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Dormirse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to fall asleep”.
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 duermo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que dormirse).
Below are all of the conjugations for dormirse 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 fall asleep |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | dormirse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está durmiéndose) and past continuous (estaba durmiéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. falling asleep).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he dormido and hubiera dormido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have fallen asleep).
| Gerundio / Gerund | durmiéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | dormido |
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 fall asleep” or “they fall asleep”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me duermo |
| Tú | te duermes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se duerme |
| Nosotros / as | nos dormimos |
| Vosotros / as | os dormís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se duermen |
| Vos | te dormís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I fell asleep” or “she fell asleep” 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 dormí | I fell asleep |
| Tú | te dormiste | You fell asleep |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se durmió | He / she / you fell asleep |
| Nosotros / as | nos dormimos | We fell asleep |
| Vosotros / as | os dormisteis | You fell asleep |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se durmieron | They / you fell asleep |
| Vos | te dormiste | You fell asleep |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was falling asleep” or “she was falling asleep” 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 dormía | I was falling asleep |
| Tú | te dormías | You were falling asleep |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dormía | He was / she was / you were falling asleep |
| Nosotros / as | nos dormíamos | We were falling asleep |
| Vosotros / as | os dormíais | You were falling asleep |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dormían | They / you were falling asleep |
| Vos | te dormías | You were falling asleep |
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 fallen asleep” and “she has fallen asleep”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he dormido | I have fallen asleep |
| Tú | te has dormido | You have fallen asleep |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha dormido | He has / she has / you have fallen asleep |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos dormido | We have fallen asleep |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis dormido | You have fallen asleep |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han dormido | They / you have fallen asleep |
| Vos | te has dormido | You have fallen asleep |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would fall asleep” or “she would fall asleep”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me dormiría | I would fall asleep |
| Tú | te dormirías | You would fall asleep |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dormiría | He / she / you would fall asleep |
| Nosotros / as | nos dormiríamos | We would fall asleep |
| Vosotros / as | os dormiríais | You would fall asleep |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dormirían | They / you would fall asleep |
| Vos | te dormirías | You would fall asleep |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will fall asleep” or “they will fall asleep”.
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 dormirse” means “They are going to fall asleep”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me dormiré | I will fall asleep |
| Tú | te dormirás | You will fall asleep |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se dormirá | He / she / you will fall asleep |
| Nosotros / as | nos dormiremos | We will fall asleep |
| Vosotros / as | os dormiréis | You will fall asleep |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se dormirán | They / you will fall asleep |
| Vos | te dormirás | You will fall asleep |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me duerma |
| Tú | te duermas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se duerma |
| Nosotros / as | nos durmamos |
| Vosotros / as | os durmáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se duerman |
| Vos | te duermas |
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 durmiera | me durmiese |
| Tú | te durmieras | me durmiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se durmiera | se durmiese |
| Nosotros / as | nos durmiéramos | nos durmiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os durmierais | os durmieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se durmieran | se durmiesen |
| Vos | te durmieras | me durmiese |
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 durmiere |
| Tú | te durmieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se durmiera |
| Nosotros / as | nos durmiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os durmiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se durmieren |
| Vos | te durmieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “fall asleep!” and “don’t fall asleep!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | duérmete | no te duermas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | duérmase | no se duerma |
| Nosotros / as | durmámonos | no nos durmamos |
| Vosotros / as | dormíos | no os durmáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | duérmanse | no se duerman |
| Vos | dormite | no te duermas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya dormido |
| Tú | hayas dormido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya dormido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos dormido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis dormido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan dormido |
| Vos | hayas dormido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera dormido / hubiese dormido |
| Tú | hubieras dormido / hubieses dormido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera dormido / hubiese dormido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos dormido / hubiésemos dormido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais dormido / hubieseis dormido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran dormido / hubiesen dormido |
| Vos | hubieras dormido / hubieses dormido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere dormido |
| Tú | hubieres dormido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere dormido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos dormido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis dormido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren dormido |
| Vos | hubieres dormido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté durmiéndose |
| Tú | estés durmiéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté durmiéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos durmiéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis durmiéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén durmiéndose |
| Vos | estés durmiéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera durmiéndose / estuviese durmiéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras durmiéndose / estuvieses durmiéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera durmiéndose / estuviese durmiéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos durmiéndose / estuviésamos durmiéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais durmiéndose / estuvieseis durmiéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera durmiéndose / estuviese durmiéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras durmiéndose / estuvieses durmiéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere durmiéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres durmiéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere durmiéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos durmiéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis durmiéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere durmiéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres durmiéndose |
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 dormís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te dormiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te dormías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te dormirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te dormirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te duermas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te durmieras / Vos me durmiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos dormite |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te duermas |