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Licenciarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to graduate with degree”.
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 licencio) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que licenciarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for licenciarse 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 graduate with degree |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | licenciarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está licenciándose) and past continuous (estaba licenciándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. graduating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he licenciado and hubiera licenciado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have graduated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | licenciándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | licenciado |
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 graduate” or “they graduate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me licencio |
| Tú | te licencias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licencia |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciamos |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licencian |
| Vos | licenciás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I graduated” or “she graduated” 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 licencié | I graduated |
| Tú | te licenciaste | You graduated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licenció | He / she / you graduated |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciamos | We graduated |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciasteis | You graduated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licenciaron | They / you graduated |
| Vos | te licenciaste | You graduated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was graduating” or “she was graduating” 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 licenciaba | I was graduating |
| Tú | te licenciabas | You were graduating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licenciaba | He was / she was / you were graduating |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciábamos | We were graduating |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciabais | You were graduating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licenciaban | They / you were graduating |
| Vos | te licenciabas | You were graduating |
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 graduated” and “she has graduated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he licenciado | I have graduated |
| Tú | te has licenciado | You have graduated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha licenciado | He has / she has / you have graduated |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos licenciado | We have graduated |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis licenciado | You have graduated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han licenciado | They / you have graduated |
| Vos | te has licenciado | You have graduated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would graduate” or “she would graduate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me licenciaría | I would graduate |
| Tú | te licenciarías | You would graduate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licenciaría | He / she / you would graduate |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciaríamos | We would graduate |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciaríais | You would graduate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licenciarían | They / you would graduate |
| Vos | te licenciarías | You would graduate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will graduate” or “they will graduate”.
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 licenciarse” means “They are going to graduate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me licenciaré | I will graduate |
| Tú | te licenciarás | You will graduate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licenciará | He / she / you will graduate |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciaremos | We will graduate |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciaréis | You will graduate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licenciarán | They / you will graduate |
| Vos | te licenciarás | You will graduate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me licencie |
| Tú | te licencies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licencie |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciemos |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licencien |
| Vos | te licencies |
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 licenciara | me licenciase |
| Tú | te licenciaras | me licenciase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licenciara | se licenciase |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciáramos | nos licenciásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciarais | os licenciaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licenciaran | se licenciasen |
| Vos | te licenciaras | me licenciase |
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 licenciare |
| Tú | te licenciares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se licenciare |
| Nosotros / as | nos licenciáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os licenciareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se licenciaren |
| Vos | te licenciares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “graduate!” and “don’t graduate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | licenciate | no te licencies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | licenciese | no se licencie |
| Nosotros / as | licenciémonos | no nos licenciemos |
| Vosotros / as | licenciaos | no os licenciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | licenciense | no se licencien |
| Vos | licenciá | no te licencies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya licenciado |
| Tú | hayas licenciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya licenciado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos licenciado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis licenciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan licenciado |
| Vos | hayas licenciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera licenciado / hubiese licenciado |
| Tú | hubieras licenciado / hubieses licenciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera licenciado / hubiese licenciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos licenciado / hubiésemos licenciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais licenciado / hubieseis licenciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran licenciado / hubiesen licenciado |
| Vos | hubieras licenciado / hubieses licenciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere licenciado |
| Tú | hubieres licenciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere licenciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos licenciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis licenciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren licenciado |
| Vos | hubieres licenciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté licenciándose |
| Tú | estés licenciándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté licenciándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos licenciándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis licenciándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén licenciándose |
| Vos | estés licenciándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera licenciándose / estuviese licenciándose |
| Tú | estuvieras licenciándose / estuvieses licenciándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera licenciándose / estuviese licenciándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos licenciándose / estuviésamos licenciándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais licenciándose / estuvieseis licenciándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera licenciándose / estuviese licenciándose |
| Vos | estuvieras licenciándose / estuvieses licenciándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere licenciándose |
| Tú | estuvieres licenciándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere licenciándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos licenciándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis licenciándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere licenciándose |
| Vos | estuvieres licenciándose |
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 licenciás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te licenciaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te licenciabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te licenciarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te licenciarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te licencies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te licenciaras / Vos me licenciase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos licenciá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te licencies |