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Compenetrarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to understand each other”.
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 compenetro) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que compenetrarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for compenetrarse 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 understand each other |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | compenetrarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está compenetrándose) and past continuous (estaba compenetrándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. understanding each other).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he compenetrado and hubiera compenetrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have understood each other).
| Gerundio / Gerund | compenetrándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | compenetrado |
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 understand each other” or “they understand each other”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me compenetro |
| Tú | te compenetras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetra |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetramos |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetran |
| Vos | te compenetrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I understood each other” or “she understood each other” 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 compenetré | I understood each other |
| Tú | te compenetraste | You understood each other |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetró | He / she / you understood each other |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetramos | We understood each other |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetrasteis | You understood each other |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetraron | They / you understood each other |
| Vos | te compenetraste | You understood each other |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was understanding each other” or “she was understanding each other” 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 compenetraba | I was understanding each other |
| Tú | te compenetrabas | You were understanding each other |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetraba | He was / she was / you were understanding each other |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetrábamos | We were understanding each other |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetrabais | You were understanding each other |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetraban | They / you were understanding each other |
| Vos | te compenetrabas | You were understanding each other |
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 understood each other” and “she has understood each other”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he compenetrado | I have understood each other |
| Tú | te has compenetrado | You have understood each other |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha compenetrado | He has / she has / you have understood each other |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos compenetrado | We have understood each other |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis compenetrado | You have understood each other |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han compenetrado | They / you have understood each other |
| Vos | te has compenetrado | You have understood each other |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would understand each other” or “she would understand each other”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me compenetraría | I would understand each other |
| Tú | te compenetrarías | You would understand each other |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetraría | He / she / you would understand each other |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetraríamos | We would understand each other |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetraríais | You would understand each other |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetrarían | They / you would understand each other |
| Vos | te compenetrarías | You would understand each other |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will understand each other” or “they will understand each other”.
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 compenetrarse” means “They are going to understand each other”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me compenetraré | I will understand each other |
| Tú | te compenetrarás | You will understand each other |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetrará | He / she / you will understand each other |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetraremos | We will understand each other |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetraréis | You will understand each other |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetrarán | They / you will understand each other |
| Vos | te compenetrarás | You will understand each other |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me compenetre |
| Tú | te compenetres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetre |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetremos |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetren |
| Vos | te compenetres |
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 compenetrara | me compenetrase |
| Tú | te compenetraras | me compenetrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetrara | se compenetrase |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetráramos | nos compenetrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetrarais | os compenetraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetraran | se compenetrasen |
| Vos | te compenetraras | me compenetrase |
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 compenetrare |
| Tú | te compenetrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se compenetrare |
| Nosotros / as | nos compenetráremos |
| Vosotros / as | os compenetrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se compenetraren |
| Vos | te compenetrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “understand each other!” and “don’t understand each other!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | compenétrate | no te compenetres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | compenétrese | no se compenetre |
| Nosotros / as | compenetrémonos | no nos compenetremos |
| Vosotros / as | compenetraos | no os compenetréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | compenétrense | no se compenetren |
| Vos | compenetrate | no te compenetres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya compenetrado |
| Tú | hayas compenetrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya compenetrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos compenetrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis compenetrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan compenetrado |
| Vos | hayas compenetrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera compenetrado / hubiese compenetrado |
| Tú | hubieras compenetrado / hubieses compenetrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera compenetrado / hubiese compenetrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos compenetrado / hubiésemos compenetrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais compenetrado / hubieseis compenetrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran compenetrado / hubiesen compenetrado |
| Vos | hubieras compenetrado / hubieses compenetrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere compenetrado |
| Tú | hubieres compenetrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere compenetrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos compenetrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis compenetrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren compenetrado |
| Vos | hubieres compenetrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté compenetrándose |
| Tú | estés compenetrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté compenetrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos compenetrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis compenetrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén compenetrándose |
| Vos | estés compenetrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera compenetrándose / estuviese compenetrándose |
| Tú | estuvieras compenetrándose / estuvieses compenetrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera compenetrándose / estuviese compenetrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos compenetrándose / estuviésamos compenetrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais compenetrándose / estuvieseis compenetrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera compenetrándose / estuviese compenetrándose |
| Vos | estuvieras compenetrándose / estuvieses compenetrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere compenetrándose |
| Tú | estuvieres compenetrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere compenetrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos compenetrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis compenetrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere compenetrándose |
| Vos | estuvieres compenetrándose |
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 compenetrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te compenetraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te compenetrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te compenetrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te compenetrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te compenetres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te compenetraras / Vos me compenetrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos compenetrate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te compenetres |