Venir

Quick Answer

Venir(to come) is most commonly used to talk about coming to or arriving at a place, but that's not the only way it's used in Spanish. Read on to find out more about how to use venir in Spanish!

Using Venir to Talk about Coming to a Place

Venir is used to describe movement, but not just any movement: it is used to talk about something or someone moving towards the place where the speaker is, was, or will be. Let’s see some examples:

examples
¿Vienes a casa a comer? Are you coming home for dinner?
Lucía viene a la escuela en el autobús. Lucía comes to school on the bus.
Ayer vinieron de visita Francisco y Alicia. Francisco and Alicia came to visit yesterday.

Be careful to distinguish between venir (to come) and ir(to go). Even though both verbs imply movement, choosing one or the other depends on whether you’re talking about movement towards the place where the speaker is, was, or will be (venir) or away from it (ir).

Using Venir to Describe Objects

Venir can also mean to include, to be, to come (with), or to have. Check out these examples:

examples
Esta computadora no viene con lectora de CD. This computer doesn’t come with a CD drive.
¿En qué tallas viene la chaqueta? In what sizes does the jacket come?
La cámara fotográfica viene con varias lentes. The camera includes several lenses.

Using Venir to Talk about Suitability

Venir is used with either bienor malto talk about suitability or inconvenience. Let’s see how it works:

examples
La hora de la reunión me viene bien. The meeting time is fine for me.
La nueva distribución de tareas me viene bien. The new task assignments work for me.
Este tipo de publicidad le viene mal a nuestra institución. This kind of publicity is bad for our institution.

Using Venir to Talk about Continuing Action

Venir can be used with a present participle (gerundio) to talk about an action that started in the past and continues in the present. Check out the examples:

examples
El equipo viene ganando todos los últimos partidos. Our team has been winning all its recent games.
Hace tiempo que te lo vengo diciendo, pero no me escuchas. I’ve been telling you for quite some time, but you won’t listen.

Read this article to review present participles in Spanish.

Conjugating Venir

Venir is an irregular verb. Let’s see how to conjugate venir in the present and the preterite.

Venir in the Present

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	vengo	I come
tú	vienes	you come	informal singular you
vos	venís	you come	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	viene	he, she comes
usted	viene	you come	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	venimos	we come
vosotros, vosotras	venís	you come	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	vienen	they come
ustedes	vienen	you come	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Venir in the Preterite

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	vine	I came
tú	viniste	you came	informal singular you
vos	viniste	you came	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	vino	he, she came
usted	vino	you came	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	vinimos	we came
vosotros, vosotras	vinisteis	you came	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	vinieron	they came
ustedes	vinieron	you came	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

In Spanish, there are lots of tricky verb pairs besides venir and ir. Read these articles to learn more about them!

• “Saber” vs. “Conocer”

• “Ver” vs. “Mirar” in Spanish

• "Hablar" vs. "Decir" vs. "Contar"

• "Convertirse," "Hacerse," "Volverse," and "Ponerse"

• “Faltar,” “Fallar,” and “Extrañar”

• "Jugar" vs. "Tocar" in Spanish

• “Trabajar” vs. “Funcionar" in Spanish

• "Pedir" vs. "Preguntar" in Spanish