Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Esfumarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to vanish, disappear”.
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 esfumo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que esfumarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for esfumarse 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 vanish, disappear |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esfumarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esfumándose) and past continuous (estaba esfumándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. vanishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esfumado and hubiera esfumado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have vanished).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esfumándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esfumado |
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 vanish” or “they vanish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esfumo |
| Tú | te esfumas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfuma |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumamos |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfuman |
| Vos | te esfumás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I vanished” or “she vanished” 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 esfumé | I vanished |
| Tú | te esfumaste | You vanished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfumó | He / she / you vanished |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumamos | We vanished |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumasteis | You vanished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumaron | They / you vanished |
| Vos | te esfumaste | You vanished |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was vanishing” or “she was vanishing” 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 esfumaba | I was vanishing |
| Tú | te esfumabas | You were vanishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfumaba | He was / she was / you were vanishing |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumábamos | We were vanishing |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumabais | You were vanishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumaban | They / you were vanishing |
| Vos | te esfumabas | You were vanishing |
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 vanished” and “she has vanished”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he esfumado | I have vanished |
| Tú | te has esfumado | You have vanished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha esfumado | He has / she has / you have vanished |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos esfumado | We have vanished |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis esfumado | You have vanished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han esfumado | They / you have vanished |
| Vos | te has esfumado | You have vanished |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would vanish” or “she would vanish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esfumaría | I would vanish |
| Tú | te esfumarías | You would vanish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfumaría | He / she / you would vanish |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumaríamos | We would vanish |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumaríais | You would vanish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumarían | They / you would vanish |
| Vos | te esfumarías | You would vanish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will vanish” or “they will vanish”.
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 esfumarse” means “They are going to vanish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esfumaré | I will vanish |
| Tú | te esfumarás | You will vanish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfumará | He / she / you will vanish |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumaremos | We will vanish |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumaréis | You will vanish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumarán | They / you will vanish |
| Vos | te esfumarás | You will vanish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esfume |
| Tú | te esfumes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfume |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumemos |
| Vosotros / as | os esfuméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumen |
| Vos | te esfumes |
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 esfumara | me esfumase |
| Tú | te esfumaras | me esfumase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfumara | se esfumase |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumáramos | nos esfumásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumarais | os esfumaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumaran | se esfumasen |
| Vos | te esfumaras | me esfumase |
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 esfumare |
| Tú | te esfumares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esfumare |
| Nosotros / as | nos esfumáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os esfumareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esfumaren |
| Vos | te esfumares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “vanish!” and “don’t vanish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | esfúmate | no te esfumes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esfúmese | no se esfume |
| Nosotros / as | esfumémonos | no nos esfumemos |
| Vosotros / as | esfumaos | no os esfuméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esfúmense | no se esfumen |
| Vos | esfumate | no te esfumes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esfumado |
| Tú | hayas esfumado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esfumado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esfumado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esfumado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esfumado |
| Vos | hayas esfumado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esfumado / hubiese esfumado |
| Tú | hubieras esfumado / hubieses esfumado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esfumado / hubiese esfumado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esfumado / hubiésemos esfumado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esfumado / hubieseis esfumado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esfumado / hubiesen esfumado |
| Vos | hubieras esfumado / hubieses esfumado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esfumado |
| Tú | hubieres esfumado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esfumado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esfumado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esfumado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esfumado |
| Vos | hubieres esfumado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esfumándose |
| Tú | estés esfumándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esfumándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esfumándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esfumándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esfumándose |
| Vos | estés esfumándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esfumándose / estuviese esfumándose |
| Tú | estuvieras esfumándose / estuvieses esfumándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esfumándose / estuviese esfumándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esfumándose / estuviésamos esfumándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esfumándose / estuvieseis esfumándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esfumándose / estuviese esfumándose |
| Vos | estuvieras esfumándose / estuvieses esfumándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esfumándose |
| Tú | estuvieres esfumándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esfumándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esfumándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esfumándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esfumándose |
| Vos | estuvieres esfumándose |
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 esfumás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te esfumaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te esfumabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te esfumarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te esfumarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te esfumes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te esfumaras / Vos me esfumase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esfumate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te esfumes |