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Abotonarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to button up”.
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 abotono) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que abotonarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for abotonarse 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 button up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | abotonarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está abotonándose) and past continuous (estaba abotonándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. buttoning up).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he abotonado and hubiera abotonado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have buttoned up).
| Gerundio / Gerund | abotonándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | abotonado |
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 button up” or “they button up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me abotono |
| Tú | te abotonas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotona |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonamos |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonan |
| Vos | abotonás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I buttoned up” or “she buttoned up” 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 abotoné | I buttoned up |
| Tú | te abotonaste | You buttoned up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotonó | He / she / you buttoned up |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonamos | We buttoned up |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonasteis | You buttoned up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonaron | They / you buttoned up |
| Vos | te abotonaste | You buttoned up |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was buttoning up” or “she was buttoning up” 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 abotonaba | I was buttoning up |
| Tú | te abotonabas | You were buttoning up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotonaba | He was / she was / you were buttoning up |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonábamos | We were buttoning up |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonabais | You were buttoning up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonaban | They / you were buttoning up |
| Vos | te abotonabas | You were buttoning up |
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 buttoned up” and “she has buttoned up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he abotonado | I have buttoned up |
| Tú | te has abotonado | You have buttoned up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha abotonado | He has / she has / you have buttoned up |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos abotonado | We have buttoned up |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis abotonado | You have buttoned up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han abotonado | They / you have buttoned up |
| Vos | te has abotonado | You have buttoned up |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would button up” or “she would button up”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me abotonaría | I would button up |
| Tú | te abotonarías | You would button up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotonaría | He / she / you would button up |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonaríamos | We would button up |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonaríais | You would button up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonarían | They / you would button up |
| Vos | te abotonarías | You would button up |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will button up” or “they will button up”.
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 abotonarse” means “They are going to button up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me abotonaré | I will button up |
| Tú | te abotonarás | You will button up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotonará | He / she / you will button up |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonaremos | We will button up |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonaréis | You will button up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonarán | They / you will button up |
| Vos | te abotonarás | You will button up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me abotone |
| Tú | te abotones |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotone |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonemos |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonen |
| Vos | te abotones |
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 abotonara | me abotonase |
| Tú | te abotonaras | me abotonase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotonara | se abotonase |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonáramos | nos abotonásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonarais | os abotonaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonaran | se abotonasen |
| Vos | te abotonaras | me abotonase |
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 abotonare |
| Tú | te abotonares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se abotonare |
| Nosotros / as | nos abotonáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os abotonareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se abotonaren |
| Vos | te abotonares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “button up!” and “don’t button up!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | abotónate | no te abotones |
| Él / Ella / Usted | abotónese | no se abotone |
| Nosotros / as | abotonémonos | no nos abotonemos |
| Vosotros / as | abotonaos | no os abotonéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | abotónense | no se abotonen |
| Vos | abotoná | no te abotones |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya abotonado |
| Tú | hayas abotonado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya abotonado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos abotonado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis abotonado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan abotonado |
| Vos | hayas abotonado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera abotonado / hubiese abotonado |
| Tú | hubieras abotonado / hubieses abotonado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera abotonado / hubiese abotonado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos abotonado / hubiésemos abotonado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais abotonado / hubieseis abotonado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran abotonado / hubiesen abotonado |
| Vos | hubieras abotonado / hubieses abotonado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere abotonado |
| Tú | hubieres abotonado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere abotonado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos abotonado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis abotonado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren abotonado |
| Vos | hubieres abotonado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté abotonándose |
| Tú | estés abotonándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté abotonándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos abotonándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis abotonándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén abotonándose |
| Vos | estés abotonándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera abotonándose / estuviese abotonándose |
| Tú | estuvieras abotonándose / estuvieses abotonándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera abotonándose / estuviese abotonándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos abotonándose / estuviésamos abotonándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais abotonándose / estuvieseis abotonándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera abotonándose / estuviese abotonándose |
| Vos | estuvieras abotonándose / estuvieses abotonándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere abotonándose |
| Tú | estuvieres abotonándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere abotonándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos abotonándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis abotonándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere abotonándose |
| Vos | estuvieres abotonándose |
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 abotonás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te abotonaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te abotonabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te abotonarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te abotonarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te abotones |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te abotonaras / Vos me abotonase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos abotoná |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te abotones |