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Asustarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be scared, be frightened”.
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 asusto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que asustarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for asustarse 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 be scared, be frightened |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | asustarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está asustándose) and past continuous (estaba asustándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being scared).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he asustado and hubiera asustado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been scared).
| Gerundio / Gerund | asustándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | asustado |
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 be scared” or “they be scared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me asusto |
| Tú | te asustas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asusta |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustamos |
| Vosotros / as | os asustáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustan |
| Vos | te asustás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was scared” or “she was scared” 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 asusté | I was scared |
| Tú | te asustaste | You was scared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asustó | He / she / you was scared |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustamos | We was scared |
| Vosotros / as | os asustasteis | You was scared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustaron | They / you was scared |
| Vos | te asustaste | You was scared |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being scared” or “she was being scared” 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 asustaba | I was being scared |
| Tú | te asustabas | You were being scared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asustaba | He was / she was / you were being scared |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustábamos | We were being scared |
| Vosotros / as | os asustabais | You were being scared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustaban | They / you were being scared |
| Vos | te asustabas | You were being scared |
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 been scared” and “she has been scared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he asustado | I have been scared |
| Tú | te has asustado | You have been scared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha asustado | He has / she has / you have been scared |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos asustado | We have been scared |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis asustado | You have been scared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han asustado | They / you have been scared |
| Vos | te has asustado | You have been scared |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be scared” or “she would be scared”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me asustaría | I would be scared |
| Tú | te asustarías | You would be scared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asustaría | He / she / you would be scared |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustaríamos | We would be scared |
| Vosotros / as | os asustaríais | You would be scared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustarían | They / you would be scared |
| Vos | te asustarías | You would be scared |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be scared” or “they will be scared”.
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 asustarse” means “They are going to be scared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me asustaré | I will be scared |
| Tú | te asustarás | You will be scared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asustará | He / she / you will be scared |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustaremos | We will be scared |
| Vosotros / as | os asustaréis | You will be scared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustarán | They / you will be scared |
| Vos | te asustarás | You will be scared |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me asuste |
| Tú | te asustes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asuste |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustemos |
| Vosotros / as | os asustéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asusten |
| Vos | te asustes |
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 asustara | me asustase |
| Tú | te asustaras | me asustase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asustara | se asustase |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustáramos | nos asustásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os asustarais | os asustaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustaran | se asustasen |
| Vos | te asustaras | me asustase |
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 asustare |
| Tú | te asustares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asustare |
| Nosotros / as | nos asustáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os asustareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asustaren |
| Vos | te asustares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be scared!” and “don’t be scared!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | asústate | no te asustes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asústese | no se asuste |
| Nosotros / as | asustémonos | no nos asustemos |
| Vosotros / as | asustaos | no os asustéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asústense | no se asusten |
| Vos | asustate | no te asustes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya asustado |
| Tú | hayas asustado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya asustado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos asustado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis asustado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan asustado |
| Vos | hayas asustado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera asustado / hubiese asustado |
| Tú | hubieras asustado / hubieses asustado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera asustado / hubiese asustado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos asustado / hubiésemos asustado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais asustado / hubieseis asustado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran asustado / hubiesen asustado |
| Vos | hubieras asustado / hubieses asustado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere asustado |
| Tú | hubieres asustado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere asustado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos asustado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis asustado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren asustado |
| Vos | hubieres asustado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté asustándose |
| Tú | estés asustándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté asustándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos asustándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis asustándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén asustándose |
| Vos | estés asustándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera asustándose / estuviese asustándose |
| Tú | estuvieras asustándose / estuvieses asustándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera asustándose / estuviese asustándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos asustándose / estuviésamos asustándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais asustándose / estuvieseis asustándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera asustándose / estuviese asustándose |
| Vos | estuvieras asustándose / estuvieses asustándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere asustándose |
| Tú | estuvieres asustándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere asustándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos asustándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis asustándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere asustándose |
| Vos | estuvieres asustándose |
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 asustás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te asustaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te asustabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te asustarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te asustarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te asustes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te asustaras / Vos me asustase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos asustate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te asustes |