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Entretenerse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to amuse or entertain oneself”.
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 entretengo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que entretenerse).
Below are all of the conjugations for entretenerse 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 or entertain oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | entretenerse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está entreteniéndose) and past continuous (estaba entreteniéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. amusing oneself).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he entretenido and hubiera entretenido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have amused oneself).
| Gerundio / Gerund | entreteniéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | entretenido |
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 oneself” or “they amuse oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me entretengo |
| Tú | te entretienes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretiene |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretenemos |
| Vosotros / as | os entretenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretienen |
| Vos | te entretienes |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I amused oneself” or “she amused oneself” 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 entretuve | I amused oneself |
| Tú | te entretuviste | You amused oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretuvo | He / she / you amused oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretuvimos | We amused oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os entretuvisteis | You amused oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretuvieron | They / you amused oneself |
| Vos | te entretuviste | You amused oneself |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was amusing oneself” or “she was amusing oneself” 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 entretenía | I was amusing oneself |
| Tú | te entretenías | You were amusing oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretenía | He was / she was / you were amusing oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos entreteníamos | We were amusing oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os entreteníais | You were amusing oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretenían | They / you were amusing oneself |
| Vos | te entretenías | You were amusing oneself |
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 oneself” and “she has amused oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he entretenido | I have amused oneself |
| Tú | te has entretenido | You have amused oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha entretenido | He has / she has / you have amused oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos entretenido | We have amused oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis entretenido | You have amused oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han entretenido | They / you have amused oneself |
| Vos | te has entretenido | You have amused oneself |
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 entretendría | I would amuse oneself |
| Tú | te entretendrías | You would amuse oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretendría | He / she / you would amuse oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretendríamos | We would amuse oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os entretendríais | You would amuse oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretendrían | They / you would amuse oneself |
| Vos | te entretendrías | You would amuse oneself |
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 entretenerse” means “They are going to amuse oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me entretendré | I will amuse oneself |
| Tú | te entretendrás | You will amuse oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretendrá | He / she / you will amuse oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretendremos | We will amuse oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os entretendréis | You will amuse oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretendrán | They / you will amuse oneself |
| Vos | te entretendrás | You will amuse oneself |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me entretenga |
| Tú | te entretengas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretenga |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretengamos |
| Vosotros / as | os entretengáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretengan |
| Vos | te entretengas |
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 entretuviera | me entretuviese |
| Tú | te entretuvieras | me entretuviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretuviera | se entretuviese |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretuviéramos | nos entretuviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os entretuvierais | os entretuvieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretuvieran | se entretuviesen |
| Vos | te entretuvieras | me entretuviese |
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 entretuviere |
| Tú | te entretuvieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se entretuviere |
| Nosotros / as | nos entretuviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os entretuviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se entretuvieren |
| Vos | te entretuvieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “amuse oneself!” and “don’t amuse oneself!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | entretente | no te entretengas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | entreténgase | no se entretenga |
| Nosotros / as | entretengámonos | no nos entretengamos |
| Vosotros / as | entreteneos | no os entretengáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | entreténganse | no se entretengan |
| Vos | entretenete | no te entretengas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya entretenido |
| Tú | hayas entretenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya entretenido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos entretenido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis entretenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan entretenido |
| Vos | hayas entretenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera entretenido / hubiese entretenido |
| Tú | hubieras entretenido / hubieses entretenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera entretenido / hubiese entretenido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos entretenido / hubiésemos entretenido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais entretenido / hubieseis entretenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran entretenido / hubiesen entretenido |
| Vos | hubieras entretenido / hubieses entretenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere entretenido |
| Tú | hubieres entretenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere entretenido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos entretenido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis entretenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren entretenido |
| Vos | hubieres entretenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté entreteniéndose |
| Tú | estés entreteniéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté entreteniéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos entreteniéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis entreteniéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén entreteniéndose |
| Vos | estés entreteniéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera entreteniéndose / estuviese entreteniéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras entreteniéndose / estuvieses entreteniéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera entreteniéndose / estuviese entreteniéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos entreteniéndose / estuviésamos entreteniéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais entreteniéndose / estuvieseis entreteniéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera entreteniéndose / estuviese entreteniéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras entreteniéndose / estuvieses entreteniéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere entreteniéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres entreteniéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere entreteniéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos entreteniéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis entreteniéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere entreteniéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres entreteniéndose |
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 entretienes |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te entretuviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te entretenías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te entretendrías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te entretendrás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te entretengas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te entretuvieras / Vos me entretuviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos entretenete |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te entretengas |