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Compadecerse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to sympathize with, feel sorry (for)”.
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 compadezco) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que compadecerse).
Below are all of the conjugations for compadecerse 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 sympathize with, feel sorry (for) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | compadecerse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está compadeciéndose) and past continuous (estaba compadeciéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. sympathizing with).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he compadecido and hubiera compadecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have sympathized with).
| Gerundio / Gerund | compadeciéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | compadecido |
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 sympathize with” or “they sympathize with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me compadezco |
| Tú | te compadeces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadece |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadecemos |
| Vosotros / as | os compadecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecen |
| Vos | te compadecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I sympathized with” or “she sympathized with” 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 compadecí | I sympathized with |
| Tú | te compadeciste | You sympathized with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadeció | He / she / you sympathized with |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadecimos | We sympathized with |
| Vosotros / as | os compadecisteis | You sympathized with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecieron | They / you sympathized with |
| Vos | te compadeciste | You sympathized with |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was sympathizing with” or “she was sympathizing with” 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 compadecía | I was sympathizing with |
| Tú | te compadecías | You were sympathizing with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadecía | He was / she was / you were sympathizing with |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadecíamos | We were sympathizing with |
| Vosotros / as | os compadecíais | You were sympathizing with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecían | They / you were sympathizing with |
| Vos | te compadecías | You were sympathizing with |
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 sympathized with” and “she has sympathized with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he compadecido | I have sympathized with |
| Tú | te has compadecido | You have sympathized with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha compadecido | He has / she has / you have sympathized with |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos compadecido | We have sympathized with |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis compadecido | You have sympathized with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han compadecido | They / you have sympathized with |
| Vos | te has compadecido | You have sympathized with |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would sympathize with” or “she would sympathize with”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me compadecería | I would sympathize with |
| Tú | te compadecerías | You would sympathize with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadecería | He / she / you would sympathize with |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadeceríamos | We would sympathize with |
| Vosotros / as | os compadeceríais | You would sympathize with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecerían | They / you would sympathize with |
| Vos | te compadecerías | You would sympathize with |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will sympathize with” or “they will sympathize with”.
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 compadecerse” means “They are going to sympathize with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me compadeceré | I will sympathize with |
| Tú | te compadecerás | You will sympathize with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadecerá | He / she / you will sympathize with |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadeceremos | We will sympathize with |
| Vosotros / as | os compadeceréis | You will sympathize with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecerán | They / you will sympathize with |
| Vos | te compadecerás | You will sympathize with |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me compadezca |
| Tú | te compadezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadezca |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | os compadezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadezcan |
| Vos | te compadezcas |
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 compadeciera | me compadeciese |
| Tú | te compadecieras | me compadeciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadeciera | se compadeciese |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadeciéramos | nos compadeciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os compadecierais | os compadecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecieran | se compadeciesen |
| Vos | te compadecieras | me compadeciese |
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 compadeciere |
| Tú | te compadecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compadeciere |
| Nosotros / as | nos compadeciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os compadeciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compadecieren |
| Vos | te compadecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “sympathize with!” and “don’t sympathize with!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | compadécete | no te compadezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compadézcase | no se compadezca |
| Nosotros / as | compadezcámonos | no nos compadezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | compadeceos | no os compadezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compadézcanse | no se compadezcan |
| Vos | compadecete | no te compadezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya compadecido |
| Tú | hayas compadecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya compadecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos compadecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis compadecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan compadecido |
| Vos | hayas compadecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera compadecido / hubiese compadecido |
| Tú | hubieras compadecido / hubieses compadecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera compadecido / hubiese compadecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos compadecido / hubiésemos compadecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais compadecido / hubieseis compadecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran compadecido / hubiesen compadecido |
| Vos | hubieras compadecido / hubieses compadecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere compadecido |
| Tú | hubieres compadecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere compadecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos compadecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis compadecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren compadecido |
| Vos | hubieres compadecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté compadeciéndose |
| Tú | estés compadeciéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté compadeciéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos compadeciéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis compadeciéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén compadeciéndose |
| Vos | estés compadeciéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera compadeciéndose / estuviese compadeciéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras compadeciéndose / estuvieses compadeciéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera compadeciéndose / estuviese compadeciéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos compadeciéndose / estuviésamos compadeciéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais compadeciéndose / estuvieseis compadeciéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera compadeciéndose / estuviese compadeciéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras compadeciéndose / estuvieses compadeciéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere compadeciéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres compadeciéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere compadeciéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos compadeciéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis compadeciéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere compadeciéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres compadeciéndose |
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 compadecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te compadeciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te compadecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te compadecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te compadecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te compadezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te compadecieras / Vos me compadeciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos compadecete |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te compadezcas |