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Home » Spanish Verb Conjugations » Reflexive Spanish Verbs » Burlarse
Burlarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to ridicule, make fun of, evade”.
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 burlo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que burlarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for burlarse 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 ridicule, make fun of, evade |
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Spanish Infinitive | burlarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está burlándose) and past continuous (estaba burlándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. making fun).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he burlado and hubiera burlado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have made fun).
Gerundio / Gerund | burlándose |
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Participio / Past Participle | burlado |
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 make fun of” or “they make fun of”.
Pronoun | Spanish |
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Yo | me burlo |
Tú | te burlas |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burla |
Nosotros / as | nos burlamos |
Vosotros / as | os burláis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlan |
Vos | te burlás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I made fun of” or “she made fun of” 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 burlé | I made fun of |
Tú | te burlaste | You made fun of |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burló | He / she / you made fun of |
Nosotros / as | nos burlamos | We made fun of |
Vosotros / as | os burlasteis | You made fun of |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlaron | They / you made fun of |
Vos | te burlaste | You made fun of |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was making fun” or “she was making fun” 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 |
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Yo | me burlaba | I was making fun |
Tú | te burlabas | You were making fun |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burlaba | He was / she was / you were making fun |
Nosotros / as | nos burlábamos | We were making fun |
Vosotros / as | os burlabais | You were making fun |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlaban | They / you were making fun |
Vos | te burlabas | You were making fun |
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 made fun” and “she has made fun”.
Pronoun | Spanish | English |
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Yo | me he burlado | I have made fun |
Tú | te has burlado | You have made fun |
Él / Ella / Usted | se ha burlado | He has / she has / you have made fun |
Nosotros / as | nos hemos burlado | We have made fun |
Vosotros / as | os habéis burlado | You have made fun |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han burlado | They / you have made fun |
Vos | te has burlado | You have made fun |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would make fun of” or “she would make fun of”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
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Yo | me burlaría | I would make fun of |
Tú | te burlarías | You would make fun of |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burlaría | He / she / you would make fun of |
Nosotros / as | nos burlaríamos | We would make fun of |
Vosotros / as | os burlaríais | You would make fun of |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlarían | They / you would make fun of |
Vos | te burlarías | You would make fun of |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will make fun of” or “they will make fun of”.
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 burlarse” means “They are going to make fun of”.
Pronoun | Spanish | English |
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Yo | me burlaré | I will make fun of |
Tú | te burlarás | You will make fun of |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burlará | He / she / you will make fun of |
Nosotros / as | nos burlaremos | We will make fun of |
Vosotros / as | os burlaréis | You will make fun of |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlarán | They / you will make fun of |
Vos | te burlarás | You will make fun of |
Pronoun | Spanish |
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Yo | me burle |
Tú | te burles |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burle |
Nosotros / as | nos burlemos |
Vosotros / as | os burléis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlen |
Vos | te burles |
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 burlara | me burlase |
Tú | te burlaras | me burlase |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burlara | se burlase |
Nosotros / as | nos burláramos | nos burlásemos |
Vosotros / as | os burlarais | os burlaseis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlaran | se burlasen |
Vos | te burlaras | me burlase |
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 |
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Yo | me burlare |
Tú | te burlares |
Él / Ella / Usted | se burlare |
Nosotros / as | nos burláremos |
Vosotros / as | os burlareis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se burlaren |
Vos | te burlares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “make fun of!” and “don’t make fun of!”.
Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
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Tú | búrlate | no te burles |
Él / Ella / Usted | búrlese | no se burle |
Nosotros / as | burlémonos | no nos burlemos |
Vosotros / as | burlaos | no os burléis |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | búrlense | no se burlen |
Vos | burlate | no te burles |
Pronoun | Spanish |
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Yo | haya burlado |
Tú | hayas burlado |
Él / Ella / Usted | haya burlado |
Nosotros / as | hayamos burlado |
Vosotros / as | hayáis burlado |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan burlado |
Vos | hayas burlado |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | hubiera burlado / hubiese burlado |
Tú | hubieras burlado / hubieses burlado |
Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera burlado / hubiese burlado |
Nosotros / as | hubiéramos burlado / hubiésemos burlado |
Vosotros / as | hubierais burlado / hubieseis burlado |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran burlado / hubiesen burlado |
Vos | hubieras burlado / hubieses burlado |
Pronoun | Spanish |
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Yo | hubiere burlado |
Tú | hubieres burlado |
Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere burlado |
Nosotros / as | hubiéremos burlado |
Vosotros / as | hubiereis burlado |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren burlado |
Vos | hubieres burlado |
Pronoun | Spanish |
---|---|
Yo | esté burlándose |
Tú | estés burlándose |
Él / Ella / Usted | esté burlándose |
Nosotros / as | estemos burlándose |
Vosotros / as | estéis burlándose |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén burlándose |
Vos | estés burlándose |
Pronoun | Spanish |
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Yo | estuviera burlándose / estuviese burlándose |
Tú | estuvieras burlándose / estuvieses burlándose |
Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera burlándose / estuviese burlándose |
Nosotros / as | estuviéramos burlándose / estuviésamos burlándose |
Vosotros / as | estuvierais burlándose / estuvieseis burlándose |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera burlándose / estuviese burlándose |
Vos | estuvieras burlándose / estuvieses burlándose |
Pronoun | Spanish |
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Yo | estuviere burlándose |
Tú | estuvieres burlándose |
Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere burlándose |
Nosotros / as | estuviéremos burlándose |
Vosotros / as | estuviereis burlándose |
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere burlándose |
Vos | estuvieres burlándose |
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 |
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Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos te burlás |
Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te burlaste |
Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te burlabas |
Conditional Condicional | Vos te burlarías |
Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te burlarás |
Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te burles |
Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te burlaras / Vos me burlase |
Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos burlate |
Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te burles |