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Comportarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to behave”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me comporto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que comportarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for comportarse in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to behave |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | comportarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está comportándose) and past continuous (estaba comportándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. behaving).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he comportado and hubiera comportado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have behaved).
| Gerundio / Gerund | comportándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | comportado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I behave” or “they behave”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me comporto |
| Tú | te comportas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comporta |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportamos |
| Vosotros / as | os comportáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportan |
| Vos | te comportás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I behaved” or “she behaved” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me comporté | I behaved |
| Tú | te comportaste | You behaved |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comportó | He / she / you behaved |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportamos | We behaved |
| Vosotros / as | os comportasteis | You behaved |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportaron | They / you behaved |
| Vos | te comportaste | You behaved |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was behaving” or “she was behaving” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me comportaba | I was behaving |
| Tú | te comportabas | You were behaving |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comportaba | He was / she was / you were behaving |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportábamos | We were behaving |
| Vosotros / as | os comportabais | You were behaving |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportaban | They / you were behaving |
| Vos | te comportabas | You were behaving |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have behaved” and “she has behaved”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he comportado | I have behaved |
| Tú | te has comportado | You have behaved |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha comportado | He has / she has / you have behaved |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos comportado | We have behaved |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis comportado | You have behaved |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han comportado | They / you have behaved |
| Vos | te has comportado | You have behaved |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would behave” or “she would behave”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me comportaría | I would behave |
| Tú | te comportarías | You would behave |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comportaría | He / she / you would behave |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportaríamos | We would behave |
| Vosotros / as | os comportaríais | You would behave |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportarían | They / you would behave |
| Vos | te comportarías | You would behave |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will behave” or “they will behave”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a comportarse” means “They are going to behave”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me comportaré | I will behave |
| Tú | te comportarás | You will behave |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comportará | He / she / you will behave |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportaremos | We will behave |
| Vosotros / as | os comportaréis | You will behave |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportarán | They / you will behave |
| Vos | te comportarás | You will behave |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me comporte |
| Tú | te comportes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comporte |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportemos |
| Vosotros / as | os comportéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comporten |
| Vos | te comportes |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me comportara | me comportase |
| Tú | te comportaras | me comportase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comportara | se comportase |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportáramos | nos comportásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os comportarais | os comportaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportaran | se comportasen |
| Vos | te comportaras | me comportase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me comportare |
| Tú | te comportares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se comportare |
| Nosotros / as | nos comportáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os comportareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se comportaren |
| Vos | te comportares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “behave!” and “don’t behave!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | compórtate | no te comportes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compórtese | no se comporte |
| Nosotros / as | comportémonos | no nos comportemos |
| Vosotros / as | comportaos | no os comportéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compórtense | no se comporten |
| Vos | comportate | no te comportes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya comportado |
| Tú | hayas comportado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya comportado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos comportado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis comportado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan comportado |
| Vos | hayas comportado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera comportado / hubiese comportado |
| Tú | hubieras comportado / hubieses comportado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera comportado / hubiese comportado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos comportado / hubiésemos comportado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais comportado / hubieseis comportado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran comportado / hubiesen comportado |
| Vos | hubieras comportado / hubieses comportado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere comportado |
| Tú | hubieres comportado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere comportado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos comportado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis comportado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren comportado |
| Vos | hubieres comportado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté comportándose |
| Tú | estés comportándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté comportándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos comportándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis comportándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén comportándose |
| Vos | estés comportándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera comportándose / estuviese comportándose |
| Tú | estuvieras comportándose / estuvieses comportándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera comportándose / estuviese comportándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos comportándose / estuviésamos comportándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais comportándose / estuvieseis comportándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera comportándose / estuviese comportándose |
| Vos | estuvieras comportándose / estuvieses comportándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere comportándose |
| Tú | estuvieres comportándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere comportándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos comportándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis comportándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere comportándose |
| Vos | estuvieres comportándose |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos te comportás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te comportaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te comportabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te comportarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te comportarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te comportes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te comportaras / Vos me comportase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos comportate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te comportes |