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Contentarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to be contented”.
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 contento) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que contentarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for contentarse 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 contented |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contentarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contentándose) and past continuous (estaba contentándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. contending).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contentado and hubiera contentado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have contended).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contentándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contentado |
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 contend” or “they contend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me contento |
| Tú | te contentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contenta |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentamos |
| Vosotros / as | os contentáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentan |
| Vos | te contentás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I contended” or “she contended” 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 contenté | I contended |
| Tú | te contentaste | You contended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contentó | He / she / you contended |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentamos | We contended |
| Vosotros / as | os contentasteis | You contended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentaron | They / you contended |
| Vos | te contentaste | You contended |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was contending” or “she was contending” 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 contentaba | I was contending |
| Tú | te contentabas | You were contending |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contentaba | He was / she was / you were contending |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentábamos | We were contending |
| Vosotros / as | os contentabais | You were contending |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentaban | They / you were contending |
| Vos | te contentabas | You were contending |
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 contended” and “she has contended”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he contentado | I have contended |
| Tú | te has contentado | You have contended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha contentado | He has / she has / you have contended |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos contentado | We have contended |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis contentado | You have contended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han contentado | They / you have contended |
| Vos | te has contentado | You have contended |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would contend” or “she would contend”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me contentaría | I would contend |
| Tú | te contentarías | You would contend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contentaría | He / she / you would contend |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentaríamos | We would contend |
| Vosotros / as | os contentaríais | You would contend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentarían | They / you would contend |
| Vos | te contentarías | You would contend |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will contend” or “they will contend”.
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 contentarse” means “They are going to contend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me contentaré | I will contend |
| Tú | te contentarás | You will contend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contentará | He / she / you will contend |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentaremos | We will contend |
| Vosotros / as | os contentaréis | You will contend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentarán | They / you will contend |
| Vos | te contentarás | You will contend |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me contente |
| Tú | te contentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contente |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentemos |
| Vosotros / as | os contentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contenten |
| Vos | te contentes |
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 contentara | me contentase |
| Tú | te contentaras | me contentase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contentara | se contentase |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentáramos | nos contentásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os contentarais | os contentaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentaran | se contentasen |
| Vos | te contentaras | me contentase |
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 contentare |
| Tú | te contentares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se contentare |
| Nosotros / as | nos contentáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os contentareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se contentaren |
| Vos | te contentares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “contend!” and “don’t contend!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | conténtate | no te contentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | conténtese | no se contente |
| Nosotros / as | contentémonos | no nos contentemos |
| Vosotros / as | contentaos | no os contentéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | conténtense | no se contenten |
| Vos | contentate | no te contentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contentado |
| Tú | hayas contentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contentado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contentado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contentado |
| Vos | hayas contentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contentado / hubiese contentado |
| Tú | hubieras contentado / hubieses contentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contentado / hubiese contentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contentado / hubiésemos contentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contentado / hubieseis contentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contentado / hubiesen contentado |
| Vos | hubieras contentado / hubieses contentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contentado |
| Tú | hubieres contentado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contentado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contentado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contentado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contentado |
| Vos | hubieres contentado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contentándose |
| Tú | estés contentándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contentándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contentándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contentándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contentándose |
| Vos | estés contentándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contentándose / estuviese contentándose |
| Tú | estuvieras contentándose / estuvieses contentándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contentándose / estuviese contentándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contentándose / estuviésamos contentándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contentándose / estuvieseis contentándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contentándose / estuviese contentándose |
| Vos | estuvieras contentándose / estuvieses contentándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contentándose |
| Tú | estuvieres contentándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contentándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contentándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contentándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contentándose |
| Vos | estuvieres contentándose |
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 contentás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te contentaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te contentabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te contentarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te contentarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te contentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te contentaras / Vos me contentase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contentate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te contentes |