Saber Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Exercises, and PDF

To know the meaning of Spanish verbs is an important part in the process of learning Spanish. 

To know how to conjugate these verbs is even more essential. 

To know that the English verb “to know” means both saber and conocer in Spanish will prove useful in conversations. 

To know, to know, to know. We use this verb quite a lot without even noticing, and in Spanish it’s pretty much the same thing. 

In this post, we’ll differentiate between saber and conocer, learn the saber conjugation set, and try a few exercises to practice your new skills. 

The Spanish Verb Saber

People are always learning new information. For instance, we go to school because there are important things we need to know. We also need to know about the news, or perhaps we want to get to know a person better. 

As you can see, in English, “to know” is an important verb. However, in Spanish this verb is translated as two different verbs: saber and conocer. They both mean “to know,” but we use them in different contexts. 

Saber is the verb you have to use when talking about facts, information, or how to do something. Conocer, on the other hand, is the verb we use when talking about knowing people, places, or things. 

A good tip about when to use these two verbs is to ask yourself if you can replace the verb “to know” in English for the verb “to meet.” If so, you should probably use conocer instead of saber.

Saber: An Irregular Verb 

Saber is an irregular verb, which means that it doesn’t follow the most common pattern of conjugations in Spanish. The saber conjugations follow a unique and specific pattern. 

This verb is irregular in the first person of present indicative, in the preterite, the future, conditional, and the present tense of the subjunctive mood.

Saber Conjugation

As every set of irregular verb conjugations, the saber conjugations have their own peculiarities. Going from prefix sab- to prefixes sup- and sep- are big changes that can be hard to master at first. 

However, this is a two-tier process. Memorizing the conjugations is the first step, and practicing them in real conversations will help you get a natural feeling even for the strangest conjugations of saber. 

Saber Verbals

Infinitive, gerund, and participle are the three verbals of the Spanish language. Remember that verbals are never conjugated and that they always need another conjugated verb in order to be used in a sentence. 

Saber Verbals
	Verbal	Example
Infinitive	saber (to know)	Me gustaría saber para qué sirve. – I’d like to know what’s this for.
Gerund	sabiendo (knowing)	No puedes hacer eso sabiendo que es un error. – You can’t do that knowing it is a mistake.
Participle	sabido (known)	De haberlo sabido antes, no lo habría hecho. – If I’d known before, I wouldn’t have done it.

Saber Conjugation: Indicative Mood

Let’s see now the indicative mood of the saber conjugation set, dividing them in simple tenses and compound tenses. Remember that compound tenses include the auxiliary verb haber (to have). 

Saber Conjugation: Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood

Subject	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
	(know)	(knew)	(knew)	(would knew)	(will know)
yo	sé	supe	sabía	sabría	sabré
tú	sabes	supiste	sabías	sabrías	sabrás
él/ella	sabe	supo	sabía	sabría	sabrá
nosotros	sabemos	supimos	sabíamos	sabríamos	sabremos
ustedes	saben	supieron	sabían	sabrían	sabrán
ellos/ellas	saben	supieron	sabían	sabrían	sabrán

Saber Conjugation: Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood

Subject	Present Perfect	Preterite Perfect	Past Perfect (Pluperfect)	Conditional Perfect	Future Perfect
	(have/has known)	(had known)	(had known)	(would have known)	(will have known)
yo	he sabido	hube sabido	había sabido	habría sabido	habré sabido
tú	has sabido	hubiste sabido	habías sabido	habrías sabido	habrás sabido
él/ella	ha sabido	hubo sabido	había sabido	habría sabido	habrá sabido
nosotros	hemos sabido	hubimos sabido	habíamos sabido	habríamos sabido	habremos sabido
ustedes	han sabido	hubieron sabido	habían sabido	habrían sabido	habrán sabido
ellos/ellas	han sabido	hubieron sabido	habían sabido	habrían sabido	habrán sabido

Saber Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

Now, let’s study the saber conjugations of the subjunctive mood. Remember that this mood is used to express wishes, hopes, and desires. 

Saber Conjugation: Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

Subject	Present	Imperfect	Imperfect 2	Future
yo	sepa	supiera	supiese	supiere
tú	sepas	supieras	supieses	supieres
él/ella	sepa	supiera	supiese	supiere
nosotros	sepamos	supiéramos	supiésemos	supiéremos
ustedes	sepan	supieran	supiesen	supieren
ellos/ellas	sepan	supieran	supiesen	supieren

Saber Conjugation: Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

Subject	Present Perfect	Past Perfect (Pluperfect)	Past Perfect 2 (Pluperfect 2)	Future Perfect
yo	haya sabido	hubiera sabido	hubiese sabido	hubiere sabido
tú	hayas sabido	hubieras sabido	hubieses sabido	hubieres sabido
él/ella	haya sabido	hubiera sabido	hubiese sabido	hubiere sabido
nosotros	hayamos sabido	hubiéramos sabido	hubiésemos sabido	hubiéremos sabido
ustedes	hayan sabido	hubieran sabido	hubiesen sabido	hubieren sabido
ellos/ellas	hayan sabido	hubieran sabido	hubiesen sabido	hubieren sabido

Saber Conjugation: Imperative Mood

The imperative mood in Spanish is used to give orders or commands, which can be affirmative or negative. This mood has fewer subjects to conjugate, due to the obvious reason that you cannot give an order to yourself or to a third person. 

Saber Conjugation: Imperative Mood

Subject	Affirmative	Negative
	(know / let’s know)	(don’t know   / let’s not know)
tú	sabe	no sepas
nosotros	sepamos	no sepamos
ustedes	sepan	no sepan

Saber Conjugation: Exercises

Fill in the blank using the right conjugation of saber: 

1. ¡ ________________ que vendrías! – I knew you’d come!.

2. Mañana ________________ quién ganó las elecciones. – Tomorrow we’ll know who won the election. 

3. Si _______________ español, esto no habría pasado. – If you knew Spanish, this wouldn’t have happened.

4. Lo _____________ desde el principio. – I’ve known it from the beginning.

5. Juan ________________ que está equivocado. – Juan knows he’s wrong.

6. Pensé que tú ________________ . – I thought you would know.

7. Si nos hubieras llamado, lo ________________ desde antes. – If you had called, we would have known it way before. 

8. Ellos _______________ que los están buscando. – They know that you are looking for them.

9. La próxima semana ________________ si conseguí el empleo. – Next week I’ll know if I’ve got the job.

10. _____________ que lo harás muy bien. – I know you’ll do it very well.

Now that you’ve learned everything you need to know about the saber conjugation, download this PDF and keep studying and practicing at home!

Answer Key

1. Sabía
2. sabremos
3. supieras
4. he sabido
5. sabe
6. sabrías
7. habríamos sabido
8. saben
9. sabré
10. Sé

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