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Despabilarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to wake up, liven up, become alert”.
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 despabilo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que despabilarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for despabilarse 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 wake up, liven up, become alert |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despabilarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despabilándose) and past continuous (estaba despabilándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. waking up).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despabilado and hubiera despabilado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have woken up).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despabilándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despabilado |
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 wake up” or “they wake up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despabilo |
| Tú | te despabilas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabila |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabilamos |
| Vosotros / as | os despabiláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilan |
| Vos | despabilás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I woke up” or “she woke up” 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 despabilé | I woke up |
| Tú | te despabilaste | You woke up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabiló | He / she / you woke up |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabilamos | We woke up |
| Vosotros / as | os despabilasteis | You woke up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilaron | They / you woke up |
| Vos | te despabilaste | You woke up |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was waking up” or “she was waking up” 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 despabilaba | I was waking up |
| Tú | te despabilabas | You were waking up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabilaba | He was / she was / you were waking up |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabilábamos | We were waking up |
| Vosotros / as | os despabilabais | You were waking up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilaban | They / you were waking up |
| Vos | te despabilabas | You were waking up |
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 woken up” and “she has woken up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he despabilado | I have woken up |
| Tú | te has despabilado | You have woken up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha despabilado | He has / she has / you have woken up |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos despabilado | We have woken up |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis despabilado | You have woken up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han despabilado | They / you have woken up |
| Vos | te has despabilado | You have woken up |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would wake up” or “she would wake up”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despabilaría | I would wake up |
| Tú | te despabilarías | You would wake up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabilaría | He / she / you would wake up |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabilaríamos | We would wake up |
| Vosotros / as | os despabilaríais | You would wake up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilarían | They / you would wake up |
| Vos | te despabilarías | You would wake up |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will wake up” or “they will wake up”.
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 despabilarse” means “They are going to wake up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despabilaré | I will wake up |
| Tú | te despabilarás | You will wake up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabilará | He / she / you will wake up |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabilaremos | We will wake up |
| Vosotros / as | os despabilaréis | You will wake up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilarán | They / you will wake up |
| Vos | te despabilarás | You will wake up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despabile |
| Tú | te despabiles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabile |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabilemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despabiléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilen |
| Vos | te despabiles |
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 despabilara | me despabilase |
| Tú | te despabilaras | me despabilase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabilara | se despabilase |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabiláramos | nos despabilásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despabilarais | os despabilaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilaran | se despabilasen |
| Vos | te despabilaras | me despabilase |
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 despabilare |
| Tú | te despabilares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despabilare |
| Nosotros / as | nos despabiláremos |
| Vosotros / as | os despabilareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despabilaren |
| Vos | te despabilares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “wake up!” and “don’t wake up!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despabílate | no te despabiles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despabílese | no se despabile |
| Nosotros / as | despabilémonos | no nos despabilemos |
| Vosotros / as | despabilaos | no os despabiléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despabílense | no se despabilen |
| Vos | despabilá | no te despabiles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despabilado |
| Tú | hayas despabilado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despabilado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despabilado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despabilado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despabilado |
| Vos | hayas despabilado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despabilado / hubiese despabilado |
| Tú | hubieras despabilado / hubieses despabilado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despabilado / hubiese despabilado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despabilado / hubiésemos despabilado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despabilado / hubieseis despabilado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despabilado / hubiesen despabilado |
| Vos | hubieras despabilado / hubieses despabilado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despabilado |
| Tú | hubieres despabilado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despabilado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despabilado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despabilado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despabilado |
| Vos | hubieres despabilado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despabilándose |
| Tú | estés despabilándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despabilándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despabilándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despabilándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despabilándose |
| Vos | estés despabilándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despabilándose / estuviese despabilándose |
| Tú | estuvieras despabilándose / estuvieses despabilándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despabilándose / estuviese despabilándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despabilándose / estuviésamos despabilándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despabilándose / estuvieseis despabilándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despabilándose / estuviese despabilándose |
| Vos | estuvieras despabilándose / estuvieses despabilándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despabilándose |
| Tú | estuvieres despabilándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despabilándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despabilándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despabilándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despabilándose |
| Vos | estuvieres despabilándose |
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 despabilás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te despabilaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te despabilabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te despabilarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te despabilarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te despabiles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te despabilaras / Vos me despabilase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despabilá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te despabiles |