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Callarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to shut up”.
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 callo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que callarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for callarse 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 shut up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | callarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está callándose) and past continuous (estaba callándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. shutting up).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he callado and hubiera callado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have shut up).
| Gerundio / Gerund | callándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | callado |
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 shut up” or “they shut up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me callo |
| Tú | te callas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se calla |
| Nosotros / as | nos callamos |
| Vosotros / as | os calláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callan |
| Vos | te callás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I shut up” or “she shut up” 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 callé | I shut up |
| Tú | te callaste | You shut up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se calló | He / she / you shut up |
| Nosotros / as | nos callamos | We shut up |
| Vosotros / as | os callasteis | You shut up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callaron | They / you shut up |
| Vos | te callaste | You shut up |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was shutting up” or “she was shutting up” 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 callaba | I was shutting up |
| Tú | te callabas | You were shutting up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se callaba | He was / she was / you were shutting up |
| Nosotros / as | nos callábamos | We were shutting up |
| Vosotros / as | os callabais | You were shutting up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callaban | They / you were shutting up |
| Vos | te callabas | You were shutting up |
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 shut up” and “she has shut up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he callado | I have shut up |
| Tú | te has callado | You have shut up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha callado | He has / she has / you have shut up |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos callado | We have shut up |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis callado | You have shut up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han callado | They / you have shut up |
| Vos | te has callado | You have shut up |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would shut up” or “she would shut up”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me callaría | I would shut up |
| Tú | te callarías | You would shut up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se callaría | He / she / you would shut up |
| Nosotros / as | nos callaríamos | We would shut up |
| Vosotros / as | os callaríais | You would shut up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callarían | They / you would shut up |
| Vos | te callarías | You would shut up |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will shut up” or “they will shut up”.
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 callarse” means “They are going to shut up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me callaré | I will shut up |
| Tú | te callarás | You will shut up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se callará | He / she / you will shut up |
| Nosotros / as | nos callaremos | We will shut up |
| Vosotros / as | os callaréis | You will shut up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callarán | They / you will shut up |
| Vos | te callarás | You will shut up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me calle |
| Tú | te calles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se calle |
| Nosotros / as | nos callemos |
| Vosotros / as | os calléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callen |
| Vos | te calles |
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 callara | me callase |
| Tú | te callaras | me callase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se callara | se callase |
| Nosotros / as | nos calláramos | nos callásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os callarais | os callaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callaran | se callasen |
| Vos | te callaras | me callase |
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 callare |
| Tú | te callares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se callare |
| Nosotros / as | nos calláremos |
| Vosotros / as | os callareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se callaren |
| Vos | te callares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “shut up!” and “don’t shut up!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cállate | no te calles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cállese | no se calle |
| Nosotros / as | callémonos | no nos callemos |
| Vosotros / as | callaos | no os calléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cállense | no se callen |
| Vos | callate | no te calles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya callado |
| Tú | hayas callado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya callado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos callado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis callado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan callado |
| Vos | hayas callado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera callado / hubiese callado |
| Tú | hubieras callado / hubieses callado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera callado / hubiese callado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos callado / hubiésemos callado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais callado / hubieseis callado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran callado / hubiesen callado |
| Vos | hubieras callado / hubieses callado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere callado |
| Tú | hubieres callado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere callado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos callado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis callado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren callado |
| Vos | hubieres callado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté callándose |
| Tú | estés callándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté callándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos callándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis callándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén callándose |
| Vos | estés callándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera callándose / estuviese callándose |
| Tú | estuvieras callándose / estuvieses callándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera callándose / estuviese callándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos callándose / estuviésamos callándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais callándose / estuvieseis callándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera callándose / estuviese callándose |
| Vos | estuvieras callándose / estuvieses callándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere callándose |
| Tú | estuvieres callándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere callándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos callándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis callándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere callándose |
| Vos | estuvieres callándose |
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 callás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te callaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te callabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te callarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te callarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te calles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te callaras / Vos me callase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos callate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te calles |