Mostrar — "to show, to display, to reveal" — is one of the cleanest stem-changing verbs in Spanish: a single, predictable o → ue shift under stress, no further surprises. Conjugation-wise, it patterns exactly like contar, encontrar, acostarse, almorzar, recordar, soñar — every -ar verb with an o in the stem that diphthongizes when stressed. Once you have one of them, you have the whole class.
Semantically, mostrar covers a wide range of "showing" — physically holding something up for someone to see, displaying products in a shop window, demonstrating a skill, revealing an emotion. In peninsular Spain it competes with enseñar, which most native speakers use far more often in everyday conversation (¿me enseñas las fotos? is more natural than ¿me muestras las fotos?). The two are interchangeable in many contexts, but they carry different registers — a distinction worth knowing from the start.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | mostrar | to show |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber mostrado | to have shown |
| Gerundio | mostrando | showing |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo mostrado | having shown |
| Participio | mostrado | shown |
The gerund and participle are fully regular. Unlike -ir stem-changers (dormir → durmiendo, morir → muriendo), -ar verbs never carry the vowel change into the gerund — mostrar → mostrando, with a plain o. This is one of the structural advantages of -ar stem-changers over -ir ones: the change is confined to the stressed stems of the present and the imperative, never spreading anywhere else.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente — o → ue under stress
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| muestro | muestras | muestra | mostramos | mostráis | muestran |
The diphthong ue surfaces wherever the stem syllable carries the spoken stress — every form except nosotros and vosotros, where the stress shifts onto the ending. This is the classic "boot" or "shoe" pattern: the four corners change, the bottom two stay regular.
Esta encuesta muestra que la mitad de los jóvenes no llega a fin de mes.
This survey shows that half of young people don't make it to the end of the month.
Si me muestras el recibo, te devuelvo el dinero sin problema.
If you show me the receipt, I'll refund you no problem.
No mostramos los precios en la web por política de la empresa.
We don't display prices on the website as a company policy.
Pretérito perfecto simple — regular
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mostré | mostraste | mostró | mostramos | mostrasteis | mostraron |
The preterite is fully regular: no diphthong, no spelling change. The endings carry the stress (-é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron), so the stem o stays unchanged across all six persons. This is a major contrast with -ir stem-changers like dormir → durmió, durmieron, where the third person carries an additional o → u shift. -ar verbs never do this.
La policía mostró las pruebas a los periodistas en la rueda de prensa.
The police showed the evidence to the journalists at the press conference.
Le mostré el piso y se enamoró nada más entrar.
I showed her the flat and she fell in love the moment she walked in.
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mostraba | mostrabas | mostraba | mostrábamos | mostrabais | mostraban |
Regular -ar imperfect endings; the stress falls on -aba-, so the stem o never diphthongizes.
De pequeña, mi abuela siempre nos mostraba sus álbumes de fotos cuando íbamos a verla.
When I was little, my grandmother would always show us her photo albums whenever we visited.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mostraré | mostrarás | mostrará | mostraremos | mostraréis | mostrarán |
The future is built on the full infinitive mostrar-; no vowel changes.
Mañana en la reunión os mostraré los resultados del trimestre.
Tomorrow in the meeting I'll show you the quarter's results.
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mostraría | mostrarías | mostraría | mostraríamos | mostraríais | mostrarían |
Yo no le mostraría esas fotos a nadie, son demasiado personales.
I wouldn't show those photos to anyone — they're too personal.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses pair haber with the regular participle mostrado.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he mostrado | has mostrado | ha mostrado | hemos mostrado | habéis mostrado | han mostrado |
Este año los datos han mostrado una mejora clara en la calidad del aire de Madrid.
This year the data has shown a clear improvement in Madrid's air quality.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había mostrado | habías mostrado | había mostrado | habíamos mostrado | habíais mostrado | habían mostrado |
Nunca antes había mostrado tanta paciencia con sus alumnos.
He'd never before shown such patience with his students.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré mostrado | habrás mostrado | habrá mostrado | habremos mostrado | habréis mostrado | habrán mostrado |
Para el viernes ya les habremos mostrado el prototipo terminado.
By Friday we'll have shown them the finished prototype.
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría mostrado | habrías mostrado | habría mostrado | habríamos mostrado | habríais mostrado | habrían mostrado |
Si hubiera sabido que te interesaba, te lo habría mostrado antes.
If I'd known you were interested, I'd have shown it to you sooner.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| muestre | muestres | muestre | mostremos | mostréis | muestren |
The same "boot" pattern as the present indicative: ue in the four stressed forms, plain o in the unstressed nosotros/vosotros. Crucially — unlike -ir stem-changers — there is no o → u shift in the nosotros/vosotros subjunctive. Mostremos, mostréis with a plain o is the only correct form.
Quiero que me muestres exactamente dónde te duele.
I want you to show me exactly where it hurts.
No mostréis nunca el DNI a un desconocido que os lo pida por la calle.
Never show your ID to a stranger who asks you for it on the street.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | mostrara | mostraras | mostrara | mostráramos | mostrarais | mostraran |
| -se | mostrase | mostrases | mostrase | mostrásemos | mostraseis | mostrasen |
The imperfect subjunctive is built from the third-person plural preterite mostraron — so no diphthong appears in any form. Both -ra and -se endings are interchangeable; -ra is the default in modern peninsular usage.
Me pidió que le mostrara los documentos originales, no la fotocopia.
She asked me to show her the original documents, not the photocopy.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya mostrado | hayas mostrado | haya mostrado | hayamos mostrado | hayáis mostrado | hayan mostrado |
Es una suerte que les hayáis mostrado tanta hospitalidad, ya os lo agradecen.
It's lucky you've shown them so much hospitality — they already appreciate it.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera mostrado | hubieras mostrado | hubiera mostrado | hubiéramos mostrado | hubierais mostrado | hubieran mostrado |
| -se | hubiese mostrado | hubieses mostrado | hubiese mostrado | hubiésemos mostrado | hubieseis mostrado | hubiesen mostrado |
Si me hubieras mostrado el contrato antes de firmar, te habría dicho que no era buena idea.
If you'd shown me the contract before signing, I'd have told you it wasn't a good idea.
Imperative
The peninsular vosotros affirmative mostrad is mandatory in Spain. The negative imperatives borrow from the present subjunctive.
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | muestra | no muestres |
| usted | muestre | no muestre |
| nosotros | mostremos | no mostremos |
| vosotros | mostrad | no mostréis |
| ustedes | muestren | no muestren |
Muéstrame el código y te ayudo a depurarlo.
Show me the code and I'll help you debug it.
Note the accent on muéstrame — when a clitic pronoun attaches to a stressed imperative, the original stress pattern is preserved with a written accent.
Mostrar vs enseñar — the Spain register difference
This is the single most useful distinction for a learner of peninsular Spanish. Both verbs translate to show — but in Spain, everyday conversational Spanish prefers enseñar for "show me X", while mostrar sounds slightly more formal, written, or technical. Latin American Spanish uses mostrar more freely in conversation; peninsular Spanish defaults to enseñar.
| Context | Preferred verb in Spain | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Casual "show me" between friends | enseñar | Enséñame las fotos de la boda. |
| Showing where something is, giving a tour | enseñar | Te enseño la casa. |
| Teaching, instructing | enseñar (only) | Mi padre me enseñó a montar en bici. |
| Formal / written: present, display, reveal | mostrar | El gráfico muestra la evolución del PIB. |
| Demonstrating an emotion, attitude | mostrar | No mostró ningún signo de arrepentimiento. |
| Press releases, scientific writing, reports | mostrar | Los datos muestran una clara tendencia. |
Enseñar additionally means to teach — a sense that mostrar never has. So Mi madre me enseñó a cocinar (My mother taught me to cook) is the only option; me mostró a cocinar is impossible.
Enséñame las fotos del viaje, anda, que tengo muchísimas ganas de verlas.
Show me the photos from the trip, come on — I'm dying to see them.
El estudio muestra una correlación significativa entre las dos variables.
The study shows a significant correlation between the two variables.
The double-object construction
Mostrar is a classic ditransitive verb — it takes both a direct object (the thing shown) and an indirect object (the person it's shown to). Both can appear as clitic pronouns, and when they do, Spanish stacks them in fixed order: indirect before direct.
¿Has visto mi pasaporte nuevo? Te lo muestro.
Have you seen my new passport? I'll show it to you.
When the indirect object is third person (le or les) and the direct object is also third person (lo, la, los, las), the indirect le/les becomes se to avoid a le-lo cluster. This affects mostrar constantly:
¿Le has mostrado el informe al jefe? — Sí, se lo mostré ayer.
Have you shown the report to the boss? — Yes, I showed it to him yesterday.
Mostrarse — the reflexive: to appear, to come across as
The reflexive mostrarse doesn't mean to show oneself in a physical sense — it means to appear, to come across as, to display oneself in a particular way. Used overwhelmingly with adjectives or adverbs.
El alcalde se mostró muy seguro durante toda la rueda de prensa.
The mayor came across as very confident throughout the press conference.
Se mostraron reticentes a firmar el acuerdo sin más garantías.
They were reluctant to sign the agreement without more guarantees.
This is a register marker: mostrarse + adjetivo belongs to journalism and formal writing. In casual speech, you would say estaba muy seguro or no querían firmar.
Common collocations
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| mostrar interés en + noun | to show interest in |
| mostrar respeto / apoyo / solidaridad | to show respect / support / solidarity |
| mostrar los dientes | to bare one's teeth (literal and figurative) |
| mostrar la cara | to show one's face, to come out into the open |
| mostrarse a favor / en contra de | to come out in favour of / against |
| según muestra el gráfico / la encuesta | as the graph / survey shows |
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo mostro las fotos.
The stressed yo form takes the diphthong: muestro.
✅ Yo muestro las fotos.
I'm showing the photos.
❌ Quiero que muestres me el contrato.
With imperatives only, clitics attach to the verb. In the subjunctive complement, the pronoun goes before: que me muestres.
✅ Quiero que me muestres el contrato.
I want you to show me the contract.
❌ Mi padre me mostró a montar en bici.
To teach is enseñar, not mostrar. Mostrar never means 'teach'.
✅ Mi padre me enseñó a montar en bici.
My father taught me to ride a bike.
❌ Le lo mostré ayer.
When le precedes lo/la/los/las, it becomes se: se lo mostré.
✅ Se lo mostré ayer.
I showed it to him yesterday.
❌ Mostramos los datos en la reunión, no muestramos también el plan?
The nosotros form has no diphthong — mostremos in the subjunctive, mostramos in indicative. There is no muestramos.
✅ Mostramos los datos en la reunión, ¿mostramos también el plan?
We showed the data in the meeting — shall we show the plan too?
Key Takeaways
- Mostrar is a clean o → ue stem-changing -ar verb: diphthong in the stressed present and subjunctive forms only, plain o everywhere else.
- The participle mostrado and gerund mostrando are fully regular — no second vowel change like in -ir verbs.
- In peninsular Spain, enseñar is the everyday verb for "show me"; mostrar is reserved for formal, written, or technical contexts.
- Enseñar also means "to teach"; mostrar never does.
- The reflexive mostrarse + adjective means "to come across as," a marker of formal/journalistic register.
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