally means “Who lives?” and the correct answer was “Long live the King!” The phrase is now used with a more literal sense in ordinary life, for example, to ask who is home when you arrive.

Live to tell the tale: songs about vivir

There is a myriad of songs that celebrate life in Spanish. Here is just a taste to get you started.

“Vivir mi vida” by Marc Anthony

In addition to being J Lo’s ex-husband, Marc Anthony is a prolific salsa artist. “Vivir mi vida” is a cover of “C’est la vie” by Algerian singer Cheb Khaled.

“Gracias a la vida” by Violeta Parra

You might be more familiar with Mercedes Sosa’s version of this song. However, “Gracias a la vida” is Chilean folk singer-songwriter Violeta Parra’s most famous track. It’s considered to be a humanist hymn.

“La vida es un carnaval” by Celia Cruz

Written by Victor Daniel and performed by the Queen of Salsa, this song is on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

“Livin’ la vida loca” by Ricky Martin

We bet you are familiar with this one. But have you heard the full Spanish version? Ricky Martin has a musical career spanning over four decades, full of Spanish- and English-language hits.

“Me olvidé de vivir” by Julio Iglesias

If you are a fan of ballads, Julio Iglesias is a great artist to explore. His son, Enrique Iglesias, is also a very popular musician.

“Vivir” by Rozalén ft. Estopa

Spanish singer-songwriter Rozalén has collaborated with many outstanding Hispanic musicians, including Natalia Lafourcade, Marcela Morelo, Carlos Vives and Alejandro Sanz.

We hope this guide on the vivir conjugation has brought your Spanish back to life. If you want some more information on Spanish conjugations, feel free to take a peek at our overview of Spanish tenses and the full -IR verb conjugation.