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Abstenerse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to abstain, deprive 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 abstengo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que abstenerse).
Below are all of the conjugations for abstenerse 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 abstain, deprive oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | abstenerse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está absteniéndose) and past continuous (estaba absteniéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. abstaining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he abstenido and hubiera abstenido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have abstained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | absteniéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | abstenido |
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 abstain” or “they abstain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me abstengo |
| Tú | te abstienes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstiene |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstenemos |
| Vosotros / as | os abstenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstienen |
| Vos | te abstenés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I abstained” or “she abstained” 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 abstuve | I abstained |
| Tú | te abstuviste | You abstained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstuvo | He / she / you abstained |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstuvimos | We abstained |
| Vosotros / as | os abstuvisteis | You abstained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstuvieron | They / you abstained |
| Vos | te abstuviste | You abstained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was abstaining” or “she was abstaining” 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 abstenía | I was abstaining |
| Tú | te abstenías | You were abstaining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstenía | He was / she was / you were abstaining |
| Nosotros / as | nos absteníamos | We were abstaining |
| Vosotros / as | os absteníais | You were abstaining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstenían | They / you were abstaining |
| Vos | te abstenías | You were abstaining |
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 abstained” and “she has abstained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he abstenido | I have abstained |
| Tú | te has abstenido | You have abstained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha abstenido | He has / she has / you have abstained |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos abstenido | We have abstained |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis abstenido | You have abstained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han abstenido | They / you have abstained |
| Vos | te has abstenido | You have abstained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would abstain” or “she would abstain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me abstendría | I would abstain |
| Tú | te abstendrías | You would abstain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstendría | He / she / you would abstain |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstendríamos | We would abstain |
| Vosotros / as | os abstendríais | You would abstain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstendrían | They / you would abstain |
| Vos | te abstendrías | You would abstain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will abstain” or “they will abstain”.
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 abstenerse” means “They are going to abstain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me abstendré | I will abstain |
| Tú | te abstendrás | You will abstain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstendrá | He / she / you will abstain |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstendremos | We will abstain |
| Vosotros / as | os abstendréis | You will abstain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstendrán | They / you will abstain |
| Vos | te abstendrás | You will abstain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me abstenga |
| Tú | te abstengas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstenga |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstengamos |
| Vosotros / as | os abstengáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstengan |
| Vos | te abstengas |
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 abstuviera | me abstuviese |
| Tú | te abstuvieras | me abstuviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstuviera | se abstuviese |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstuviéramos | nos abstuviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os abstuvierais | os abstuvieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstuvieran | se abstuviesen |
| Vos | te abstuvieras | me abstuviese |
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 abstuviere |
| Tú | te abstuvieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abstuviere |
| Nosotros / as | nos abstuviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os abstuviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abstuvieren |
| Vos | te abstuvieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “abstain!” and “don’t abstain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | abstente | no te abstengas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | absténgase | no se abstenga |
| Nosotros / as | abstengámonos | no nos abstengamos |
| Vosotros / as | absteneos | no os abstengáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | absténganse | no se abstengan |
| Vos | abstenete | no te abstengas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya abstenido |
| Tú | hayas abstenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya abstenido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos abstenido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis abstenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan abstenido |
| Vos | hayas abstenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera abstenido / hubiese abstenido |
| Tú | hubieras abstenido / hubieses abstenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera abstenido / hubiese abstenido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos abstenido / hubiésemos abstenido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais abstenido / hubieseis abstenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran abstenido / hubiesen abstenido |
| Vos | hubieras abstenido / hubieses abstenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere abstenido |
| Tú | hubieres abstenido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere abstenido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos abstenido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis abstenido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren abstenido |
| Vos | hubieres abstenido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté absteniéndose |
| Tú | estés absteniéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté absteniéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos absteniéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis absteniéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén absteniéndose |
| Vos | estés absteniéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera absteniéndose / estuviese absteniéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras absteniéndose / estuvieses absteniéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera absteniéndose / estuviese absteniéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos absteniéndose / estuviésamos absteniéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais absteniéndose / estuvieseis absteniéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera absteniéndose / estuviese absteniéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras absteniéndose / estuvieses absteniéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere absteniéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres absteniéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere absteniéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos absteniéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis absteniéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere absteniéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres absteniéndose |
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 abstenés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te abstuviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te abstenías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te abstendrías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te abstendrás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te abstengas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te abstuvieras / Vos me abstuviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos abstenete |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te abstengas |