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Empeñarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to insist on, set one’s mind on”.
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 empeño) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que empeñarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for empeñarse 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 insist on, set one’s mind on |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | empeñarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está empeñándose) and past continuous (estaba empeñándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. insisting on).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he empeñado and hubiera empeñado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have insisted on).
| Gerundio / Gerund | empeñándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | empeñado |
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 insist on” or “they insist on”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me empeño |
| Tú | te empeñas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeña |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñamos |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñan |
| Vos | te empeñás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I insisted on” or “she insisted on” 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 empeñé | I insisted on |
| Tú | te empeñaste | You insisted on |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñó | He / she / you insisted on |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñamos | We insisted on |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñasteis | You insisted on |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñaron | They / you insisted on |
| Vos | te empeñaste | You insisted on |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was insisting on” or “she was insisting on” 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 empeñaba | I was insisting on |
| Tú | te empeñabas | You were insisting on |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñaba | He was / she was / you were insisting on |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñábamos | We were insisting on |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñabais | You were insisting on |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñaban | They / you were insisting on |
| Vos | te empeñabas | You were insisting on |
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 insisted on” and “she has insisted on”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he empeñado | I have insisted on |
| Tú | te has empeñado | You have insisted on |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha empeñado | He has / she has / you have insisted on |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos empeñado | We have insisted on |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis empeñado | You have insisted on |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han empeñado | They / you have insisted on |
| Vos | te has empeñado | You have insisted on |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would insist on” or “she would insist on”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me empeñaría | I would insist on |
| Tú | te empeñarías | You would insist on |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñaría | He / she / you would insist on |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñaríamos | We would insist on |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñaríais | You would insist on |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñarían | They / you would insist on |
| Vos | te empeñarías | You would insist on |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will insist on” or “they will insist on”.
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 empeñarse” means “They are going to insist on”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me empeñaré | I will insist on |
| Tú | te empeñarás | You will insist on |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñará | He / she / you will insist on |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñaremos | We will insist on |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñaréis | You will insist on |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñarán | They / you will insist on |
| Vos | te empeñarás | You will insist on |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me empeñe |
| Tú | te empeñes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñe |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñemos |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñen |
| Vos | te empeñes |
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 empeñara | me empeñase |
| Tú | te empeñaras | me empeñase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñara | se empeñase |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñáramos | nos empeñásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñarais | os empeñaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñaran | se empeñasen |
| Vos | te empeñaras | me empeñase |
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 empeñare |
| Tú | te empeñares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se empeñare |
| Nosotros / as | nos empeñáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os empeñareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se empeñaren |
| Vos | te empeñares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “insist on!” and “don’t insist on!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | empéñate | no te empeñes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | empéñese | no se empeñe |
| Nosotros / as | empeñémonos | no nos empeñemos |
| Vosotros / as | empeñaos | no os empeñéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | empéñense | no se empeñen |
| Vos | empeñate | no te empeñes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya empeñado |
| Tú | hayas empeñado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya empeñado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos empeñado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis empeñado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan empeñado |
| Vos | hayas empeñado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera empeñado / hubiese empeñado |
| Tú | hubieras empeñado / hubieses empeñado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera empeñado / hubiese empeñado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos empeñado / hubiésemos empeñado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais empeñado / hubieseis empeñado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran empeñado / hubiesen empeñado |
| Vos | hubieras empeñado / hubieses empeñado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere empeñado |
| Tú | hubieres empeñado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere empeñado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos empeñado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis empeñado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren empeñado |
| Vos | hubieres empeñado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté empeñándose |
| Tú | estés empeñándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté empeñándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos empeñándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis empeñándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén empeñándose |
| Vos | estés empeñándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera empeñándose / estuviese empeñándose |
| Tú | estuvieras empeñándose / estuvieses empeñándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera empeñándose / estuviese empeñándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos empeñándose / estuviésamos empeñándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais empeñándose / estuvieseis empeñándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera empeñándose / estuviese empeñándose |
| Vos | estuvieras empeñándose / estuvieses empeñándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere empeñándose |
| Tú | estuvieres empeñándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere empeñándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos empeñándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis empeñándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere empeñándose |
| Vos | estuvieres empeñándose |
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 empeñás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te empeñaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te empeñabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te empeñarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te empeñarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te empeñes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te empeñaras / Vos me empeñase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos empeñate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te empeñes |