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Desposarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to get married, become engaged, wed”.
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 desposo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que desposarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for desposarse 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 get married, become engaged, wed |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desposarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desposándose) and past continuous (estaba desposándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. getting married).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desposado and hubiera desposado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have gotten married).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desposándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desposado |
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 get married” or “they get married”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desposo |
| Tú | te desposas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposa |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposamos |
| Vosotros / as | os desposáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposan |
| Vos | desposás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I got married” or “she got married” 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 desposé | I got married |
| Tú | te desposaste | You got married |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposó | He / she / you got married |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposamos | We got married |
| Vosotros / as | os desposasteis | You got married |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposaron | They / you got married |
| Vos | te desposaste | You got married |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was getting married” or “she was getting married” 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 desposaba | I was getting married |
| Tú | te desposabas | You were getting married |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposaba | He was / she was / you were getting married |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposábamos | We were getting married |
| Vosotros / as | os desposabais | You were getting married |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposaban | They / you were getting married |
| Vos | te desposabas | You were getting married |
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 gotten married” and “she has gotten married”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he desposado | I have gotten married |
| Tú | te has desposado | You have gotten married |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha desposado | He has / she has / you have gotten married |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos desposado | We have gotten married |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis desposado | You have gotten married |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han desposado | They / you have gotten married |
| Vos | te has desposado | You have gotten married |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would get married” or “she would get married”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desposaría | I would get married |
| Tú | te desposarías | You would get married |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposaría | He / she / you would get married |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposaríamos | We would get married |
| Vosotros / as | os desposaríais | You would get married |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposarían | They / you would get married |
| Vos | te desposarías | You would get married |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will get married” or “they will get married”.
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 desposarse” means “They are going to get married”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desposaré | I will get married |
| Tú | te desposarás | You will get married |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposará | He / she / you will get married |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposaremos | We will get married |
| Vosotros / as | os desposaréis | You will get married |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposarán | They / you will get married |
| Vos | te desposarás | You will get married |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despose |
| Tú | te desposes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despose |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desposéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposen |
| Vos | te desposes |
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 desposara | me desposase |
| Tú | te desposaras | me desposase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposara | se desposase |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposáramos | nos desposásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desposarais | os desposaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposaran | se desposasen |
| Vos | te desposaras | me desposase |
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 desposare |
| Tú | te desposares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desposare |
| Nosotros / as | nos desposáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os desposareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desposaren |
| Vos | te desposares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “get married!” and “don’t get married!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despósate | no te desposes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despósese | no se despose |
| Nosotros / as | desposémonos | no nos desposemos |
| Vosotros / as | desposaos | no os desposéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despósense | no se desposen |
| Vos | desposá | no te desposes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desposado |
| Tú | hayas desposado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desposado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desposado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desposado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desposado |
| Vos | hayas desposado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desposado / hubiese desposado |
| Tú | hubieras desposado / hubieses desposado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desposado / hubiese desposado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desposado / hubiésemos desposado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desposado / hubieseis desposado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desposado / hubiesen desposado |
| Vos | hubieras desposado / hubieses desposado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desposado |
| Tú | hubieres desposado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desposado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desposado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desposado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desposado |
| Vos | hubieres desposado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desposándose |
| Tú | estés desposándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desposándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desposándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desposándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desposándose |
| Vos | estés desposándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desposándose / estuviese desposándose |
| Tú | estuvieras desposándose / estuvieses desposándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desposándose / estuviese desposándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desposándose / estuviésamos desposándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desposándose / estuvieseis desposándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desposándose / estuviese desposándose |
| Vos | estuvieras desposándose / estuvieses desposándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desposándose |
| Tú | estuvieres desposándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desposándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desposándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desposándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desposándose |
| Vos | estuvieres desposándose |
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 desposás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te desposaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te desposabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te desposarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te desposarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te desposes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te desposaras / Vos me desposase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desposá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te desposes |