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Adelantarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to go ahead, go forward”.
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 adelanto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que adelantarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for adelantarse 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 go ahead, go forward |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | adelantarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está adelantándose) and past continuous (estaba adelantándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. going ahead).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he adelantado and hubiera adelantado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have gone ahead).
| Gerundio / Gerund | adelantándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | adelantado |
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 go ahead” or “they go ahead”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me adelanto |
| Tú | te adelantas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelanta |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantamos |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantan |
| Vos | te adelantás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I went ahead” or “she went ahead” 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 adelanté | I went ahead |
| Tú | te adelantaste | You went ahead |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelantó | He / she / you went ahead |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantamos | We went ahead |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantasteis | You went ahead |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantaron | They / you went ahead |
| Vos | te adelantaste | You went ahead |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was going ahead” or “she was going ahead” 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 adelantaba | I was going ahead |
| Tú | te adelantabas | You were going ahead |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelantaba | He was / she was / you were going ahead |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantábamos | We were going ahead |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantabais | You were going ahead |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantaban | They / you were going ahead |
| Vos | te adelantabas | You were going ahead |
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 gone ahead” and “she has gone ahead”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he adelantado | I have gone ahead |
| Tú | te has adelantado | You have gone ahead |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha adelantado | He has / she has / you have gone ahead |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos adelantado | We have gone ahead |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis adelantado | You have gone ahead |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han adelantado | They / you have gone ahead |
| Vos | te has adelantado | You have gone ahead |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would go ahead” or “she would go ahead”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me adelantaría | I would go ahead |
| Tú | te adelantarías | You would go ahead |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelantaría | He / she / you would go ahead |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantaríamos | We would go ahead |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantaríais | You would go ahead |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantarían | They / you would go ahead |
| Vos | te adelantarías | You would go ahead |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will go ahead” or “they will go ahead”.
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 adelantarse” means “They are going to go ahead”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me adelantaré | I will go ahead |
| Tú | te adelantarás | You will go ahead |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelantará | He / she / you will go ahead |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantaremos | We will go ahead |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantaréis | You will go ahead |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantarán | They / you will go ahead |
| Vos | te adelantarás | You will go ahead |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me adelante |
| Tú | te adelantes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelante |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantemos |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelanten |
| Vos | te adelantes |
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 adelantara | me adelantase |
| Tú | te adelantaras | me adelantase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelantara | se adelantase |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantáramos | nos adelantásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantarais | os adelantaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantaran | se adelantasen |
| Vos | te adelantaras | me adelantase |
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 adelantare |
| Tú | te adelantares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se adelantare |
| Nosotros / as | nos adelantáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os adelantareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se adelantaren |
| Vos | te adelantares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “go ahead!” and “don’t go ahead!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | adelántate | no te adelantes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | adelántese | no se adelante |
| Nosotros / as | adelantémonos | no nos adelantemos |
| Vosotros / as | adelantaos | no os adelantéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | adelántense | no se adelanten |
| Vos | adelantate | no te adelantes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya adelantado |
| Tú | hayas adelantado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya adelantado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos adelantado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis adelantado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan adelantado |
| Vos | hayas adelantado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera adelantado / hubiese adelantado |
| Tú | hubieras adelantado / hubieses adelantado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera adelantado / hubiese adelantado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos adelantado / hubiésemos adelantado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais adelantado / hubieseis adelantado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran adelantado / hubiesen adelantado |
| Vos | hubieras adelantado / hubieses adelantado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere adelantado |
| Tú | hubieres adelantado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere adelantado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos adelantado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis adelantado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren adelantado |
| Vos | hubieres adelantado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté adelantándose |
| Tú | estés adelantándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté adelantándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos adelantándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis adelantándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén adelantándose |
| Vos | estés adelantándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera adelantándose / estuviese adelantándose |
| Tú | estuvieras adelantándose / estuvieses adelantándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera adelantándose / estuviese adelantándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos adelantándose / estuviésamos adelantándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais adelantándose / estuvieseis adelantándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera adelantándose / estuviese adelantándose |
| Vos | estuvieras adelantándose / estuvieses adelantándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere adelantándose |
| Tú | estuvieres adelantándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere adelantándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos adelantándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis adelantándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere adelantándose |
| Vos | estuvieres adelantándose |
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 adelantás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te adelantaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te adelantabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te adelantarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te adelantarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te adelantes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te adelantaras / Vos me adelantase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos adelantate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te adelantes |