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Cuidarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to take care of oneself”.
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 cuido) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que cuidarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for cuidarse 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 take care of oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cuidarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cuidándose) and past continuous (estaba cuidándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. taking care of oneself).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cuidado and hubiera cuidado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have taken care of oneself).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cuidándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cuidado |
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 take care of oneself” or “they take care of oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me cuido |
| Tú | te cuidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuida |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidamos |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidan |
| Vos | te cuidás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I took care of oneself” or “she took care of oneself” 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 cuidé | I took care of oneself |
| Tú | te cuidaste | You took care of oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuidó | He / she / you took care of oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidamos | We took care of oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidasteis | You took care of oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidaron | They / you took care of oneself |
| Vos | te cuidaste | You took care of oneself |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was taking care of oneself” or “she was taking care of oneself” 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 cuidaba | I was taking care of oneself |
| Tú | te cuidabas | You were taking care of oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuidaba | He was / she was / you were taking care of oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidábamos | We were taking care of oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidabais | You were taking care of oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidaban | They / you were taking care of oneself |
| Vos | te cuidabas | You were taking care of oneself |
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 taken care of oneself” and “she has taken care of oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he cuidado | I have taken care of oneself |
| Tú | te has cuidado | You have taken care of oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha cuidado | He has / she has / you have taken care of oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos cuidado | We have taken care of oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis cuidado | You have taken care of oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han cuidado | They / you have taken care of oneself |
| Vos | te has cuidado | You have taken care of oneself |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would take care of oneself” or “she would take care of oneself”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cuidaría | I would take care of oneself |
| Tú | te cuidarías | You would take care of oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuidaría | He / she / you would take care of oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidaríamos | We would take care of oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidaríais | You would take care of oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidarían | They / you would take care of oneself |
| Vos | te cuidarías | You would take care of oneself |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will take care of oneself” or “they will take care of oneself”.
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 cuidarse” means “They are going to take care of oneself”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cuidaré | I will take care of oneself |
| Tú | te cuidarás | You will take care of oneself |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuidará | He / she / you will take care of oneself |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidaremos | We will take care of oneself |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidaréis | You will take care of oneself |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidarán | They / you will take care of oneself |
| Vos | te cuidarás | You will take care of oneself |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me cuide |
| Tú | te cuides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuide |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidemos |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuiden |
| Vos | te cuides |
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 cuidara | me cuidase |
| Tú | te cuidaras | me cuidase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuidara | se cuidase |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidáramos | nos cuidásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidarais | os cuidaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidaran | se cuidasen |
| Vos | te cuidaras | me cuidase |
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 cuidare |
| Tú | te cuidares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cuidare |
| Nosotros / as | nos cuidáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os cuidareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cuidaren |
| Vos | te cuidares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “take care of oneself!” and “don’t take care of oneself!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cuídate | no te cuides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cuídese | no se cuide |
| Nosotros / as | cuidémonos | no nos cuidemos |
| Vosotros / as | cuidaos | no os cuidéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cuídense | no se cuiden |
| Vos | cuidate | no te cuides |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cuidado |
| Tú | hayas cuidado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cuidado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cuidado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cuidado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cuidado |
| Vos | hayas cuidado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cuidado / hubiese cuidado |
| Tú | hubieras cuidado / hubieses cuidado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cuidado / hubiese cuidado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cuidado / hubiésemos cuidado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cuidado / hubieseis cuidado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cuidado / hubiesen cuidado |
| Vos | hubieras cuidado / hubieses cuidado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cuidado |
| Tú | hubieres cuidado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cuidado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cuidado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cuidado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cuidado |
| Vos | hubieres cuidado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cuidándose |
| Tú | estés cuidándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cuidándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cuidándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cuidándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cuidándose |
| Vos | estés cuidándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cuidándose / estuviese cuidándose |
| Tú | estuvieras cuidándose / estuvieses cuidándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cuidándose / estuviese cuidándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cuidándose / estuviésamos cuidándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cuidándose / estuvieseis cuidándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cuidándose / estuviese cuidándose |
| Vos | estuvieras cuidándose / estuvieses cuidándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cuidándose |
| Tú | estuvieres cuidándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cuidándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cuidándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cuidándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cuidándose |
| Vos | estuvieres cuidándose |
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 cuidás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te cuidaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te cuidabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te cuidarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te cuidarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te cuides |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te cuidaras / Vos me cuidase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cuidate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te cuides |