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Despertarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to awaken, wake up 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 despierto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que despertarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for despertarse 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 awaken, wake up oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despertarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despertándose) and past continuous (estaba despertándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. awakening).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despertado and hubiera despertado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have awakened).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despertándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despertado |
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 awaken” or “they awaken”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despierto |
| Tú | te despiertas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despierta |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertamos |
| Vosotros / as | os despertáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despiertan |
| Vos | te despertás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I awoke” or “she awoke” 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 desperté | I awoke |
| Tú | te despertaste | You awoke |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despertó | He / she / you awoke |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertamos | We awoke |
| Vosotros / as | os despertasteis | You awoke |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despertaron | They / you awoke |
| Vos | te despertaste | You awoke |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was awakening” or “she was awakening” 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 despertaba | I was awakening |
| Tú | te despertabas | You were awakening |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despertaba | He was / she was / you were awakening |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertábamos | We were awakening |
| Vosotros / as | os despertabais | You were awakening |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despertaban | They / you were awakening |
| Vos | te despertabas | You were awakening |
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 awakened” and “she has awakened”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he despertado | I have awakened |
| Tú | te has despertado | You have awakened |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha despertado | He has / she has / you have awakened |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos despertado | We have awakened |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis despertado | You have awakened |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han despertado | They / you have awakened |
| Vos | te has despertado | You have awakened |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would awaken” or “she would awaken”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despertaría | I would awaken |
| Tú | te despertarías | You would awaken |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despertaría | He / she / you would awaken |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertaríamos | We would awaken |
| Vosotros / as | os despertaríais | You would awaken |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despertarían | They / you would awaken |
| Vos | te despertarías | You would awaken |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will awaken” or “they will awaken”.
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 despertarse” means “They are going to awaken”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despertaré | I will awaken |
| Tú | te despertarás | You will awaken |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despertará | He / she / you will awaken |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertaremos | We will awaken |
| Vosotros / as | os despertaréis | You will awaken |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despertarán | They / you will awaken |
| Vos | te despertarás | You will awaken |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despierte |
| Tú | te despiertes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despierte |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despertéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despierten |
| Vos | te despiertes |
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 despertara | me despertase |
| Tú | te despertaras | me despertase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despertara | se despertase |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertáramos | nos despertásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despertarais | os despertaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despertaran | se despertasen |
| Vos | te despertaras | me despertase |
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 despertare |
| Tú | te despertares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despertare |
| Nosotros / as | nos despertáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os despertareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despertaren |
| Vos | te despertares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “awaken!” and “don’t awaken!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despiértate | no te despiertes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despiértese | no se despierte |
| Nosotros / as | despertémonos | no nos despertemos |
| Vosotros / as | despertaos | no os despertéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despiértense | no se despierten |
| Vos | despertate | no te despiertes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despertado |
| Tú | hayas despertado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despertado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despertado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despertado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despertado |
| Vos | hayas despertado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despertado / hubiese despertado |
| Tú | hubieras despertado / hubieses despertado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despertado / hubiese despertado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despertado / hubiésemos despertado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despertado / hubieseis despertado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despertado / hubiesen despertado |
| Vos | hubieras despertado / hubieses despertado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despertado |
| Tú | hubieres despertado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despertado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despertado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despertado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despertado |
| Vos | hubieres despertado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despertándose |
| Tú | estés despertándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despertándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despertándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despertándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despertándose |
| Vos | estés despertándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despertándose / estuviese despertándose |
| Tú | estuvieras despertándose / estuvieses despertándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despertándose / estuviese despertándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despertándose / estuviésamos despertándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despertándose / estuvieseis despertándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despertándose / estuviese despertándose |
| Vos | estuvieras despertándose / estuvieses despertándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despertándose |
| Tú | estuvieres despertándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despertándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despertándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despertándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despertándose |
| Vos | estuvieres despertándose |
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 despertás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te despertaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te despertabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te despertarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te despertarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te despiertes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te despertaras / Vos me despertase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despertate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te despiertes |