Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Apoderarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to appropriate, take possession”.
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 apodero) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que apoderarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for apoderarse 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 appropriate, take possession |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | apoderarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está apoderándose) and past continuous (estaba apoderándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. appropriating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he apoderado and hubiera apoderado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have appropriated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | apoderándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | apoderado |
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 appropriate” or “they appropriate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me apodero |
| Tú | te apoderas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apodera |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderamos |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderan |
| Vos | te apoderás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I appropriated” or “she appropriated” 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 apoderé | I appropriated |
| Tú | te apoderaste | You appropriated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apoderó | He / she / you appropriated |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderamos | We appropriated |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderasteis | You appropriated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderaron | They / you appropriated |
| Vos | te apoderaste | You appropriated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was appropriating” or “she was appropriating” 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 apoderaba | I was appropriating |
| Tú | te apoderabas | You were appropriating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apoderaba | He was / she was / you were appropriating |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderábamos | We were appropriating |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderabais | You were appropriating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderaban | They / you were appropriating |
| Vos | te apoderabas | You were appropriating |
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 appropriated” and “she has appropriated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he apoderado | I have appropriated |
| Tú | te has apoderado | You have appropriated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha apoderado | He has / she has / you have appropriated |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos apoderado | We have appropriated |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis apoderado | You have appropriated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han apoderado | They / you have appropriated |
| Vos | te has apoderado | You have appropriated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would appropriate” or “she would appropriate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me apoderaría | I would appropriate |
| Tú | te apoderarías | You would appropriate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apoderaría | He / she / you would appropriate |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderaríamos | We would appropriate |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderaríais | You would appropriate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderarían | They / you would appropriate |
| Vos | te apoderarías | You would appropriate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will appropriate” or “they will appropriate”.
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 apoderarse” means “They are going to appropriate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me apoderaré | I will appropriate |
| Tú | te apoderarás | You will appropriate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apoderará | He / she / you will appropriate |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderaremos | We will appropriate |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderaréis | You will appropriate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderarán | They / you will appropriate |
| Vos | te apoderarás | You will appropriate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me apodere |
| Tú | te apoderes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apodere |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderemos |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderen |
| Vos | te apoderes |
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 apoderara | me apoderase |
| Tú | te apoderaras | me apoderase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apoderara | se apoderase |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderáramos | nos apoderásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderarais | os apoderaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderaran | se apoderasen |
| Vos | te apoderaras | me apoderase |
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 apoderare |
| Tú | te apoderares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apoderare |
| Nosotros / as | nos apoderáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os apoderareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apoderaren |
| Vos | te apoderares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “appropriate!” and “don’t appropriate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | apodérate | no te apoderes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apodérese | no se apodere |
| Nosotros / as | apoderémonos | no nos apoderemos |
| Vosotros / as | apoderaos | no os apoderéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apodérense | no se apoderen |
| Vos | apoderate | no te apoderes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya apoderado |
| Tú | hayas apoderado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya apoderado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos apoderado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis apoderado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan apoderado |
| Vos | hayas apoderado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera apoderado / hubiese apoderado |
| Tú | hubieras apoderado / hubieses apoderado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera apoderado / hubiese apoderado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos apoderado / hubiésemos apoderado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais apoderado / hubieseis apoderado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran apoderado / hubiesen apoderado |
| Vos | hubieras apoderado / hubieses apoderado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere apoderado |
| Tú | hubieres apoderado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere apoderado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos apoderado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis apoderado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren apoderado |
| Vos | hubieres apoderado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté apoderándose |
| Tú | estés apoderándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté apoderándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos apoderándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis apoderándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén apoderándose |
| Vos | estés apoderándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera apoderándose / estuviese apoderándose |
| Tú | estuvieras apoderándose / estuvieses apoderándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera apoderándose / estuviese apoderándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos apoderándose / estuviésamos apoderándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais apoderándose / estuvieseis apoderándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera apoderándose / estuviese apoderándose |
| Vos | estuvieras apoderándose / estuvieses apoderándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere apoderándose |
| Tú | estuvieres apoderándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere apoderándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos apoderándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis apoderándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere apoderándose |
| Vos | estuvieres apoderándose |
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 apoderás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te apoderaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te apoderabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te apoderarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te apoderarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te apoderes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te apoderaras / Vos me apoderase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos apoderate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te apoderes |