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Cansarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to become tired or weary”.
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 canso) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que cansarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for cansarse 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 become tired or weary |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cansarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cansándose) and past continuous (estaba cansándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. becoming tired).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cansado and hubiera cansado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have become tired).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cansándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cansado |
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 become tired” or “they become tired”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me canso |
| Tú | te cansas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansa |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansamos |
| Vosotros / as | os cansáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansan |
| Vos | te cansás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I became tired” or “she became tired” 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 cansé | I became tired |
| Tú | te cansaste | You became tired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansó | He / she / you became tired |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansamos | We became tired |
| Vosotros / as | os cansasteis | You became tired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansaron | They / you became tired |
| Vos | te cansaste | You became tired |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was becoming tired” or “she was becoming tired” 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 cansaba | I was becoming tired |
| Tú | te cansabas | You were becoming tired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansaba | He was / she was / you were becoming tired |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansábamos | We were becoming tired |
| Vosotros / as | os cansabais | You were becoming tired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansaban | They / you were becoming tired |
| Vos | te cansabas | You were becoming tired |
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 become tired” and “she has become tired”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he cansado | I have become tired |
| Tú | te has cansado | You have become tired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha cansado | He has / she has / you have become tired |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos cansado | We have become tired |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis cansado | You have become tired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han cansado | They / you have become tired |
| Vos | te has cansado | You have become tired |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would become tired” or “she would become tired”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cansaría | I would become tired |
| Tú | te cansarías | You would become tired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansaría | He / she / you would become tired |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansaríamos | We would become tired |
| Vosotros / as | os cansaríais | You would become tired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansarían | They / you would become tired |
| Vos | te cansarías | You would become tired |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will become tired” or “they will become tired”.
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 cansarse” means “They are going to become tired”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cansaré | I will become tired |
| Tú | te cansarás | You will become tired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansará | He / she / you will become tired |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansaremos | We will become tired |
| Vosotros / as | os cansaréis | You will become tired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansarán | They / you will become tired |
| Vos | te cansarás | You will become tired |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me canse |
| Tú | te canses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se canse |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansemos |
| Vosotros / as | os canséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansen |
| Vos | te canses |
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 cansara | me cansase |
| Tú | te cansaras | me cansase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansara | se cansase |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansáramos | nos cansásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os cansarais | os cansaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansaran | se cansasen |
| Vos | te cansaras | me cansase |
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 cansare |
| Tú | te cansares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cansare |
| Nosotros / as | nos cansáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os cansareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cansaren |
| Vos | te cansares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “become tired!” and “don’t become tired!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cánsate | no te canses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cánsese | no se canse |
| Nosotros / as | cansémonos | no nos cansemos |
| Vosotros / as | cansaos | no os canséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cánsense | no se cansen |
| Vos | cansate | no te canses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cansado |
| Tú | hayas cansado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cansado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cansado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cansado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cansado |
| Vos | hayas cansado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cansado / hubiese cansado |
| Tú | hubieras cansado / hubieses cansado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cansado / hubiese cansado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cansado / hubiésemos cansado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cansado / hubieseis cansado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cansado / hubiesen cansado |
| Vos | hubieras cansado / hubieses cansado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cansado |
| Tú | hubieres cansado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cansado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cansado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cansado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cansado |
| Vos | hubieres cansado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cansándose |
| Tú | estés cansándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cansándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cansándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cansándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cansándose |
| Vos | estés cansándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cansándose / estuviese cansándose |
| Tú | estuvieras cansándose / estuvieses cansándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cansándose / estuviese cansándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cansándose / estuviésamos cansándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cansándose / estuvieseis cansándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cansándose / estuviese cansándose |
| Vos | estuvieras cansándose / estuvieses cansándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cansándose |
| Tú | estuvieres cansándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cansándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cansándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cansándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cansándose |
| Vos | estuvieres cansándose |
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 cansás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te cansaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te cansabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te cansarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te cansarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te canses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te cansaras / Vos me cansase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cansate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te canses |