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Dedicarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to devote oneself to”.
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 dedico) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que dedicarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for dedicarse 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 devote oneself to |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | dedicarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está dedicándose) and past continuous (estaba dedicándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. devoting myself to).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dedicado and hubiera dedicado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have devoted myself to).
| Gerundio / Gerund | dedicándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dedicado |
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 devote myself to” or “they devote myself to”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me dedico |
| Tú | te dedicas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedica |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicamos |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedican |
| Vos | te dedicás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I devoted myself to” or “she devoted myself to” 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 dediqué | I devoted myself to |
| Tú | te dedicaste | You devoted myself to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedicó | He / she / you devoted myself to |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicamos | We devoted myself to |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicasteis | You devoted myself to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedicaron | They / you devoted myself to |
| Vos | te dedicaste | You devoted myself to |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was devoting myself to” or “she was devoting myself to” 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 dedicaba | I was devoting myself to |
| Tú | te dedicabas | You were devoting myself to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedicaba | He was / she was / you were devoting myself to |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicábamos | We were devoting myself to |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicabais | You were devoting myself to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedicaban | They / you were devoting myself to |
| Vos | te dedicabas | You were devoting myself to |
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 devoted myself to” and “she has devoted myself to”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he dedicado | I have devoted myself to |
| Tú | te has dedicado | You have devoted myself to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha dedicado | He has / she has / you have devoted myself to |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos dedicado | We have devoted myself to |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis dedicado | You have devoted myself to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han dedicado | They / you have devoted myself to |
| Vos | te has dedicado | You have devoted myself to |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would devote oneself to” or “she would devote oneself to”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me dedicaría | I would devote myself to |
| Tú | te dedicarías | You would devote myself to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedicaría | He / she / you would devote myself to |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicaríamos | We would devote myself to |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicaríais | You would devote myself to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedicarían | They / you would devote myself to |
| Vos | te dedicarías | You would devote myself to |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will devote oneself to” or “they will devote oneself to”.
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 dedicarse” means “They are going to devote oneself to”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me dedicaré | I will devote myself to |
| Tú | te dedicarás | You will devote myself to |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedicará | He / she / you will devote myself to |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicaremos | We will devote myself to |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicaréis | You will devote myself to |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedicarán | They / you will devote myself to |
| Vos | te dedicarás | You will devote myself to |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me dedique |
| Tú | te dediques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedique |
| Nosotros / as | nos dediquemos |
| Vosotros / as | os dediquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dediquen |
| Vos | te dediques |
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 dedicara | me dedicase |
| Tú | te dedicaras | me dedicase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedicara | se dedicase |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicáramos | nos dedicásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicarais | os dedicaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedicaran | se dedicasen |
| Vos | te dedicaras | me dedicase |
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 dedicare |
| Tú | te dedicares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dedicare |
| Nosotros / as | nos dedicáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os dedicareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dedicaren |
| Vos | te dedicares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “devote oneself to!” and “don’t devote oneself to!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | dedícate | no te dediques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | dedíquese | no se dedique |
| Nosotros / as | dediquémonos | no nos dediquemos |
| Vosotros / as | dedicaos | no os dediquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | dedíquense | no se dediquen |
| Vos | dedicáte | no te dediques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dedicado |
| Tú | hayas dedicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dedicado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dedicado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dedicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dedicado |
| Vos | hayas dedicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dedicado / hubiese dedicado |
| Tú | hubieras dedicado / hubieses dedicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dedicado / hubiese dedicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dedicado / hubiésemos dedicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dedicado / hubieseis dedicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dedicado / hubiesen dedicado |
| Vos | hubieras dedicado / hubieses dedicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dedicado |
| Tú | hubieres dedicado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dedicado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dedicado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dedicado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dedicado |
| Vos | hubieres dedicado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté dedicándose |
| Tú | estés dedicándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté dedicándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos dedicándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis dedicándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén dedicándose |
| Vos | estés dedicándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera dedicándose / estuviese dedicándose |
| Tú | estuvieras dedicándose / estuvieses dedicándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera dedicándose / estuviese dedicándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos dedicándose / estuviésamos dedicándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais dedicándose / estuvieseis dedicándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera dedicándose / estuviese dedicándose |
| Vos | estuvieras dedicándose / estuvieses dedicándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere dedicándose |
| Tú | estuvieres dedicándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere dedicándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos dedicándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis dedicándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere dedicándose |
| Vos | estuvieres dedicándose |
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 dedicás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te dedicaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te dedicabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te dedicarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te dedicarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te dediques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te dedicaras / Vos me dedicase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos dedicáte |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te dediques |