Andar conjugation and meanings: The full guide to Andar in Spanish

The verb andar in Spanish is an essential and versatile verb. Used in everyday conversation, it can describe movement, function, even your mood! This guide dives deep into the many meanings of andar and equips you to conquer every andar conjugation across tenses and moods.

With clear explanations and practical examples, you’ll be an andar expert in no time. At the end of the post, practice what you learned with some andar conjugation exercises.

Now let’s get to it!

Andar meaning

Before diving into the sections on andar conjugation, let’s start with a brief overview of its primary meanings and uses. Andar generally means to walk or to go.

Some people may confuse andar vs caminar, as they can often be used as synonyms. However, andar has broader meanings, and it can also be used in various contexts to imply movement, functioning, or even a state of being.

Let’s take a look!

Andar meaning: to walk

The most basic translation of andar is simply to walk.

• Ella anda por la calle hasta tarde. – She goes out on the street until late.

• Mi papá andaba tres kilómetros diarios cuando trabajaba en Argentina. – My dad walked three kilometres a day when he worked in Argentina.

Andar meaning: to get around [by a means of transportation]

We can also use andar to talk about the medium we use to move around.

• No tenemos carro, así que andamos a pie. – We don’t have a car, so we get around on foot.

• Luis y Ana andan en bicicleta todo el tiempo. – Luis and Ana go by bike all the time.

• Andamos en carro porque es más cómodo. – We go by car because it’s more comfortable.

Andar meaning: To behave

Andar can also be used to describe the attitude or behavior of a person. We often use the reflexive form andarse in this sense.

• Es mejor andar con cuidado para evitar accidentes. – It is better to move carefully to avoid accidents.

• Ellos se andan con cautela. – They proceed with caution.

• Yo no me ando con rodeos cuando quiero algo. – I don’t skirt around the topic when I want something.

Andar meaning: To be [a state]

Andar can work as a synonym of estar in certain contexts, especially when talking about feelings, sensations, or general states. We can also employ this use of andar with locations by adding the preposition por.

• Ella anda cansada porque trabajó hasta tarde. – She is tired because she worked late.

• ¿Cómo andas, Luis? / Ando bien, ¿y tú? – How are you doing, Luis? / I‘m doing fine, and you?

• ¿Por dónde andas, hijo? / Ando por la plaza, estoy con mis amigos. – Where are you going, son? / I am in the square, I’m with my friends.

Andar meaning: To function, To go

We can use andar to describe if something is functioning, whether we’re talking about a mechanism or a situation. This use of andar can be translated variously as functioning, running, or working.

• La conexión no anda bien, hay interferencia. – The connection is not working properly, there is interference.

• Llamé al técnico porque la lavadora no andaba. – I called the technician because the washing machine wasn’t working.

• El negocio anda mal, tenemos muchas deudas. – Business is bad, we have a lot of debts.

Andar con meaning: To hang out, To date

When paired with the preposition con, andar con can be used to mean to hang out with or to date. As you can see, these two meanings are not exactly synonyms, so we need to be careful with the context to avoid awkward situations.

• No le digas a nadie, pero Francisco anda con Flor desde hace un mes. – Don’t tell anyone, but Francisco has been dating Flor for a month.

• Ellos andan con chicos muy problemáticos. – They hang out with very troubled boys.

Andar con meaning: To be around, To go for about [estimate]

Andar can also be used to give estimates when used with por.

• Las casas en esa zona andan por los setenta y cinco mil dólares. – Houses in that area go for about seventy-five thousand dollars.

• Ese hombre anda por los 40 años. – That man is around 40 years old.

Andar + gerund: To go about

In this construction, andar actually serves as an auxiliary verb. It takes the place of estar in the present progressive and past progressive. Just keep in mind that andar + gerund is primarily used in spoken and informal Spanish.

When we use andar in this way, it generally means to go about or to go around doing something.

• Ayer andaba limpiando la casa, por eso no salí. – Yesterday I was cleaning the house, that’s why I didn’t go out.

• Ella siempre anda estudiando porque quiere entrar a una buena universidad. – She‘s always studying because she wants to get into a good university.

• Ya nadie anda escuchando esa canción, mamá. Ya no está de moda. – Nobody listens to that song anymore, mum. It’s not trendy anymore.

Andar expressions

Besides the uses we’ve already covered, there are some fixed expressions commonly used with andar. Let’s take a look!

Spanish	English
Andar con rodeos	To beat around the bush
Andar de parranda	To go partying
Andar con pies de plomo	To go partying
Andar en malos pasos	To be up to no good
Andar a tientas	To grope or fumble in the dark [literally or figuratively]
Andar de boca en boca	To be talked about by everyone
Ándale	Come on, Hurry up, Go ahead, That’s right

Andar conjugation

Andar is a regular verb in most tenses, meaning that it follows the regular conjugation patterns of -ar verbs. We only see irregular andar conjugations in the preterite, the imperfect, and the future subjunctive tenses.

Check out our post Spanish infinitives post for a good explanation on how to get the stem for various conjugations. Take a look at our post on all the verb tenses in Spanish for an even broader overview.

Let’s now begin with every andar conjugation in each tense. To keep things organized, we’ll break things down by mood and provide plenty of examples. We’ll also provide additional links to our specialized posts covering each mood and tense.

Indicative mood

The indicative mood is a grammatical mood used to make factual statements, ask questions, or express opinions as if they were facts. Let’s take a look at the andar conjugation chart for each indicative mood tense: present, preterite, imperfect, conditional, future, and all the perfect forms.

Andar present conjugation

This is the most important tense to know, since it describes what is happening at the moment of speaking. In the present tense, andar conjugation is regular.

Subject	Andar conjugation present tense
Yo	ando
Tú	andas
Él, Ella, Usted	anda
Nosotros, Nosotras	andamos
Vosotros, Vosotras	andáis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	andan

• Ando buscando el nombre de una canción que escuché la semana pasada. – I’m looking for the name of a song I heard last week.

• ¿Dónde andas? Ya es tarde. – Where are you? It’s getting late.

• Espero que esos muchachos no anden haciendo cosas malas. – I hope those guys are not doing bad things.

Take a look at our post on the simple present tense to master this fundamental tense.

Andar conjugation preterite

The andar preterite conjugation is irregular. The preterite andar stem is anduv-. The endings are those of regular -er verbs, except for yo conjugation.

Subject	Andar conjugation preterite
Yo	anduve
Tú	anduviste
Él, Ella, Usted	anduvo
Nosotros, Nosotras	anduvimos
Vosotros, Vosotras	anduvisteis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	anduvieron

• Él anduvo buscando su llave por toda la casa. – He was searching all over the house for his key.

• Tú anduviste con tus amigos toda la tarde. – You hung out with your friends all afternoon.

• Nosotros anduvimos por el centro de la ciudad durante el fin de semana. – We walked around the city center over the weekend.

Andar imperfect conjugation

The andar conjugation in the imperfect tense follows the regular conjugation pattern for -ar verbs, with the stem being and-.

Subject	Andar imperfect tense
Yo	andaba
Tú	andabas
Él, Ella, Usted	andaba
Nosotros, Nosotras	andabamos
Vosotros, Vosotras	andabais
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	andaban

• Cuando era niño, yo andaba en bicicleta todos los días. – When I was a kid, I rode my bike every day.

• Creo que la he visto antes, ella andaba siempre con su perro por el vecindario. – I think I’ve seen her before, she was always walking around the neighbourhood with her dog.

• Álvaro andaba de aquí para allá sin descansar. – Álvaro would go back and forth without a break.

Spanish has two past tenses that can be challenging at times because the English translations don’t always correspond directly. We suggest checking out our beginner’s guide to the Spanish imperfect tense and our post on preterite vs imperfect if you want to explore these two past tenses further.

Andar conditional conjugation

The conjugation of andar in the conditional tense is regular. The stem is and- and the endings are the same as for other -ar verbs in the conditional.

In English, the translation of andar in the conditional tense depends highly on the context, but the most common translation is would go or would walk.

We recommend our beginner’s guide to the Spanish conditional to learn more about this tense.

Subject	Andar conditional conjugation
Yo	andaría
Tú	andarías
Él, Ella, Usted	andaría
Nosotros, Nosotras	andaríamos
Vosotros, Vosotras	andaríais
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	andarían

• Ella andaría con Rodrigo si él no fuera tan amargado. – She would date Rodrigo if he weren’t so bitter.

• Nosotros andaríamos por la ciudad si el clima fuera mejor. – We‘d walk around the city if the weather were better.

• No andaría con ellos si no fueran tan divertidos. – I wouldn’t hang out with them if they weren’t so much fun.

Andar future tense

The andar conjugation in the simple future tense is formed simply by adding the endings to the infinitive.

Again, the translation of andar depends on the context, with the most common translations as will go or will walk.

Subject	Andar future conjugation
Yo	andaré
Tú	andarás
Él, Ella, Usted	andará
Nosotros, Nosotras	andaremos
Vosotros, Vosotras	andaréis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	andarán

• Ustedes andarán explorando la ciudad durante sus vacaciones. – You will be exploring the city during your holiday.

• Vosotros andaréis por el centro comercial el sábado. – You will be at the mall on Saturday.

• Yo andaré en tren por Europa – I will be riding the train around Europe.

Andar compound tenses

Now it’s time to take a look at the andar conjugation chart for the indicative compound tenses. These tenses in Spanish are formed using the auxiliary verb haber conjugated to match the subject, and the past participle.

The past participle of andar is andado.

For progressive tenses we use the gerund, which is andando.

First, let’s take a look at the present perfect and past perfect conjugations of andar.

Subject	Present perfect	Past perfect
Yo	he andado	había andado
Tú	has andado	habías andado
Él, Ella, Usted	ha andado	había andado
Nosotros, Nosotras	hemos andado	habíamos andado
Vosotros, Vosotras	habéis andado	habíais andado
Ustedes, Ellos, Ellas	han andado	habían andado

• He andado en bicicleta muchas veces, no tienes que enseñarme. – I have ridden a bike many times, you don’t have to teach me.

• Antes de llegar a la oficina, ya había andado cinco kilómetros. – Before I got to the office, I had already cycled five kilometres.

Now let’s move on to andar conjugation in the perfect future and perfect conditional tenses.

Subject	Perfect future	Perfect conditional
Yo	habré andado	habría andado
Tú	habrás andado	habrías andado
Él, Ella, Usted	habrá andado	habría andado
Nosotros, Nosotras	habremos andado	habríamos andado
Vosotros, Vosotras	habréis andado	habríais andado
Ustedes, Ellos, Ellas	habrán andado	habrían andado

• Para cuando llegues de la fiesta, ya habré andado todo el parque. – By the time you get home from the party, I will have walked the whole park.

• Si hubiera tenido tiempo, habría andado más por el centro de la ciudad. – If I had had time, I would have walked more in the city centre.

For a detailed breakdown of each of these tenses, head over to our posts on present perfect Spanish, past perfect Spanish, future perfect Spanish, and the Spanish conditional.

Subjunctive mood

The subjunctive mood is used to express various states of uncertainty such as wishes, emotions, possibilities, judgments, opinions, necessities, or actions that have not yet occurred. It contrasts with the indicative mood, which is used to make factual statements or pose questions.

In the example sentences, you’ll observe that the translations vary. This is because the subjunctive mood in English operates differently and is often conveyed using different verb forms. We recommend you to take a look at our post on the Spanish subjunctive, simplified, to get a good rundown on this tricky mood.

Now let’s dive into each andar subjunctive conjugation.

Andar present subjunctive

The andar conjugation in the present subjunctive is regular, so it’s very simple. We just need to add the subjunctive endings for regular -ar verbs to the regular stem of and-.

Subject	Andar conjugation present subjunctive
Yo	ande
Tú	andes
Él, Ella, Usted	ande
Nosotros, Nosotras	andemos
Vosotros, Vosotras	andeis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	anden

• Espero que tú andes con cuidado por ese camino. – I hope you will walk carefully on that road.

• No creo que ellos anden por aquí hoy. – I don’t think they will be around today.

• Aunque él ande cansado, tiene que terminar su trabajo. – Even if he is tired, he has to finish his work.

Andar imperfect subjunctive

The stem for andar conjugation in the imperfect subjunctive is the same as the one for the preterite indicative: anduv-. There are two possible conjugation forms of this tense, so they’re both listed here. Take a look at our Spanish imperfect subjunctive tense for a detailed exploration of this tense.

Subject	Andar conjugation imperfect subjunctive
Yo	anduviera / anduvise
Tú	anduvieras / anduvieses
Él, Ella, Usted	anduviera / anduviese
Nosotros, Nosotras	anduviéramos / anduviésemos
Vosotros, Vosotras	anduvierais / anduvieseis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	anduvieran / anduviesen

• Si yo anduviera más, estaría en mejor forma. – If I walked more, I’d be in better shape.
• No te creo que Diego anduviese con ese tipo tan grosero. – I don’t believe you that Diego would hang out with such a rude guy.

• Si vosotros anduvierais por la ciudad, encontraríais muchos lugares interesantes. – If you guys walked around the city, you’d find a lot of interesting places.

Andar future subjunctive

The Spanish future subjunctive is a verb form that is rarely used in modern Spanish but still appears in legal, literary, and some archaic or formal contexts. It is used to describe hypothetical actions or states that may occur in the future.

Subject	Andar future subjunctive
Yo	anduviere
Tú	anduvieres
Él, Ella, Usted	anduviere
Nosotros, Nosotras	anduviéremos
Vosotros, Vosotras	anduviereis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	anduvieren

• Aunque anduviere cansado, terminaré el trabajo. – Even if I get tired, I will finish the job.

• Si vosotros anduviereis por el sendero, llegareis al lago en una hora. – If you walk on the path, you will reach the lake in an hour.

Compound andar subjunctive conjugation

The subjunctive mood, just like the indicative, has compound tenses which are conjugated with the auxiliary verb haber along with the andar past participle: andado.

The compound subjunctive tenses include the perfect subjunctive and the pluperfect subjunctive. The pluperfect subjunctive is formed using the auxiliary verb conjugated in the imperfect subjunctive, meaning that there are two valid conjugation forms of haber in this tense.

Subject	Perfect subjunctive	Pluperfect subjunctive
Yo	haya andado	hubiera andado / hubiese andado
Tú	hayas andado	hubieras andado / hubieses andado
Él, Ella, Usted	haya andado	hubiera andado / hubiese andado
Nosotros, Nosotras	hayamos andado	hubiéramos andado / hubiésemos andado
Vosotros, Vosotras	hayáis andado	hubierais andado / hubieseis andado
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes	hayan andado	hubieran andado / hubiesen andado

• Dudo que él haya andado tanto como dice. – I doubt he has walked as much as he claims.

• No te creo que hayas andado con ese chico, ¡es guapísimo! – I don’t believe you have been with that boy, he’s gorgeous!

Imperative mood

The imperative mood in Spanish is used to give commands, make requests, or offer invitations. It has different forms depending on whether you are speaking informally (tú, vosotros) or formally (usted, ustedes), and whether the command is positive (telling someone to do something) or negative (telling someone not to do something). Take a look at our post on Spanish commands to learn everything about this mood.

Subject	Andar imperative
[Tú]	anda / no andes
[Usted]	ande / no ande
[Nosotros, Nosotras]	andemos / no andemos
[Vosotros, Vosotras]	andad / no andéis
[Ustedes]	anden / no anden

• Andad con cuidado por esa zona. – Be careful in that area.

• No andes descalzo por el jardín. – Don’t walk barefoot in the garden.

• Anden juntos para no perderse. – Walk together so you don’t get lost.

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide has equipped you with the knowledge to conquer andar in Spanish. This versatile verb, although irregular in some conjugations, is essential for everyday conversation.

We explored the various meanings of andar, from its basic translation of to walk or to go to its more nuanced applications like describing behavior, a state of being, functioning, or even estimating.

We then delved into the intricacies of andar conjugations across different tenses and moods. We provided clear explanations and conjugation charts to help you navigate the present, past, future, and compound tenses, both in the indicative and subjunctive moods.  We finished with the imperative mood, used for commands and requests.

By now, you should be comfortable using andar in all its forms!

Andar conjugation exercises

Ready to test your verb skills? Dive into these exercises and see how well you can handle your andar conjugation in different moods and tenses

1. Cuando éramos jóvenes, nosotros ______ mucho en bicicleta. (indicative: imperfect)

2. No ______ por el césped, está mojado. (imperative)

3. Es necesario que ella ______ más despacio por estas calles tan angostas. (subjunctive: present)

4. No ______ juntos si no fueran a la misma universidad. (indicative: conditional)

5. Ellos ______ en bicicleta por el parque el próximo fin de semana. (indicative: future)

6. Ese teléfono ______ por los $200. (indicative: present)

7. Si nosotros ______ más despacio, no nos habríamos perdido. (subjunctive: pluperfect)

8. Ellos ______ más, pero empezó a llover. (indicative: perfect conditional)

9. Para cuando llegues, nosotros ya ______ todo el sendero. (indicative: future perfect)

10. Dudo que tú ______ por todo el bosque en tan poco tiempo. (subjunctive: present perfect)

Answers

1. Cuando éramos jóvenes, nosotros andábamos mucho en bicicleta. – When we were young, we used to ride bikes a lot.

2. No andes por el césped, está mojado. – Don’t walk on the grass, it’s wet.

3. Es mejor que ella ande más despacio por estas calles tan angostas. – It would better if she walked more slowly on these narrow streets.

4. No andarían juntos si no fueran a la misma universidad. – They wouldn’t walk together if they didn’t go to the same university.

5. Ellos andarán en bicicleta por el parque el próximo fin de semana. – They will ride bikes through the park next weekend.

6. Ese teléfono anda por los $200. – That phone costs around $200.

7. Si nosotros hubiéramos / hubiésemos andado más despacio, no nos habríamos caído. – If we had walked more slowly, we wouldn’t have fallen.

8. Ellos habrían andado más, pero empezó a llover. – They would have walked more, but it started to rain.

9. Para cuando llegues, nosotros ya habremos andado todo el sendero. – By the time you arrive, we will have already walked the entire trail.

10. Dudo que tú hayas andado por todo el bosque en tan poco tiempo. – I doubt that you have walked through the entire forest in such a short time.