Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Asombrarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be astonished, surprised at”.
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 asombro) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que asombrarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for asombrarse 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 be astonished, surprised at |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | asombrarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está asombrándose) and past continuous (estaba asombrándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. astonishing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he asombrado and hubiera asombrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have astonished).
| Gerundio / Gerund | asombrándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | asombrado |
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 astonish” or “they astonish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me asombro |
| Tú | te asombras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombra |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombramos |
| Vosotros / as | os asombráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombran |
| Vos | te asombrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I astonished” or “she astonished” 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 asombré | I astonished |
| Tú | te asombraste | You astonished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombró | He / she / you astonished |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombramos | We astonished |
| Vosotros / as | os asombrasteis | You astonished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombraron | They / you astonished |
| Vos | te asombraste | You astonished |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was astonishing” or “she was astonishing” 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 asombraba | I was astonishing |
| Tú | te asombrabas | You were astonishing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombraba | He was / she was / you were astonishing |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombrábamos | We were astonishing |
| Vosotros / as | os asombrabais | You were astonishing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombraban | They / you were astonishing |
| Vos | te asombrabas | You were astonishing |
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 astonished” and “she has astonished”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he asombrado | I have astonished |
| Tú | te has asombrado | You have astonished |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha asombrado | He has / she has / you have astonished |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos asombrado | We have astonished |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis asombrado | You have astonished |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han asombrado | They / you have astonished |
| Vos | te has asombrado | You have astonished |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would astonish” or “she would astonish”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me asombraría | I would astonish |
| Tú | te asombrarías | You would astonish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombraría | He / she / you would astonish |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombraríamos | We would astonish |
| Vosotros / as | os asombraríais | You would astonish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombrarían | They / you would astonish |
| Vos | te asombrarías | You would astonish |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will astonish” or “they will astonish”.
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 asombrarse” means “They are going to astonish”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me asombraré | I will astonish |
| Tú | te asombrarás | You will astonish |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombrará | He / she / you will astonish |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombraremos | We will astonish |
| Vosotros / as | os asombraréis | You will astonish |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombrarán | They / you will astonish |
| Vos | te asombrarás | You will astonish |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me asombre |
| Tú | te asombres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombre |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombremos |
| Vosotros / as | os asombréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombren |
| Vos | te asombres |
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 asombrara | me asombrase |
| Tú | te asombraras | me asombrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombrara | se asombrase |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombráramos | nos asombrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os asombrarais | os asombraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombraran | se asombrasen |
| Vos | te asombraras | me asombrase |
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 asombrare |
| Tú | te asombrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se asombrare |
| Nosotros / as | nos asombráremos |
| Vosotros / as | os asombrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se asombraren |
| Vos | te asombrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “astonish!” and “don’t astonish!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | asómbrate | no te asombres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | asómbrese | no se asombre |
| Nosotros / as | asombrémonos | no nos asombremos |
| Vosotros / as | asombraos | no os asombréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | asómbrense | no se asombren |
| Vos | asombrate | no te asombres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya asombrado |
| Tú | hayas asombrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya asombrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos asombrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis asombrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan asombrado |
| Vos | hayas asombrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera asombrado / hubiese asombrado |
| Tú | hubieras asombrado / hubieses asombrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera asombrado / hubiese asombrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos asombrado / hubiésemos asombrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais asombrado / hubieseis asombrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran asombrado / hubiesen asombrado |
| Vos | hubieras asombrado / hubieses asombrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere asombrado |
| Tú | hubieres asombrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere asombrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos asombrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis asombrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren asombrado |
| Vos | hubieres asombrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté asombrándose |
| Tú | estés asombrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté asombrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos asombrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis asombrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén asombrándose |
| Vos | estés asombrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera asombrándose / estuviese asombrándose |
| Tú | estuvieras asombrándose / estuvieses asombrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera asombrándose / estuviese asombrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos asombrándose / estuviésamos asombrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais asombrándose / estuvieseis asombrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera asombrándose / estuviese asombrándose |
| Vos | estuvieras asombrándose / estuvieses asombrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere asombrándose |
| Tú | estuvieres asombrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere asombrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos asombrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis asombrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere asombrándose |
| Vos | estuvieres asombrándose |
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 asombrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te asombraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te asombrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te asombrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te asombrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te asombres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te asombraras / Vos me asombrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos asombrate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te asombres |