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Ausentarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be absent, absent 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 ausento) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que ausentarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for ausentarse 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 absent, absent oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | ausentarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está ausentándose) and past continuous (estaba ausentándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. being absent).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he ausentado and hubiera ausentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have been absent).
| Gerundio / Gerund | ausentándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | ausentado |
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 absent” or “they be absent”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me ausento |
| Tú | te ausentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausenta |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentamos |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentan |
| Vos | te ausentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I was absent” or “she was absent” 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 ausenté | I was absent |
| Tú | te ausentaste | You was absent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausentó | He / she / you was absent |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentamos | We was absent |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentasteis | You was absent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentaron | They / you was absent |
| Vos | te ausentaste | You was absent |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was being absent” or “she was being absent” 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 ausentaba | I was being absent |
| Tú | te ausentabas | You were being absent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausentaba | He was / she was / you were being absent |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentábamos | We were being absent |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentabais | You were being absent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentaban | They / you were being absent |
| Vos | te ausentabas | You were being absent |
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 absent” and “she has been absent”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he ausentado | I have been absent |
| Tú | te has ausentado | You have been absent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha ausentado | He has / she has / you have been absent |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos ausentado | We have been absent |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis ausentado | You have been absent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han ausentado | They / you have been absent |
| Vos | te has ausentado | You have been absent |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would be absent” or “she would be absent”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me ausentaría | I would be absent |
| Tú | te ausentarías | You would be absent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausentaría | He / she / you would be absent |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentaríamos | We would be absent |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentaríais | You would be absent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentarían | They / you would be absent |
| Vos | te ausentarías | You would be absent |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will be absent” or “they will be absent”.
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 ausentarse” means “They are going to be absent”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me ausentaré | I will be absent |
| Tú | te ausentarás | You will be absent |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausentará | He / she / you will be absent |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentaremos | We will be absent |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentaréis | You will be absent |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentarán | They / you will be absent |
| Vos | te ausentarás | You will be absent |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me ausente |
| Tú | te ausentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausente |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentemos |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausenten |
| Vos | te ausentes |
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 ausentara | me ausentase |
| Tú | te ausentaras | me ausentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausentara | se ausentase |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentáramos | nos ausentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentarais | os ausentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentaran | se ausentasen |
| Vos | te ausentaras | me ausentase |
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 ausentare |
| Tú | te ausentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ausentare |
| Nosotros / as | nos ausentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os ausentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se ausentaren |
| Vos | te ausentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “be absent!” and “don’t be absent!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | auséntate | no te ausentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | auséntese | no se ausente |
| Nosotros / as | ausentémonos | no nos ausentemos |
| Vosotros / as | ausentaos | no os ausentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | auséntense | no se ausenten |
| Vos | ausentate | no te ausentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya ausentado |
| Tú | hayas ausentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya ausentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos ausentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis ausentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan ausentado |
| Vos | hayas ausentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera ausentado / hubiese ausentado |
| Tú | hubieras ausentado / hubieses ausentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera ausentado / hubiese ausentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos ausentado / hubiésemos ausentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais ausentado / hubieseis ausentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran ausentado / hubiesen ausentado |
| Vos | hubieras ausentado / hubieses ausentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere ausentado |
| Tú | hubieres ausentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere ausentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos ausentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis ausentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren ausentado |
| Vos | hubieres ausentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté ausentándose |
| Tú | estés ausentándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté ausentándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos ausentándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis ausentándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén ausentándose |
| Vos | estés ausentándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera ausentándose / estuviese ausentándose |
| Tú | estuvieras ausentándose / estuvieses ausentándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera ausentándose / estuviese ausentándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos ausentándose / estuviésamos ausentándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais ausentándose / estuvieseis ausentándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera ausentándose / estuviese ausentándose |
| Vos | estuvieras ausentándose / estuvieses ausentándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere ausentándose |
| Tú | estuvieres ausentándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere ausentándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos ausentándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis ausentándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere ausentándose |
| Vos | estuvieres ausentándose |
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 ausentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te ausentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te ausentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te ausentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te ausentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te ausentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te ausentaras / Vos me ausentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos ausentate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te ausentes |