Obedecer — "to obey, to follow orders, to respond to" — is a workhorse B1 verb that combines two things learners need to handle at this level: the -cer → -zco spelling change in the yo form (obedezco), and the very Spanish habit of treating the person being obeyed as something between a direct and an indirect object — a tension that activates the leísmo question of obedecer-le versus obedecer-lo.
Morphologically, obedecer belongs to the large -ecer family alongside conocer, parecer, merecer, agradecer, ofrecer, padecer, crecer, establecer. They all share exactly one irregularity: the yo form is -ezco, and the -zc- stem spreads through every person of the present subjunctive and the negative imperative. Beyond that, obedecer is perfectly regular -er.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | obedecer | to obey |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber obedecido | to have obeyed |
| Gerundio | obedeciendo | obeying |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo obedecido | having obeyed |
| Participio | obedecido | obeyed |
The participle obedecido is fully regular. There is no irregular alternative — unlike English, where the corresponding noun obedience and adjective obedient are formed from a different root, Spanish keeps a clean derivational family: obedecer (verb), obediencia (noun), obediente (adjective), desobediencia, desobediente.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente — only the yo form is irregular
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| obedezco | obedeces | obedece | obedecemos | obedecéis | obedecen |
The -zc- preserves the soft /θ/ of obedeces, obedece before the back vowel o of yo. Without the inserted z, the c before o would harden to /k/ (as in poco), breaking the phonetic pattern. Writing obedeco is impossible.
Te obedezco porque eres mi madre, pero esa norma sigue sin tener sentido.
I'm obeying you because you're my mother, but that rule still doesn't make any sense.
Mi perro solo obedece cuando le interesa, lo demás finge no escucharlo.
My dog only obeys when it suits him — otherwise he pretends not to hear.
Los soldados obedecen las órdenes sin preguntar.
Soldiers obey orders without asking questions.
Pretérito perfecto simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| obedecí | obedeciste | obedeció | obedecimos | obedecisteis | obedecieron |
The preterite is fully regular — no -zc- anywhere, because the endings start with vowels other than o, so there is no need to protect the soft consonant. Note the obligatory accent on obedecí and obedeció.
Obedecí sin rechistar, aunque por dentro estaba hirviendo.
I obeyed without a word, even though I was seething inside.
Aquel día por primera vez en su vida no obedeció a su padre.
That day for the first time in his life he didn't obey his father.
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| obedecía | obedecías | obedecía | obedecíamos | obedecíais | obedecían |
The imperfect is the standard tense for habitual or background obedience — the disposition rather than the discrete act.
De pequeños obedecíamos a la abuela mucho más que a nuestros padres.
As kids we obeyed our grandmother far more than our parents.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| obedeceré | obedecerás | obedecerá | obedeceremos | obedeceréis | obedecerán |
Te prometo que la próxima vez obedeceré, pero deja de gritarme.
I promise I'll do as you say next time — but stop yelling at me.
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| obedecería | obedecerías | obedecería | obedeceríamos | obedeceríais | obedecerían |
Yo no obedecería una orden que va contra mi conciencia, por muy alta que sea la jerarquía.
I wouldn't obey an order that goes against my conscience, no matter how high up the chain it came from.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses pair haber with the regular participle obedecido.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he obedecido | has obedecido | ha obedecido | hemos obedecido | habéis obedecido | han obedecido |
Hasta ahora siempre te he obedecido sin protestar, pero esta vez no.
Up till now I've always done what you said without complaining — but not this time.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había obedecido | habías obedecido | había obedecido | habíamos obedecido | habíais obedecido | habían obedecido |
Si hubiéramos obedecido al GPS en lugar de seguir el atajo, no habríamos llegado tres horas tarde.
If we'd just obeyed the GPS instead of taking the shortcut, we wouldn't have arrived three hours late.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré obedecido | habrás obedecido | habrá obedecido | habremos obedecido | habréis obedecido | habrán obedecido |
Cuando llegue el inspector, ya habrán obedecido la nueva normativa todos los locales del barrio.
By the time the inspector arrives, every business in the area will have already complied with the new regulation.
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría obedecido | habrías obedecido | habría obedecido | habríamos obedecido | habríais obedecido | habrían obedecido |
Si me hubieras explicado el porqué, te habría obedecido sin problema.
If you'd explained why, I'd have gone along with it no problem.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| obedezca | obedezcas | obedezca | obedezcamos | obedezcáis | obedezcan |
The -zc- of the indicative yo obedezco spreads through every person of the present subjunctive — the standard rule that the subjunctive stem is built from the yo of the indicative.
No te pido que me obedezcas siempre, solo que me escuches antes de decidir.
I'm not asking you to obey me every time — just to listen to me before you decide.
Es importante que los niños obedezcan ciertas normas básicas de seguridad.
It's important for children to follow certain basic safety rules.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | obedeciera | obedecieras | obedeciera | obedeciéramos | obedecierais | obedecieran |
| -se | obedeciese | obedecieses | obedeciese | obedeciésemos | obedecieseis | obedeciesen |
Built from the third-person plural preterite obedecieron — so no -zc- surfaces here. Both -ra and -se are interchangeable; -ra is the default in spoken peninsular Spanish, while -se keeps a slightly more formal/literary feel.
Me pidió que obedeciera, pero la verdad es que no me apetecía nada.
She asked me to comply, but honestly I didn't feel like it at all.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya obedecido | hayas obedecido | haya obedecido | hayamos obedecido | hayáis obedecido | hayan obedecido |
No me creo que hayan obedecido a la primera, eso no es propio de ellos.
I don't buy that they obeyed the first time round — that's not like them.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera obedecido | hubieras obedecido | hubiera obedecido | hubiéramos obedecido | hubierais obedecido | hubieran obedecido |
| -se | hubiese obedecido | hubieses obedecido | hubiese obedecido | hubiésemos obedecido | hubieseis obedecido | hubiesen obedecido |
Si hubieran obedecido las recomendaciones sanitarias, el brote no habría llegado tan lejos.
If they'd followed the public-health recommendations, the outbreak wouldn't have spread so far.
Imperative
The peninsular vosotros affirmative is obedeced. The affirmative tú is the bare indicative obedece (no -zc-); every other form — including every negative form — borrows from the present subjunctive, so the -zc- surfaces throughout (no obedezcas, no obedezca, no obedezcamos, no obedezcáis, no obedezcan).
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | obedece | no obedezcas |
| usted | obedezca | no obedezca |
| nosotros | obedezcamos | no obedezcamos |
| vosotros | obedeced | no obedezcáis |
| ustedes | obedezcan | no obedezcan |
Obedeced a vuestra madre, que ya está harta de repetiros lo mismo.
Do what your mother tells you — she's sick of repeating herself.
The preposition pattern — obedecer a + person
Obedecer is one of a small set of Spanish verbs whose human object is preceded by the personal a. This is the same a you find in conocer a alguien, ver a alguien, querer a alguien — Spanish marks human direct objects with a to distinguish them from inanimate ones. With obedecer, this is universal whenever the object is a person:
Hay que obedecer a los profesores aunque uno no esté de acuerdo.
You have to obey teachers even when you disagree.
Nunca he obedecido a nadie ciegamente, ni siquiera a mis padres.
I've never blindly obeyed anyone, not even my parents.
With inanimate objects (rules, orders, instincts, laws of physics), there is no a:
El balón obedece las leyes de la física, no a la fe del entrenador.
The ball obeys the laws of physics, not the coach's faith.
There is also a third pattern, obedecer a + cause, which means "to be due to, to stem from" — a register-marked usage common in formal/journalistic Spanish:
El retraso obedece a problemas técnicos en la torre de control.
The delay is due to technical problems in the control tower.
The leísmo question — obedecerle vs obedecerlo
This is where peninsular Spanish gets interesting and learners get a lot of conflicting advice. The question: when the human object of obedecer is pronominalized, do you use le (indirect-style) or lo/la (direct-style)?
The traditional rule. Obedecer is a transitive verb. Its direct object — even when human — should take lo, la, los, las: al profesor lo obedezco siempre.
Actual peninsular usage. Across most of central and northern Spain, masculine human direct objects routinely appear as le (this is called leísmo de persona), and the RAE accepts this for masculine, singular, human referents specifically. So al profesor le obedezco siempre is fully standard in Spain. The feminine la is preserved (a mi madre la obedezco), and the plural les for masculine humans is also widespread.
Practical advice for learners of peninsular Spanish. Use le/les for masculine human objects of obedecer — that is the dominant Madrid/standard-Spain pattern, and it is RAE-sanctioned. Use la/las for feminine human objects. Use lo/la/los/las for non-human objects (orders, rules, signals).
| Object | Pronoun in Spain | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine person | le / les | A mi jefe le obedezco a regañadientes. |
| Feminine person | la / las | A mi jefa la obedezco igual. |
| Order, rule, signal | lo / la | La señal está clara — hay que obedecerla. |
A mi padre le obedecía siempre; a mi madre, no tanto.
I always obeyed my father; my mother, not so much.
Esa orden no la obedeció nadie — era a todas luces ilegal.
Nobody obeyed that order — it was patently illegal.
In Latin American Spanish the lo/la (etymological) pattern dominates for both genders, so a mi padre lo obedezco is the Latin American norm and is also fully grammatical in Spain. Both are correct; the choice signals geography.
Common collocations
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| obedecer a alguien | to obey someone |
| obedecer una orden / una norma / una ley | to obey an order / rule / law |
| obedecer a + cause | to be due to, stem from (formal) |
| obedecer ciegamente | to obey blindly |
| obedecer al instinto | to act on instinct |
| hacerse obedecer | to command obedience, to enforce one's authority |
| obedecer sin rechistar | to obey without a word of protest |
Ese profesor sabe hacerse obedecer sin levantar nunca la voz.
That teacher knows how to command obedience without ever raising his voice.
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo obedeco a mi madre.
The yo form is obedezco, with -zc-.
✅ Yo obedezco a mi madre.
I obey my mother.
❌ Obedezco mi padre.
Human direct objects need the personal a: obedezco a mi padre.
✅ Obedezco a mi padre.
I obey my father.
❌ Quiero que obedeces a tu hermano.
Querer que triggers the subjunctive: obedezcas.
✅ Quiero que obedezcas a tu hermano.
I want you to listen to your brother.
❌ A mi jefe lo obedezco a regañadientes.
Not wrong per se — but in Spain, leísmo with masculine human objects of obedecer is the dominant and RAE-accepted pattern: le obedezco.
✅ A mi jefe le obedezco a regañadientes.
(peninsular) I obey my boss reluctantly.
❌ El retraso obedece problemas técnicos.
The 'is due to' sense requires the preposition a: obedece a problemas técnicos.
✅ El retraso obedece a problemas técnicos.
The delay is due to technical problems.
Key Takeaways
- Obedecer is a -cer verb whose only morphological irregularity is the yo form obedezco and the matching present subjunctive obedezca. Everything else is regular -er.
- Human objects always take the personal a: obedecer a alguien. Inanimate objects (rules, orders, laws) take no preposition: obedecer las normas.
- A separate construction obedecer a + cause means to be due to, to stem from — formal register, journalistic and academic.
- In peninsular Spain, masculine human objects of obedecer are routinely le/les (leísmo de persona), and this is RAE-accepted. Feminine objects keep la/las. Both le and lo are correct for masculine humans, but le is the local default in most of Spain.
- Obedecer belongs to a large family (conocer, parecer, merecer, agradecer, ofrecer, padecer, crecer, establecer) — one rule unlocks all of them.
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