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Arrodillarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to keel down”.
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 arrodillo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que arrodillarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for arrodillarse 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 keel down |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | arrodillarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está arrodillándose) and past continuous (estaba arrodillándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. kneeling down).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he arrodillado and hubiera arrodillado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have knelt down).
| Gerundio / Gerund | arrodillándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | arrodillado |
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 kneel down” or “they kneel down”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me arrodillo |
| Tú | te arrodillas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodilla |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodillamos |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodilláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillan |
| Vos | te arrodillás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I knelt down” or “she knelt down” 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 arrodillé | I knelt down |
| Tú | te arrodillaste | You knelt down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodilló | He / she / you knelt down |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodillamos | We knelt down |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodillasteis | You knelt down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillaron | They / you knelt down |
| Vos | te arrodillaste | You knelt down |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was kneeling down” or “she was kneeling down” 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 arrodillaba | I was kneeling down |
| Tú | te arrodillabas | You were kneeling down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodillaba | He was / she was / you were kneeling down |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodillábamos | We were kneeling down |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodillabais | You were kneeling down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillaban | They / you were kneeling down |
| Vos | te arrodillabas | You were kneeling down |
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 knelt down” and “she has knelt down”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he arrodillado | I have knelt down |
| Tú | te has arrodillado | You have knelt down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha arrodillado | He has / she has / you have knelt down |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos arrodillado | We have knelt down |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis arrodillado | You have knelt down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han arrodillado | They / you have knelt down |
| Vos | te has arrodillado | You have knelt down |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would kneel down” or “she would kneel down”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me arrodillaría | I would kneel down |
| Tú | te arrodillarías | You would kneel down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodillaría | He / she / you would kneel down |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodillaríamos | We would kneel down |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodillaríais | You would kneel down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillarían | They / you would kneel down |
| Vos | te arrodillarías | You would kneel down |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will kneel down” or “they will kneel down”.
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 arrodillarse” means “They are going to kneel down”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me arrodillaré | I will kneel down |
| Tú | te arrodillarás | You will kneel down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodillará | He / she / you will kneel down |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodillaremos | We will kneel down |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodillaréis | You will kneel down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillarán | They / you will kneel down |
| Vos | te arrodillarás | You will kneel down |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me arrodille |
| Tú | te arrodilles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodille |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodillemos |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodilléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillen |
| Vos | te arrodilles |
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 arrodillara | me arrodillase |
| Tú | te arrodillaras | me arrodillase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodillara | se arrodillase |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodilláramos | nos arrodillásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodillarais | os arrodillaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillaran | se arrodillasen |
| Vos | te arrodillaras | me arrodillase |
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 arrodillare |
| Tú | te arrodillares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se arrodillare |
| Nosotros / as | nos arrodilláremos |
| Vosotros / as | os arrodillareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se arrodillaren |
| Vos | te arrodillares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “kneel down!” and “don’t kneel down!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | arrodíllate | no te arrodilles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | arrodíllese | no se arrodille |
| Nosotros / as | arrodillémonos | no nos arrodillemos |
| Vosotros / as | arrodillaos | no os arrodilléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | arrodíllense | no se arrodillen |
| Vos | arrodillate | no te arrodilles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya arrodillado |
| Tú | hayas arrodillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya arrodillado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos arrodillado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis arrodillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan arrodillado |
| Vos | hayas arrodillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera arrodillado / hubiese arrodillado |
| Tú | hubieras arrodillado / hubieses arrodillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera arrodillado / hubiese arrodillado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos arrodillado / hubiésemos arrodillado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais arrodillado / hubieseis arrodillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran arrodillado / hubiesen arrodillado |
| Vos | hubieras arrodillado / hubieses arrodillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere arrodillado |
| Tú | hubieres arrodillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere arrodillado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos arrodillado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis arrodillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren arrodillado |
| Vos | hubieres arrodillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté arrodillándose |
| Tú | estés arrodillándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté arrodillándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos arrodillándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis arrodillándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén arrodillándose |
| Vos | estés arrodillándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera arrodillándose / estuviese arrodillándose |
| Tú | estuvieras arrodillándose / estuvieses arrodillándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera arrodillándose / estuviese arrodillándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos arrodillándose / estuviésamos arrodillándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais arrodillándose / estuvieseis arrodillándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera arrodillándose / estuviese arrodillándose |
| Vos | estuvieras arrodillándose / estuvieses arrodillándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere arrodillándose |
| Tú | estuvieres arrodillándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere arrodillándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos arrodillándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis arrodillándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere arrodillándose |
| Vos | estuvieres arrodillándose |
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 arrodillás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te arrodillaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te arrodillabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te arrodillarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te arrodillarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te arrodilles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te arrodillaras / Vos me arrodillase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos arrodillate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te arrodilles |