Home/Verbs/nacer
A2-er verbregular

nacer

Regular except for the zc in the yo form — and in Spanish you are born without “was”.

Quick answer

nacer · nazco, naces, nace, nacemos, nacéis, nacen

to be born. Fully regular, so the endings carry over to every other -er verb.

Conjugation

PersonPresentPreteriteImperfectFuture
yonazconacínacíanaceré
túnacesnacistenacíasnacerás
él / ella / ustednacenaciónacíanacerá
nosotrosnacemosnacimosnacíamosnaceremos
vosotrosnacéisnacisteisnacíaisnaceréis
ellos / ustedesnacennacieronnacíannacerán

Orange marks a form you cannot guess from the rules.

Non-finiteForm
gerundnaciendo
past participlenacido
imperative (tú)nace
subjunctive (yo)nazca

Which form to learn first

nací en. Three letters that start every answer about where you come from.

Where you will actually use it

Nací en Manchester.I was born in Manchester.
¿Dónde naciste?Where were you born?
Nació en 1990.She was born in 1990.
Mi hijo nació en marzo.My son was born in March.
Nacimos el mismo día.We were born on the same day.
Ha nacido el bebé.The baby has been born.

Typical mistakes

Fui nacido en Londres.

Nací en Londres.

Spanish has no passive here — nacer alone means to be born.

Yo naco en España.

Yo nací en España.

The yo present is nazco, but birth is a past event, so you need the preterite anyway.

Soy nacido en 1990.

Nací en 1990.

Same trap with ser: the plain preterite does the whole job.

Check yourself

___ en Manchester en 1990.

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