Seguir — "to follow, to continue, to still be (doing something)" — is one of the highest-frequency -ir verbs in Spanish and one of the most useful in everyday conversation. It is also the model verb for a small but important pattern: an e→i stem-changing -ir verb combined with an obligatory gu→g orthographic adjustment. The same combination governs conseguir, perseguir, proseguir, distinguir, extinguir, and a few less common verbs. Master seguir and you have the whole family.
Beyond conjugation, seguir carries a second piece of weight: it is the engine of the construction seguir + gerund — the standard way to express "to still be doing something" in Spanish. This is not a small piece of grammar; it is one of the most distinctive ways native speakers signal ongoing actions, and English speakers reliably under-use it.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | seguir | to follow, to continue |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber seguido | to have followed |
| Gerundio | siguiendo | following |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo seguido | having followed |
| Participio | seguido | followed |
The gerund siguiendo shows the e→i stem change — a feature of every -ir verb that changes e→i in the present (compare pedir → pidiendo, servir → sirviendo). The u stays, because it is needed before -ie- to preserve the /g/ sound (without it, sigiendo would be pronounced /siˈxiendo/, with the "harsh" j-sound of jamón).
The participle seguido is fully regular — no stem change, because the e is unstressed and there is no a/o to force the spelling change.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sigo | sigues | sigue | seguimos | seguís | siguen |
The present indicative shows both irregularities. The e of the stem changes to i wherever it is stressed — that is, in the four "boot" forms sigo, sigues, sigue, siguen — and stays as e in nosotros and vosotros, where the stress falls on the ending. On top of that, the yo form is sigo, not siguo: the u of seguir is silent (its only job is to keep g hard before e and i), and once the ending becomes -o, the u is no longer needed. Dropping it is mandatory.
Sigo a este periodista en redes desde hace años y nunca decepciona.
I've been following this journalist on social media for years and he never disappoints.
¿Vosotros seguís viviendo en el mismo piso de Lavapiés?
Are you all still living in the same flat in Lavapiés?
Pretérito perfecto simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| seguí | seguiste | siguió | seguimos | seguisteis | siguieron |
The preterite is regular -ir in shape, but the third-person forms (él/ellos) show the e→i change before -ió and -ieron. This is the same pattern as pedir → pidió, pidieron; servir → sirvió, sirvieron; dormir → durmió, durmieron (which changes o→u). The change happens because the unstressed e of -ir verbs raises to i before a stressed -ió- / -ie- / -ie- sequence.
The u stays here, because it is followed by -i-, where it must remain to keep g hard.
El año pasado siguió un curso de cocina en la escuela del barrio.
Last year she took a cookery course at the neighbourhood school.
Tras la conferencia, varios asistentes lo siguieron por el pasillo para preguntarle más cosas.
After the lecture, several attendees followed him down the corridor to ask him more things.
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| seguía | seguías | seguía | seguíamos | seguíais | seguían |
The imperfect is fully regular — no stem change (the e is unstressed in every form), no spelling change (the endings begin with í, where u must stay). All forms carry the obligatory accent on í.
De pequeños seguíamos al gato del vecino por todo el patio.
As kids we used to follow the neighbour's cat all over the courtyard.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| seguiré | seguirás | seguirá | seguiremos | seguiréis | seguirán |
The future is fully regular. The stem segu- keeps both the e and the u, because the endings start with -i- (where u must stay) or with the unstressed vowels that don't trigger the e→i change.
Mañana seguiremos con la mudanza, hoy ya estamos agotados.
Tomorrow we'll carry on with the move — today we're already worn out.
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| seguiría | seguirías | seguiría | seguiríamos | seguiríais | seguirían |
Yo no seguiría a ese guía ni en una calle desierta.
I wouldn't follow that guide even on an empty street.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses pair haber with the regular participle seguido.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he seguido | has seguido | ha seguido | hemos seguido | habéis seguido | han seguido |
The peninsular default for things done within a still-open period: Este año he seguido tres series.
Esta tarde he seguido toda la sesión del Congreso, ha sido un espectáculo.
This afternoon I've watched the whole session of parliament — it was a spectacle.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había seguido | habías seguido | había seguido | habíamos seguido | habíais seguido | habían seguido |
Hasta entonces no había seguido nunca ningún podcast en español.
Until then I'd never followed a podcast in Spanish.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré seguido | habrás seguido | habrá seguido | habremos seguido | habréis seguido | habrán seguido |
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría seguido | habrías seguido | habría seguido | habríamos seguido | habríais seguido | habrían seguido |
Si me hubieras hecho caso, habrías seguido con el doctorado.
If you'd listened to me, you'd have stuck with the PhD.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| siga | sigas | siga | sigamos | sigáis | sigan |
The present subjunctive is uniformly siga, sigas, siga, sigamos, sigáis, sigan — all six forms show both irregularities. The e→i change applies throughout the paradigm (unlike -ar and -er stem-changers, where nosotros and vosotros keep the original vowel — but in -ir stem-changers, the e→i change in the subjunctive is universal, including nosotros and vosotros). And the u drops before -a, exactly as it did before -o in the yo present indicative. So the subjunctive paradigm has neither e nor u — it has i and g.
No creo que sigamos por este camino, hay un atajo más rápido.
I don't think we should keep on this road — there's a faster shortcut.
Cuando sigáis recto unos cien metros, lo veréis a mano derecha.
When you all keep straight on for about a hundred metres, you'll see it on your right.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | siguiera | siguieras | siguiera | siguiéramos | siguierais | siguieran |
| -se | siguiese | siguieses | siguiese | siguiésemos | siguieseis | siguiesen |
Both sets are built on the third-person preterite stem sigui- — the same e→i change that produced siguió/siguieron propagates throughout. The u stays before -ie-.
Me pidió que siguiera al coche de delante sin perderlo de vista.
He asked me to follow the car in front without losing sight of it.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya seguido | hayas seguido | haya seguido | hayamos seguido | hayáis seguido | hayan seguido |
Me alegra que hayas seguido practicando inglés todo el verano.
I'm glad you've kept practising English all summer.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera seguido | hubieras seguido | hubiera seguido | hubiéramos seguido | hubierais seguido | hubieran seguido |
| -se | hubiese seguido | hubieses seguido | hubiese seguido | hubiésemos seguido | hubieseis seguido | hubiesen seguido |
Si hubiéramos seguido las instrucciones, no nos habríamos perdido.
If we'd followed the instructions, we wouldn't have got lost.
Imperative
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | sigue | no sigas |
| usted | siga | no siga |
| nosotros | sigamos | no sigamos |
| vosotros | seguid | no sigáis |
| ustedes | sigan | no sigan |
The imperative shows the full pattern of both irregularities. The tú affirmative is sigue (with e→i in the stressed stem and u preserved before -e). The usted affirmative is siga — i in the stem, u dropped before -a. The vosotros affirmative seguid keeps both e and u, because the ending is -id (no triggering vowel). The negative paradigm is built on the subjunctive, so it shows the sig- stem throughout.
When you attach pronouns, written accents may be required: síguelo, sígueme, seguidlos, síganos. The general rule is that stress must stay where it was on the bare form.
Sigue por esta calle hasta el segundo semáforo y luego gira a la derecha.
Keep going down this street to the second traffic light and then turn right.
No sigáis discutiendo, que se está haciendo tarde.
(to a group) Stop arguing — it's getting late.
Seguid por la senda azul y no os perderéis.
(hiking, to a group) Stick to the blue path and you won't get lost.
The construction seguir + gerund — "to still be doing"
This is the single most useful pattern attached to seguir. The construction seguir + gerund is the standard Spanish way to express "to still be doing something" or "to keep on doing something". It is not optional: English speakers reflexively reach for todavía + present tense, which is grammatical but often misses the natural register.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Sigo trabajando en el banco. | I'm still working at the bank. |
| ¿Sigues viviendo en Madrid? | Are you still living in Madrid? |
| Seguimos esperando la respuesta. | We're still waiting for the answer. |
| Sigue lloviendo. | It's still raining. |
| No sigas hablándome así. | Stop talking to me like that. (literally: don't keep talking to me like that) |
The construction emphasises continuation: the action started in the past, is happening now, and may continue. It is the closest Spanish gets to a "still + progressive" English structure, and it is heard constantly in casual conversation.
A near-synonym is continuar + gerund, which is slightly more formal but interchangeable in most contexts: Continúo trabajando en el banco (more formal); Sigo trabajando en el banco (everyday).
Llevo dos horas en la cola del médico y sigo esperando.
I've been in the queue at the doctor's for two hours and I'm still waiting.
Aunque ha pasado un año, sigue acordándose de ella todos los días.
Even though a year has passed, he still thinks about her every day.
The matrix of seguir + preposition
Seguir takes a direct object with no preposition for the most common meaning — seguir a alguien, seguir las instrucciones, seguir un curso. The personal a appears with human direct objects, as expected. Several less obvious constructions:
| Construction | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| seguir (algo / a alguien) | to follow (something / someone) | Sigue al guía. |
| seguir con + thing | to carry on with (something) | Sigo con el inglés. |
| seguir en + place / state | to still be (in a place / state) | Sigue en cama, no se encuentra bien. |
| seguir de + role | to still be (in a role) | Sigue de director del centro. |
| seguir sin + infinitive | to still not be doing (something) | Sigo sin entender nada. |
| seguir + gerund | to still be doing (something) | Sigo aprendiendo cosas nuevas. |
The construction seguir sin + infinitive — "to still not be (doing something)" — is one of the most useful idiomatic patterns Spanish offers and one English speakers almost never produce naturally. Native speakers use it constantly: Sigo sin entender, sigo sin saber, sigo sin encontrar trabajo. English would say "I still don't understand, I still don't know" — but Spanish prefers the seguir sin construction.
Sigo sin entender por qué te enfadaste con él anoche.
I still don't understand why you got angry with him last night.
Llevamos tres meses y sigo sin recibir el certificado.
It's been three months and I'm still not getting the certificate.
High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spanish
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| seguir adelante | to carry on, to keep going forward |
| seguir la corriente (a alguien) | to humour someone, to go along with |
| seguir el ritmo | to keep up the pace, to keep up |
| seguir las instrucciones / las normas | to follow the instructions / rules |
| seguir un tratamiento | to be on a course of treatment |
| seguir un curso / un programa | to take a course / follow a programme |
| seguir en sus trece | (idiom) to stick to one's guns, to refuse to budge |
| seguir la pista (a alguien) | to track (someone), to be on the trail |
| como sigue | (formal) as follows |
| acto seguido | (formal) immediately after |
Seguir en sus trece is a wonderfully concrete idiom: it dates from a fifteenth-century papal dispute in which Pope Benedict XIII refused to abdicate. "To stay at one's thirteen" thus means to dig in stubbornly. Native speakers still use it without knowing the origin.
Por mucho que le insistí, siguió en sus trece y no quiso cambiar de opinión.
No matter how much I insisted, he stuck to his guns and refused to change his mind.
Le seguimos la corriente para que se calmara, no había manera de razonar.
We humoured him so he'd calm down — there was no reasoning with him.
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo siguo viviendo en Madrid.
The yo present indicative drops the silent u before -o: sigo, not siguo. The u is only needed to keep g hard before e/i, not before o/a.
✅ Yo sigo viviendo en Madrid.
I'm still living in Madrid.
❌ Quiero que segues estudiando.
The present subjunctive shows both the e→i stem change and the gu→g spelling adjustment in every form: siga, sigas, siga, sigamos, sigáis, sigan.
✅ Quiero que sigas estudiando.
I want you to keep studying.
❌ Anoche él seguió al sospechoso por toda la ciudad.
The third-person preterite shows the e→i change: siguió (él), siguieron (ellos), not seguió/seguieron.
✅ Anoche él siguió al sospechoso por toda la ciudad.
Last night he followed the suspect all over the city.
❌ Todavía no entiendo nada.
Grammatical but not what a native would say in this context. The natural peninsular construction is 'sigo sin + infinitive,' which captures the ongoing nature of the not-knowing.
✅ Sigo sin entender nada.
I still don't understand a thing.
❌ Estoy todavía esperando tu respuesta.
Grammatical, but the idiomatic Spanish construction for 'still doing something' is 'seguir + gerund,' not 'estar + todavía + gerund.' Native speakers reach for the seguir version.
✅ Sigo esperando tu respuesta.
I'm still waiting for your reply.
Key Takeaways
- Seguir combines two irregularities: an e→i stem change (in stressed positions of the present, throughout the present subjunctive, in third-person preterite, and in the gerund) and a gu→g spelling adjustment (the silent u drops before a or o).
- The two changes interact cleanly: sigo (both apply), sigues (only stem change), siguió (both, with u preserved before -i-), sigamos (both).
- The construction seguir + gerund is the standard Spanish way to express "to still be doing" — use it instead of todavía + present.
- The construction seguir sin + infinitive ("to still not be doing") is essential and underused by English speakers.
- Seguir takes a direct object for "to follow" — with the personal a for people: seguir al guía, seguir a alguien en redes.
- The model verb for a family: conseguir, perseguir, proseguir conjugate identically.
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- Cambio vocálico: e>i (pedir, servir, repetir)A2 — The e→i stem change found only in certain -ir verbs: stressed e shifts to i in the boot forms — pido, sirvo, repito — while nosotros and vosotros keep the simple e.
- Cambios ortográficos en la conjugaciónA2 — Verbs that change spelling — but not pronunciation — to preserve consistent sounds across the conjugation: -car, -gar, -zar, -ger, -gir, -guir, -uir.
- Otros verbos progresivos: ir, venir, seguir, llevarB2 — Beyond estar — Spanish has a family of progressive constructions using ir, venir, seguir, llevar, and andar plus the gerund, each adding its own aspectual meaning.
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- pedirA1 — Full conjugation reference for pedir — an e→i stem-changing -ir verb (pido, pides, pide). Covers the third-person preterite (pidió, pidieron), the gerund (pidiendo), the present subjunctive (pida throughout), and the crucial pedir/preguntar distinction (request vs ask a question) that trips up English speakers.
- servirA1 — Full conjugation reference for servir — an -ir e>i stem-changer with three connected meanings: to serve (food, drinks, customers), to be useful/work (as a tool or device), and to function in a role. Includes every tense, the preterite 3rd-person change (sirvió, sirvieron), the gerund sirviendo, and the high-frequency expressions servir para, no servir de nada, and ¿en qué puedo servirle? that anchor everyday peninsular speech.