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Acurrucarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to curl up, get cozy”.
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 acurruco) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que acurrucarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for acurrucarse 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 curl up, get cozy |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | acurrucarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está acurrucándose) and past continuous (estaba acurrucándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. curling up).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he acurrucado and hubiera acurrucado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have curled up).
| Gerundio / Gerund | acurrucándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | acurrucado |
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 curl up” or “they curl up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me acurruco |
| Tú | te acurrucas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurruca |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucamos |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucan |
| Vos | te acurrucás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I curled up” or “she curled up” 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 acurruqué | I curled up |
| Tú | te acurrucaste | You curled up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurrucó | He / she / you curled up |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucamos | We curled up |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucasteis | You curled up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucaron | They / you curled up |
| Vos | te acurrucaste | You curled up |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was curling up” or “she was curling up” 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 acurrucaba | I was curling up |
| Tú | te acurrucabas | You were curling up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurrucaba | He was / she was / you were curling up |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucábamos | We were curling up |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucabais | You were curling up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucaban | They / you were curling up |
| Vos | te acurrucabas | You were curling up |
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 curled up” and “she has curled up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he acurrucado | I have curled up |
| Tú | te has acurrucado | You have curled up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha acurrucado | He has / she has / you have curled up |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos acurrucado | We have curled up |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis acurrucado | You have curled up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han acurrucado | They / you have curled up |
| Vos | te has acurrucado | You have curled up |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would curl up” or “she would curl up”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acurrucaría | I would curl up |
| Tú | te acurrucarías | You would curl up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurrucaría | He / she / you would curl up |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucaríamos | We would curl up |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucaríais | You would curl up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucarían | They / you would curl up |
| Vos | te acurrucarías | You would curl up |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will curl up” or “they will curl up”.
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 acurrucarse” means “They are going to curl up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acurrucaré | I will curl up |
| Tú | te acurrucarás | You will curl up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurrucará | He / she / you will curl up |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucaremos | We will curl up |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucaréis | You will curl up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucarán | They / you will curl up |
| Vos | te acurrucarás | You will curl up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me acurruque |
| Tú | te acurruques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurruque |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurruquemos |
| Vosotros / as | os acurruquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurruquen |
| Vos | te acurruques |
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 acurrucara | me acurrucase |
| Tú | te acurrucaras | me acurrucase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurrucara | se acurrucase |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucáramos | nos acurrucásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucarais | os acurrucaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucaran | se acurrucasen |
| Vos | te acurrucaras | me acurrucase |
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 acurrucare |
| Tú | te acurrucares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acurrucare |
| Nosotros / as | nos acurrucáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os acurrucareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acurrucaren |
| Vos | te acurrucares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “curl up!” and “don’t curl up!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | acurrucate | no te acurruques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acurruqúese | no se acurruque |
| Nosotros / as | acurruquémonos | no nos acurruquemos |
| Vosotros / as | acurrucaos | no os acurruquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acurruqúense | no se acurruquen |
| Vos | acurrucate | no te acurruques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya acurrucado |
| Tú | hayas acurrucado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya acurrucado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos acurrucado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis acurrucado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan acurrucado |
| Vos | hayas acurrucado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera acurrucado / hubiese acurrucado |
| Tú | hubieras acurrucado / hubieses acurrucado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera acurrucado / hubiese acurrucado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos acurrucado / hubiésemos acurrucado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais acurrucado / hubieseis acurrucado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran acurrucado / hubiesen acurrucado |
| Vos | hubieras acurrucado / hubieses acurrucado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere acurrucado |
| Tú | hubieres acurrucado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere acurrucado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos acurrucado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis acurrucado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren acurrucado |
| Vos | hubieres acurrucado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté acurrucándose |
| Tú | estés acurrucándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté acurrucándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos acurrucándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis acurrucándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén acurrucándose |
| Vos | estés acurrucándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera acurrucándose / estuviese acurrucándose |
| Tú | estuvieras acurrucándose / estuvieses acurrucándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera acurrucándose / estuviese acurrucándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos acurrucándose / estuviésamos acurrucándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais acurrucándose / estuvieseis acurrucándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera acurrucándose / estuviese acurrucándose |
| Vos | estuvieras acurrucándose / estuvieses acurrucándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere acurrucándose |
| Tú | estuvieres acurrucándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere acurrucándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos acurrucándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis acurrucándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere acurrucándose |
| Vos | estuvieres acurrucándose |
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 acurrucás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te acurrucaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te acurrucabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te acurrucarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te acurrucarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te acurruques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te acurrucaras / Vos me acurrucase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos acurrucate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te acurruques |