Jugar Verb Conjugation in Spanish

When used with sports or games, jugar is almost always followed by the preposition a and the article el, la, los, las. Remember, when the article el comes after a, they create the shortened preposition al. For example:

jugar al futbol → to play soccer
jugar a los videojuegos → to play video games
jugar a la casita → to play house

Conjugations

The verb jugar is irregular in the present tense. It’s stem changes from o → ue in all conjugations except for the nosotros and vosotros forms.

Present

Example Sentence:

• Los ninos juegan al fútbol cada tarde. → The boys play soccer every afternoon.

Imperfect

Example Sentence:

• Mi abuelo siempre jugaba al ajedrez los domingos. → My Grandpa always used to play chess on Sundays.

Preterite

Example Sentence:

• El viernes pasado, mi amiga y yo jugamos al tenis. → Last Friday, my friend and I played tennis.

Future

Example Sentence:

• La próxima semana, jugaremos a las cartas en la casa de Felipe. → Next week, we will play cards at Felipe’s house.

Conditional

Example Sentence:

• Yo pensé que vosotros jugaríais afuera, pero os habéis quedado en casa viendo la tele. → I thought that you guys would play outside, but you stayed inside watching TV.

Whether you’re playing sports or playing a game, jugar is a fun verb to work into your Spanish vocabulary. There is no doubt, however, that it will be one of the essential verbs you will need to master when first learning Spanish.