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Aplicarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to apply oneself”.
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 aplico) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que aplicarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for aplicarse 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 apply oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | aplicarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está aplicándose) and past continuous (estaba aplicándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. applying myself).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he aplicado and hubiera aplicado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have applied myself).
| Gerundio / Gerund | aplicándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | aplicado |
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 apply myself” or “they apply myself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aplico |
| Tú | te aplicas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplica |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicamos |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplican |
| Vos | aplicás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I applied myself” or “she applied myself” 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 apliqué | I applied myself |
| Tú | te aplicaste | You applied myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplicó | He / she / you applied myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicamos | We applied myself |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicasteis | You applied myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplicaron | They / you applied myself |
| Vos | te aplicaste | You applied myself |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was applying myself” or “she was applying myself” 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 aplicaba | I was applying myself |
| Tú | te aplicabas | You were applying myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplicaba | He was / she was / you were applying myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicábamos | We were applying myself |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicabais | You were applying myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplicaban | They / you were applying myself |
| Vos | te aplicabas | You were applying myself |
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 applied myself” and “she has applied myself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he aplicado | I have applied myself |
| Tú | te has aplicado | You have applied myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha aplicado | He has / she has / you have applied myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos aplicado | We have applied myself |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis aplicado | You have applied myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han aplicado | They / you have applied myself |
| Vos | te has aplicado | You have applied myself |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would apply oneself” or “she would apply oneself”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me aplicaría | I would apply myself |
| Tú | te aplicarías | You would apply myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplicaría | He / she / you would apply myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicaríamos | We would apply myself |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicaríais | You would apply myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplicarían | They / you would apply myself |
| Vos | te aplicarías | You would apply myself |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will apply oneself” or “they will apply oneself”.
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 aplicarse” means “They are going to apply oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me aplicaré | I will apply myself |
| Tú | te aplicarás | You will apply myself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplicará | He / she / you will apply myself |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicaremos | We will apply myself |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicaréis | You will apply myself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplicarán | They / you will apply myself |
| Vos | te aplicarás | You will apply myself |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aplique |
| Tú | te apliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplique |
| Nosotros / as | nos apliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | os apliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apliquen |
| Vos | te apliques |
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 aplicara | me aplicase |
| Tú | te aplicaras | me aplicase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplicara | se aplicase |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicáramos | nos aplicásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicarais | os aplicaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplicaran | se aplicasen |
| Vos | te aplicaras | me aplicase |
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 aplicare |
| Tú | te aplicares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aplicare |
| Nosotros / as | nos aplicáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os aplicareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aplicaren |
| Vos | te aplicares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “apply oneself!” and “don’t apply oneself!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aplícate | no te apliques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aplíquese | no se aplique |
| Nosotros / as | apliquémonos | no nos apliquemos |
| Vosotros / as | aplicaos | no os apliquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aplíquense | no se apliquen |
| Vos | aplicate | no te apliques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya aplicado |
| Tú | hayas aplicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya aplicado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos aplicado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis aplicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan aplicado |
| Vos | hayas aplicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera aplicado / hubiese aplicado |
| Tú | hubieras aplicado / hubieses aplicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera aplicado / hubiese aplicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos aplicado / hubiésemos aplicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais aplicado / hubieseis aplicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran aplicado / hubiesen aplicado |
| Vos | hubieras aplicado / hubieses aplicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere aplicado |
| Tú | hubieres aplicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere aplicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos aplicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis aplicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren aplicado |
| Vos | hubieres aplicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté aplicándose |
| Tú | estés aplicándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté aplicándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos aplicándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis aplicándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén aplicándose |
| Vos | estés aplicándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera aplicándose / estuviese aplicándose |
| Tú | estuvieras aplicándose / estuvieses aplicándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera aplicándose / estuviese aplicándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos aplicándose / estuviésamos aplicándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais aplicándose / estuvieseis aplicándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera aplicándose / estuviese aplicándose |
| Vos | estuvieras aplicándose / estuvieses aplicándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere aplicándose |
| Tú | estuvieres aplicándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere aplicándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos aplicándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis aplicándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere aplicándose |
| Vos | estuvieres aplicándose |
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 aplicás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te aplicaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te aplicabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te aplicarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te aplicarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te apliques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te aplicaras / Vos me aplicase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos aplicate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te apliques |