Bailar means to dance, and it is the model citizen of Spanish -ar verbs: not a single irregularity, not a single accent surprise, not a single stem change. If you can conjugate bailar, you can conjugate about 90% of the Spanish lexicon, because -ar is by far the largest verb class and the one to which all new coinages get assigned (think tuitear, googlear, wasapear). Use bailar as your mental scaffolding for cantar, hablar, trabajar, estudiar, cocinar, viajar, and thousands more.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | bailar | to dance |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber bailado | to have danced |
| Gerundio | bailando | dancing |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo bailado | having danced |
| Participio | bailado | danced |
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailo | bailas | baila | bailamos | bailáis | bailan |
The vosotros form bailáis carries an obligatory written accent on the á — without it, the stress would shift incorrectly to the diphthong.
Mis hermanas bailan flamenco desde pequeñas.
My sisters have been dancing flamenco since they were little.
Pretérito perfecto simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailé | bailaste | bailó | bailamos | bailasteis | bailaron |
Note the two written accents on the stressed endings (bailé, bailó); these are obligatory and distinguish the preterite from other forms in writing.
Anoche bailamos hasta las cinco de la mañana en una sala de Malasaña.
Last night we danced until five in the morning at a club in Malasaña.
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailaba | bailabas | bailaba | bailábamos | bailabais | bailaban |
The imperfect of -ar verbs is one of the easiest sets in the language: the -aba- core is invariant and the only written accent is on bailábamos.
De pequeña bailaba en una academia de sevillanas en Triana.
As a little girl, I used to dance at a sevillanas academy in Triana.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailaré | bailarás | bailará | bailaremos | bailaréis | bailarán |
In modern peninsular speech, plans are usually expressed with ir a + infinitive (vamos a bailar) rather than the simple future; the synthetic future is reserved for predictions and promises.
En la boda bailaremos hasta caer rendidos.
At the wedding, we'll dance until we drop.
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailaría | bailarías | bailaría | bailaríamos | bailaríais | bailarían |
Bailaría contigo, pero me duele muchísimo el tobillo.
I'd dance with you, but my ankle is killing me.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses pair the auxiliary haber with the perfectly regular participle bailado.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he bailado | has bailado | ha bailado | hemos bailado | habéis bailado | han bailado |
In Spain, the pretérito perfecto compuesto is the default for actions occurring within a time frame that includes the present (today, this week, this year, ever in your life). Esta noche he bailado mucho is the natural Spain choice; bailé mucho esta noche sounds Latin American.
Esta noche hemos bailado como nunca.
Tonight we've danced like never before.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había bailado | habías bailado | había bailado | habíamos bailado | habíais bailado | habían bailado |
Cuando llegué al banquete, ya habían bailado el vals.
By the time I got to the banquet, they had already danced the waltz.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré bailado | habrás bailado | habrá bailado | habremos bailado | habréis bailado | habrán bailado |
Para finales de junio, habremos bailado en cinco bodas.
By the end of June, we'll have danced at five weddings.
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría bailado | habrías bailado | habría bailado | habríamos bailado | habríais bailado | habrían bailado |
Habría bailado contigo si me lo hubieras pedido antes.
I would have danced with you if you'd asked me earlier.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| baile | bailes | baile | bailemos | bailéis | bailen |
The present subjunctive of -ar verbs swaps the indicative -a- core for -e-; the vosotros form bailéis keeps a written accent on the é.
Quiero que bailes conmigo aunque sea solo una canción.
I want you to dance with me, even if it's just one song.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | bailara | bailaras | bailara | bailáramos | bailarais | bailaran |
| -se | bailase | bailases | bailase | bailásemos | bailaseis | bailasen |
Both endings are interchangeable. In spoken peninsular Spanish, -ra dominates; -se survives in literary and formal registers.
Si bailara mejor, me apuntaría al concurso de tango.
If I danced better, I'd sign up for the tango contest.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya bailado | hayas bailado | haya bailado | hayamos bailado | hayáis bailado | hayan bailado |
Me alegro de que hayáis bailado tanto en mi boda.
I'm so glad you all danced so much at my wedding.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera bailado | hubieras bailado | hubiera bailado | hubiéramos bailado | hubierais bailado | hubieran bailado |
| -se | hubiese bailado | hubieses bailado | hubiese bailado | hubiésemos bailado | hubieseis bailado | hubiesen bailado |
Si hubieras bailado conmigo, no me habría aburrido tanto.
If you'd danced with me, I wouldn't have been so bored.
Imperative
The affirmative vosotros imperative bailad is obligatory in Spain — it never collapses to bailar or bailéis in correct written or formal speech. (You will hear bailar used as an imperative in casual speech across Spain — ¡venir aquí!, ¡bailar conmigo! — but every grammar book marks this as substandard, and you should not use it in writing.)
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | baila | no bailes |
| usted | baile | no baile |
| nosotros | bailemos | no bailemos |
| vosotros | bailad | no bailéis |
| ustedes | bailen | no bailen |
¡Bailad, chicos, que la música está genial!
(to a group of friends) Dance, guys — the music's amazing!
No bailes tan cerca, me estás pisando.
Don't dance so close, you're stepping on me.
When you attach a pronoun to the affirmative form, write it as a single word and add a written accent if the stress would otherwise shift: báilalo, báilame, bailadla. The reflexive vosotros form drops the final -d: bailaos (rare for bailar, but the rule matters for verbs like iros, callaos).
High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spanish
These are phrases you will hear constantly in Spain. Learn the longer ones as single chunks.
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| bailar flamenco / sevillanas / pasodoble | to dance flamenco / sevillanas / paso doble |
| bailar agarrado / suelto | to dance partnered / freestyle (a fixed pair in Spain) |
| sacar a bailar a alguien | to ask someone to dance |
| bailar al son que tocan | to play along, to go with the flow (literally "to dance to the tune they play") |
| bailarle el agua a alguien | (informal) to suck up to someone |
| otro que tal baila | (informal) "another one just like him/her" — said of someone repeating a mistake |
| bailar con la más fea | (idiom) to get stuck with the worst job / shortest straw |
| que me quiten lo bailado | (idiom) "nothing can take away what I've already enjoyed" |
En las verbenas del pueblo todavía se baila agarrado.
At the village summer festivals, people still partner-dance.
Le saqué a bailar y me dijo que sí.
I asked her to dance and she said yes.
Aquí toca bailar al son que tocan, no hay más remedio.
Here you have to go with the flow, there's no other option.
The fixed idiom que me quiten lo bailado is worth knowing for its frequency in colloquial speech: a stoic shrug meaning whatever happens next, at least I've already enjoyed myself.
Mañana habrá resaca, pero que me quiten lo bailado.
There'll be a hangover tomorrow, but nothing can take away the fun I've had.
The classic English-speaker error
The verb bailar is transitive in Spanish when the dance has a name — you say bailo tango, bailamos un vals, bailaron una sevillana, with no preposition between the verb and the dance. English speakers tend to insert a phantom preposition by analogy with English ("I danced the tango" is fine, but "I danced to the tango" is also possible). In Spanish, you only need a (a la música) when you mean dance to the music in a rhythmic sense:
- Bailamos flamenco = we dance flamenco (we know how, we do it as a style).
- Bailamos al ritmo de la guitarra = we dance to the rhythm of the guitar (we move to its beat).
The two patterns are not interchangeable. Bailamos al flamenco would sound wrong to a Spanish ear.
Common Mistakes
❌ Bailo al tango muy bien.
When the object is the name of a dance, no preposition is needed.
✅ Bailo tango muy bien.
I dance tango very well.
❌ Bailéis con nosotros, por favor.
The vosotros affirmative imperative is bailad, not bailéis (which is the negative or subjunctive form).
✅ Bailad con nosotros, por favor. / No bailéis solos.
Dance with us, please. / Don't dance on your own.
❌ Quiero que bailas conmigo.
Querer que triggers the subjunctive — bailes, not bailas.
✅ Quiero que bailes conmigo.
I want you to dance with me.
❌ Anoche he bailado hasta las cinco.
With anoche (a closed past time frame, no longer ongoing), peninsular Spanish prefers the simple preterite.
✅ Anoche bailé hasta las cinco.
Last night I danced until five.
❌ Bailé por dos horas en la fiesta.
For an English-speaker calque: por is not the right preposition for duration in Spanish. Use the bare noun phrase, durante, or estar + gerundio.
✅ Bailé dos horas en la fiesta. / Estuve bailando dos horas en la fiesta.
I danced for two hours at the party. (Spanish marks the duration either with the bare noun phrase or with estar + gerundio; durante is also fine but more formal.)
Key Takeaways
- Bailar is a fully regular -ar verb — use it as your template for all the others.
- Written accents are obligatory on bailáis, bailé, bailó, bailábamos, bailaré and so on; they are part of the spelling, not decoration.
- The vosotros affirmative imperative is bailad; the negative is no bailéis.
- In Spain, dances take no preposition (bailar flamenco), but rhythms do (bailar al ritmo de la guitarra).
- For events earlier today, this week, or this year, peninsular Spanish reaches for he bailado rather than bailé.
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