“Repetir” Conjugation Made Easy: The Ultimate Guide to Conjugating “Repetir” in Spanish

Learning a new language takes a lot of repetition, so it’s about time we learn about this verb: repetir. Repetir is not that hard to conjugate, but it does have several meanings to consider.

In this article, we’ll go over the repetir conjugation. We’ll start by explaining what type of verb this is and look into its different meanings. We’ll then move on to repetir conjugation basics and make our way to more advanced tenses. We’ll try not to repeat ourselves too much as we do this.

What kind of verb is repetir?

Repetir is a stem-changing verb. This means it doesn’t follow the standard conjugation for verbs ending in “-ir.” But don’t worry! Repetir changes the second “e” for an “i” just in a handful of tenses, as we’ll see below.

As you probably know by now, in Spanish, verbs always end either in “-ar,” “-er,” or “ir.” The other part of the verb is called a stem. Stem-changing verbs are those that change the last vowel of the stem in some conjugations. You can find more information about stem-changing verbs in this article.

The meanings of repetir

Repetir has the added challenge of having different meanings and connotations. We’ll look at the most common below.

The most common meaning of repetir is to repeat something. It could be an action, a sentence, or even food! But it can also mean doing something over (like a test or an exam) or getting a potent aftertaste. Let’s look at each of these.

To do again

Repetir can merely mean doing a specific activity again. Let’s look at a couple of examples.

• Prométeme que no repetirás ese error. (Promise me you won’t make that mistake again.)
• ¿Repetimos el ejercicio? (Shall we do the exercise again?)
• Espero que esto no se repita. (I hope this doesn’t happen again.)

To tell/say again

Just like in English, repetir is also used when we repeat our or someone else’s words. This is a widespread use of the verb. Here are some examples.

• ¡No repitas lo que te dije! (Don’t tell anyone what I’ve told you.)
• ¿Puedes repetir lo que dijiste, María? (Can you repeat what you said, María?)
• Miguel me repitió la misma respuesta una y otra vez. (Miguel repeated the same answer to me over and over again.)

To have seconds

Do you usually have seconds or thirds? In Spanish, we also repeat food. No matter how often you refill your plate, you’ll use the same verb. Let’s take a look!

• ¿Abuela, puedo repetir? (Grandma, can I have seconds?)
• Estaba hambriento. ¡Repetí cuatro veces! (I was starving. I had four helpings!)
• Lo lamento, no hay suficiente para repetir. (I’m sorry, there’s not enough for seconds.)

To fail/resit/retake

I’m sure you’d prefer to have another serving than resit an exam or retake a course. But the latter is another of the meanings behind the verb repetir.

• Manuela repitió el examen. (Manuela failed the exam.)
• ¿Tendré que repetir la materia? (Will I have to retake the subject?)

To get an aftertaste

The final definition of repetir is quite specific. Do you know that aftertaste you get when eating or drinking particularly strong foods or drinks? Like garlic, gazpacho, or oranges? Well, repetir can also refer to that.

• No, gracias. Si como cebolla cruda, repito. (No, thanks. If I eat raw onion, I get a bad aftertaste.)
• ¿Qué comidas repites? (What foods give you a bad aftertaste?)

Verbals of repetir: infinitive, gerund and participle

Now that we’ve covered the different meanings of repetir, let’s dig into its conjugation. We’ll start by looking at its verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. As you may know, verbals function as nouns, adjectives and adverbs instead of actual verbs. This may sound a bit tricky, but you’ll have it down in a snap. We’ll share some examples below that show that verbals are an easy start to the repetir conjugation.

Infinitive

Repetir (to repeat)

• Vamos a repetir el ejercicio. (Let’s repeat the exercise. / Let’s do the exercise again.)

Gerund

Repitiendo (repeating)

• Estaba repitiendo la misma oración. (He/She was repeating the same sentence)

Participle

Repetido (repeated)

• Si Clara hubiese repetido la cena, no tendría hambre. (If Clara had had seconds at dinner, she wouldn’t be hungry.)

Repetir conjugation for all levels

Let’s get this started: repetir conjugation for beginners

As we’ve discussed in previous articles, there are 10 tenses in the indicative mood in the Spanish language. In this section, we’ll go over the most common and simplest forms of the repetir 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).

Subject	Present	Imperfect Preterite	Perfect Preterite	Future
Yo (I)	repito	repetía	repetí	repetiré
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	repites repetís	repetías repetías	repetiste	repetirás
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	repite	repetía	repitió	repetirá
Nosotros (We)	repetimos	repetíamos	repetimos	repetiremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	repetís repiten	repetíais repetían	repetisteis repitieron	repetiréis repetirán
Ellos (Them)	repiten	repetían	repitieron	repetirán

Repetir conjugation examples for beginners

• Present: Repetimos el poema. (We repeated the proem.)
• Imperfect preterite: No quiero repetir lo que dijo. (I don’t want to repeat what he/she said.)
• Perfect preterite: ¿Repitió la materia? (Did he/she retake the subject?)
• Future: ¿Repetiremos el viaje algún día? (Will we do the trip again someday?)

Going for seconds: repetir conjugation for intermediate students

Now that we have the basics, let’s kick things up a notch! In this section, we’ll focus on the compound tenses of the repetir conjugation in the indicative mood.

Mastering the haber conjugation is the key to learning these tenses. The only form of repetir that is actually used here is the participle “repetido”. Compound tenses in Spanish are formed with the correct form of the verb haber + the past participle of the verb in question (i.e., repetido), which is the one that carries the meaning.

In the table below you’ll find the pretérito perfecto (preterite perfect), pluscuamperfecto (pluperfect) and futuro compuesto (future perfect) tenses for repetir. We recommend you take a look at our article on the haber conjugation for some extra help.

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

Repetir conjugation examples for intermediate level

• Preterite perfect: Han repetido la cena. (They had seconds for dinner.)
• Pluperfect: Había repetido el examen. (I had resat the exam.)
• Future perfect: ¿Habrá repetido la cebolla? (Would the onion have caused the bad aftertaste?)

Ready for the third round?: repetir conjugation for advanced learners

Things are getting serious! In this section, we’ll cover the subjunctive mood. This Spanish mood is indeed quite moody; it is 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 repetir conjugation.

Subject	Present	Imperfect	Future
Yo (I)	repita	repitiera o repitiese	repitiere
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	repitas	repitieras o repitieses	repitieres
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	repita	repitiera o repitiese	repitiere
Nosotros (We)	repitamos	repitiéramos o repitiésemos	repitiéremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	repitáis repitan	repitierais o repitieseis repitieran o repitiesen	repitiereis repitieren
Ellos (Them)	repitan	repitieran o repitiesen	repitieren

Repetir conjugation examples for advanced learners

• Present: ¡Qué repitan lo que escucharon si quieren! (Let them repeat what they’ve heard if they want!)
• Imperfect: Si Juan repitiera la comida todos los días, no podríamos costearlo. (If Juan had seconds everyday, we wouldn’t be able to afford it.)

You are unlikely to run into the subjunctive future in conversation nowadays. This tense has been relegated to literature or legal contexts. That is why we haven’t added a conjugation example for the repetir subjunctive future here. However, we still think it’s important to know it exists and what it looks like.

Extra repetir conjugation: conditional tenses and imperative

Enjoy repetition? Then you’ve come to the right place! In this section will 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)	repetiría	habría repetido
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	repetirías	habrías repetido	¡repite! ¡repetí!
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	repetiría	habría repetido	¡repita!
Nosotros (We)	repetiríamos	habríamos repetido	¡repitamos!
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	repetiríais repetirán	habríais repetido habrían repetido	¡repetid!
Ellos (Them)	repetirían	habrían repetido	¡repitan!

Repetir conjugation examples in the conditional tenses

• Simple conditional: Si hubiese más postre, repetiría una tercera vez. (If there was more dessert, I would have a third serving.)
• Conditional perfect: Si hubiese repetido la clase, no hubiese podido graduarme este año. (If I had repeated the class, I wouldn’t have been able to graduate this year.)
• Imperative: ¡Repite que hay comida de sobra! (Have more, there is plenty of food!)

Spanish quotes about repetition

After all of this repetition, we thought we’d end this article with some interesting Spanish quotes.

“Una cosa es continuar la historia y otra repetirla.”
(Repeating history is different to continuing it.)
Jacinto Benavente – Spanish playwright

“Soy uno de los pocos mortales que disfruta del matrimonio hasta tal extremo que, de repetir, jamás lo haría por si acaso.”
(I am one of few mortals that enjoys marriage to the point that, if I had the chance to do it again, I wouldn’t just in case.)
José Luis Coll – Spanish actor and comedian

“En la vejez no se hace más que repetirse.”
(In old age, one does nothing but to repeat oneself.)
Pío Baroja – Spanish writer

“La gente no sabe imaginar el futuro y tiende a repetir el pasado cuando lo intenta”
(People don’t know how to imagine the future and tend to repeat the past when they try.)
Eduardo Punset – Spanish lawyer, politician and economist

Repetir conjugation – Conclusion

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

We hope this guide on the repetir conjugation has answered your question regarding this verb and its different meanings. If you want some more information on Spanish conjugations, feel free to take a peek at our overview of Spanish tenses.