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Fijarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to take notice, pay attention, settle”.
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 fijo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que fijarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for fijarse 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 take notice, pay attention, settle |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | fijarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está fijándose) and past continuous (estaba fijándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. took notice).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he taken notice and hubiera taken notice. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have taking notice).
| Gerundio / Gerund | fijándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | taken notice |
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 take notice” or “they take notice”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me fijo |
| Tú | te fijas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fija |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijamos |
| Vosotros / as | os fijáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijan |
| Vos | te fijás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I take notice” or “she take notice” 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 fijé | I take notice |
| Tú | te fijaste | You take notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fijó | He / she / you take notice |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijamos | We take notice |
| Vosotros / as | os fijasteis | You take notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijaron | They / you take notice |
| Vos | te fijaste | You take notice |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was took notice” or “she was took notice” 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 fijaba | I was took notice |
| Tú | te fijabas | You were took notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fijaba | He was / she was / you were took notice |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijábamos | We were took notice |
| Vosotros / as | os fijabais | You were took notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijaban | They / you were took notice |
| Vos | te fijabas | You were took notice |
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 taking notice” and “she has taking notice”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he taken notice | I have taking notice |
| Tú | te has taken notice | You have taking notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha taken notice | He has / she has / you have taking notice |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos taken notice | We have taking notice |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis taken notice | You have taking notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han taken notice | They / you have taking notice |
| Vos | te has taken notice | You have taking notice |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would take notice” or “she would take notice”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me fijaría | I would take notice |
| Tú | te fijarías | You would take notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fijaría | He / she / you would take notice |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijaríamos | We would take notice |
| Vosotros / as | os fijaríais | You would take notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijarían | They / you would take notice |
| Vos | te fijarías | You would take notice |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will take notice” or “they will take notice”.
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 fijarse” means “They are going to take notice”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me fijaré | I will take notice |
| Tú | te fijarás | You will take notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fijará | He / she / you will take notice |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijaremos | We will take notice |
| Vosotros / as | os fijaréis | You will take notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijarán | They / you will take notice |
| Vos | te fijarás | You will take notice |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me fije |
| Tú | te fijes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fije |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijemos |
| Vosotros / as | os fijéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijen |
| Vos | te fijes |
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 fijara | me fijase |
| Tú | te fijaras | me fijase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fijara | se fijase |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijáramos | nos fijásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os fijarais | os fijaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijaran | se fijasen |
| Vos | te fijaras | me fijase |
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 fijare |
| Tú | te fijares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se fijare |
| Nosotros / as | nos fijáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os fijareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se fijaren |
| Vos | te fijares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “take notice!” and “don’t take notice!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | fíjate | no te fijes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | fíjese | no se fije |
| Nosotros / as | fijémonos | no nos fijemos |
| Vosotros / as | fijaos | no os fijéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | fíjense | no se fijen |
| Vos | fijate | no te fijes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya taken notice |
| Tú | hayas taken notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya taken notice |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos taken notice |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis taken notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan taken notice |
| Vos | hayas taken notice |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera taken notice / hubiese taken notice |
| Tú | hubieras taken notice / hubieses taken notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera taken notice / hubiese taken notice |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos taken notice / hubiésemos taken notice |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais taken notice / hubieseis taken notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran taken notice / hubiesen taken notice |
| Vos | hubieras taken notice / hubieses taken notice |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere taken notice |
| Tú | hubieres taken notice |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere taken notice |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos taken notice |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis taken notice |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren taken notice |
| Vos | hubieres taken notice |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté fijándose |
| Tú | estés fijándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté fijándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos fijándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis fijándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén fijándose |
| Vos | estés fijándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera fijándose / estuviese fijándose |
| Tú | estuvieras fijándose / estuvieses fijándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera fijándose / estuviese fijándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos fijándose / estuviésamos fijándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais fijándose / estuvieseis fijándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera fijándose / estuviese fijándose |
| Vos | estuvieras fijándose / estuvieses fijándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere fijándose |
| Tú | estuvieres fijándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere fijándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos fijándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis fijándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere fijándose |
| Vos | estuvieres fijándose |
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 fijás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te fijaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te fijabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te fijarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te fijarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te fijes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te fijaras / Vos me fijase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos fijate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te fijes |