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Cerciorarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to ascertain, make sure”.
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 cercioro) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que cerciorarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for cerciorarse 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 ascertain, make sure |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cerciorarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cerciorándose) and past continuous (estaba cerciorándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. ascertaining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cerciorado and hubiera cerciorado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have ascertained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cerciorándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cerciorado |
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 ascertain” or “they ascertain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me cercioro |
| Tú | te cercioras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cerciora |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioramos |
| Vosotros / as | os cercioráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cercioran |
| Vos | te cerciorás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I ascertained” or “she ascertained” 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 cercioré | I ascertained |
| Tú | te cercioraste | You ascertained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cercioró | He / she / you ascertained |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioramos | We ascertained |
| Vosotros / as | os cerciorasteis | You ascertained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cercioraron | They / you ascertained |
| Vos | te cercioraste | You ascertained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was ascertaining” or “she was ascertaining” 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 cercioraba | I was ascertaining |
| Tú | te cerciorabas | You were ascertaining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cercioraba | He was / she was / you were ascertaining |
| Nosotros / as | nos cerciorábamos | We were ascertaining |
| Vosotros / as | os cerciorabais | You were ascertaining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cercioraban | They / you were ascertaining |
| Vos | te cerciorabas | You were ascertaining |
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 ascertained” and “she has ascertained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he cerciorado | I have ascertained |
| Tú | te has cerciorado | You have ascertained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha cerciorado | He has / she has / you have ascertained |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos cerciorado | We have ascertained |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis cerciorado | You have ascertained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han cerciorado | They / you have ascertained |
| Vos | te has cerciorado | You have ascertained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would ascertain” or “she would ascertain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cercioraría | I would ascertain |
| Tú | te cerciorarías | You would ascertain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cercioraría | He / she / you would ascertain |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioraríamos | We would ascertain |
| Vosotros / as | os cercioraríais | You would ascertain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cerciorarían | They / you would ascertain |
| Vos | te cerciorarías | You would ascertain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will ascertain” or “they will ascertain”.
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 cerciorarse” means “They are going to ascertain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cercioraré | I will ascertain |
| Tú | te cerciorarás | You will ascertain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cerciorará | He / she / you will ascertain |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioraremos | We will ascertain |
| Vosotros / as | os cercioraréis | You will ascertain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cerciorarán | They / you will ascertain |
| Vos | te cerciorarás | You will ascertain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me cerciore |
| Tú | te cerciores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cerciore |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioremos |
| Vosotros / as | os cercioréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cercioren |
| Vos | te cerciores |
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 cerciorara | me cerciorase |
| Tú | te cercioraras | me cerciorase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cerciorara | se cerciorase |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioráramos | nos cerciorásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os cerciorarais | os cercioraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cercioraran | se cerciorasen |
| Vos | te cercioraras | me cerciorase |
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 cerciorare |
| Tú | te cerciorares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cerciorare |
| Nosotros / as | nos cercioráremos |
| Vosotros / as | os cerciorareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cercioraren |
| Vos | te cerciorares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “ascertain!” and “don’t ascertain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cerciórate | no te cerciores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cerciórese | no se cerciore |
| Nosotros / as | cerciorémonos | no nos cercioremos |
| Vosotros / as | cercioraos | no os cercioréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cerciórense | no se cercioren |
| Vos | cerciorate | no te cerciores |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cerciorado |
| Tú | hayas cerciorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cerciorado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cerciorado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cerciorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cerciorado |
| Vos | hayas cerciorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cerciorado / hubiese cerciorado |
| Tú | hubieras cerciorado / hubieses cerciorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cerciorado / hubiese cerciorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cerciorado / hubiésemos cerciorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cerciorado / hubieseis cerciorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cerciorado / hubiesen cerciorado |
| Vos | hubieras cerciorado / hubieses cerciorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cerciorado |
| Tú | hubieres cerciorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cerciorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cerciorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cerciorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cerciorado |
| Vos | hubieres cerciorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cerciorándose |
| Tú | estés cerciorándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cerciorándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cerciorándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cerciorándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cerciorándose |
| Vos | estés cerciorándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cerciorándose / estuviese cerciorándose |
| Tú | estuvieras cerciorándose / estuvieses cerciorándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cerciorándose / estuviese cerciorándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cerciorándose / estuviésamos cerciorándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cerciorándose / estuvieseis cerciorándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cerciorándose / estuviese cerciorándose |
| Vos | estuvieras cerciorándose / estuvieses cerciorándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cerciorándose |
| Tú | estuvieres cerciorándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cerciorándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cerciorándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cerciorándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cerciorándose |
| Vos | estuvieres cerciorándose |
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 cerciorás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te cercioraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te cerciorabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te cerciorarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te cerciorarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te cerciores |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te cercioraras / Vos me cerciorase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cerciorate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te cerciores |