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Distraerse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to amuse oneself, be distracted”.
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 distraigo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que distraerse).
Below are all of the conjugations for distraerse 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 amuse oneself, be distracted |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | distraerse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está distrayéndose) and past continuous (estaba distrayéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. amusing myself).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he distraído and hubiera distraído. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have amused myself).
| Gerundio / Gerund | distrayéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | distraído |
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 amuse myself” or “they amuse myself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me distraigo |
| Tú | te distraes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distrae |
| Nosotros / as | nos distraemos |
| Vosotros / as | os distraéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distraen |
| Vos | te distraés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I amused myself” or “she amused myself” 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 distraje | I amused myself |
| Tú | te distrajiste | You amused myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distrajo | He / she / you amused myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos distrajimos | We amused myself |
| Vosotros / as | os distrajisteis | You amused myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distrajeron | They / you amused myself |
| Vos | te distrajiste | You amused myself |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was amusing myself” or “she was amusing myself” 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 distraía | I was amusing myself |
| Tú | te distraías | You were amusing myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distraía | He was / she was / you were amusing myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos distraíamos | We were amusing myself |
| Vosotros / as | os distraíais | You were amusing myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distraían | They / you were amusing myself |
| Vos | te distraías | You were amusing myself |
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 amused myself” and “she has amused myself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he distraído | I have amused myself |
| Tú | te has distraído | You have amused myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha distraído | He has / she has / you have amused myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos distraído | We have amused myself |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis distraído | You have amused myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han distraído | They / you have amused myself |
| Vos | te has distraído | You have amused myself |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would amuse oneself” or “she would amuse oneself”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me distraería | I would amuse myself |
| Tú | te distraerías | You would amuse myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distraería | He / she / you would amuse myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos distraeríamos | We would amuse myself |
| Vosotros / as | os distraeríais | You would amuse myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distraerían | They / you would amuse myself |
| Vos | te distraerías | You would amuse myself |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will amuse oneself” or “they will amuse oneself”.
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 distraerse” means “They are going to amuse oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me distraeré | I will amuse myself |
| Tú | te distraerás | You will amuse myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distraerá | He / she / you will amuse myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos distraeremos | We will amuse myself |
| Vosotros / as | os distraeréis | You will amuse myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distraerán | They / you will amuse myself |
| Vos | te distraerás | You will amuse myself |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me distraiga |
| Tú | te distraigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distraiga |
| Nosotros / as | nos distraigamos |
| Vosotros / as | os distraigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distraigan |
| Vos | te distraigas |
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 distrajera | me distrajese |
| Tú | te distrajeras | me distrajese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distrajera | se distrajese |
| Nosotros / as | nos distrajéramos | nos distrajésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os distrajerais | os distrajeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distrajeran | se distrajesen |
| Vos | te distrajeras | me distrajese |
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 distrajere |
| Tú | te distrajeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se distrajere |
| Nosotros / as | nos distrajéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os distrajereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se distrajeren |
| Vos | te distrajeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “amuse oneself!” and “don’t amuse oneself!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | distráete | no te distraigas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | distráigase | no se distraiga |
| Nosotros / as | distraigámonos | no nos distraigamos |
| Vosotros / as | distraeos | no os distraigáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | distráiganse | no se distraigan |
| Vos | distraete | no te distraigas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya distraído |
| Tú | hayas distraído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya distraído |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos distraído |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis distraído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan distraído |
| Vos | hayas distraído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera distraído / hubiese distraído |
| Tú | hubieras distraído / hubieses distraído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera distraído / hubiese distraído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos distraído / hubiésemos distraído |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais distraído / hubieseis distraído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran distraído / hubiesen distraído |
| Vos | hubieras distraído / hubieses distraído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere distraído |
| Tú | hubieres distraído |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere distraído |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos distraído |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis distraído |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren distraído |
| Vos | hubieres distraído |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté distrayéndose |
| Tú | estés distrayéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté distrayéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos distrayéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis distrayéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén distrayéndose |
| Vos | estés distrayéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera distrayéndose / estuviese distrayéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras distrayéndose / estuvieses distrayéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera distrayéndose / estuviese distrayéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos distrayéndose / estuviésamos distrayéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais distrayéndose / estuvieseis distrayéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera distrayéndose / estuviese distrayéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras distrayéndose / estuvieses distrayéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere distrayéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres distrayéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere distrayéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos distrayéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis distrayéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere distrayéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres distrayéndose |
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 distraés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te distrajiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te distraías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te distraerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te distraerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te distraigas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te distrajeras / Vos me distrajese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos distraete |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te distraigas |