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Constiparse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to catch a cold”.
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 constipo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que constiparse).
Below are all of the conjugations for constiparse 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 catch a cold |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | constiparse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está constipándose) and past continuous (estaba constipándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. catching a cold).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he constipado and hubiera constipado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have caught a cold).
| Gerundio / Gerund | constipándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | constipado |
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 catch a cold” or “they catch a cold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me constipo |
| Tú | te constipas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipa |
| Nosotros / as | nos constipamos |
| Vosotros / as | os constipáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constipan |
| Vos | te constipás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I caught a cold” or “she caught a cold” 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 constipé | I caught a cold |
| Tú | te constipaste | You caught a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipó | He / she / you caught a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos constipamos | We caught a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os constipasteis | You caught a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constiparon | They / you caught a cold |
| Vos | te constipaste | You caught a cold |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was catching a cold” or “she was catching a cold” 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 constipaba | I was catching a cold |
| Tú | te constipabas | You were catching a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipaba | He was / she was / you were catching a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos constipábamos | We were catching a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os constipabais | You were catching a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constipaban | They / you were catching a cold |
| Vos | te constipabas | You were catching a cold |
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 caught a cold” and “she has caught a cold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he constipado | I have caught a cold |
| Tú | te has constipado | You have caught a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha constipado | He has / she has / you have caught a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos constipado | We have caught a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis constipado | You have caught a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han constipado | They / you have caught a cold |
| Vos | te has constipado | You have caught a cold |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would catch a cold” or “she would catch a cold”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me constiparía | I would catch a cold |
| Tú | te constiparías | You would catch a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constiparía | He / she / you would catch a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos constiparíamos | We would catch a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os constiparíais | You would catch a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constiparían | They / you would catch a cold |
| Vos | te constiparías | You would catch a cold |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will catch a cold” or “they will catch a cold”.
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 constiparse” means “They are going to catch a cold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me constiparé | I will catch a cold |
| Tú | te constiparás | You will catch a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipará | He / she / you will catch a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos constiparemos | We will catch a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os constiparéis | You will catch a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constiparán | They / you will catch a cold |
| Vos | te constiparás | You will catch a cold |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me constipe |
| Tú | te constipes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipe |
| Nosotros / as | nos constipemos |
| Vosotros / as | os constipéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constipen |
| Vos | te constipes |
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 constipara | me constipase |
| Tú | te constiparas | me constipase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipara | se constipase |
| Nosotros / as | nos constipáramos | nos constipásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os constiparais | os constipaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constiparan | se constipasen |
| Vos | te constiparas | me constipase |
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 constipare |
| Tú | te constipares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se constipare |
| Nosotros / as | nos constipáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os constipareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se constiparen |
| Vos | te constipares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “catch a cold!” and “don’t catch a cold!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | constípate | no te constipes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | constípese | no se constipe |
| Nosotros / as | constipémonos | no nos constipemos |
| Vosotros / as | constipaos | no os constipéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | constípense | no se constipen |
| Vos | constipate | no te constipes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya constipado |
| Tú | hayas constipado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya constipado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos constipado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis constipado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan constipado |
| Vos | hayas constipado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera constipado / hubiese constipado |
| Tú | hubieras constipado / hubieses constipado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera constipado / hubiese constipado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos constipado / hubiésemos constipado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais constipado / hubieseis constipado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran constipado / hubiesen constipado |
| Vos | hubieras constipado / hubieses constipado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere constipado |
| Tú | hubieres constipado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere constipado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos constipado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis constipado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren constipado |
| Vos | hubieres constipado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté constipándose |
| Tú | estés constipándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté constipándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos constipándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis constipándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén constipándose |
| Vos | estés constipándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera constipándose / estuviese constipándose |
| Tú | estuvieras constipándose / estuvieses constipándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera constipándose / estuviese constipándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos constipándose / estuviésamos constipándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais constipándose / estuvieseis constipándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera constipándose / estuviese constipándose |
| Vos | estuvieras constipándose / estuvieses constipándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere constipándose |
| Tú | estuvieres constipándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere constipándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos constipándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis constipándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere constipándose |
| Vos | estuvieres constipándose |
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 constipás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te constipaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te constipabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te constiparías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te constiparás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te constipes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te constiparas / Vos me constipase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos constipate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te constipes |