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Enfermarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to get sick, become ill”.
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 enfermo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que enfermarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for enfermarse 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 get sick, become ill |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | enfermarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está enfermándose) and past continuous (estaba enfermándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. getting sick).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he enfermado and hubiera enfermado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have gotten sick).
| Gerundio / Gerund | enfermándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | enfermado |
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 get sick” or “they get sick”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me enfermo |
| Tú | te enfermas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enferma |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermamos |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enferman |
| Vos | te enfermás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I got sick” or “she got sick” 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 enfermé | I got sick |
| Tú | te enfermaste | You got sick |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enfermó | He / she / you got sick |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermamos | We got sick |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermasteis | You got sick |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermaron | They / you got sick |
| Vos | te enfermaste | You got sick |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was getting sick” or “she was getting sick” 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 enfermaba | I was getting sick |
| Tú | te enfermabas | You were getting sick |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enfermaba | He was / she was / you were getting sick |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermábamos | We were getting sick |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermabais | You were getting sick |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermaban | They / you were getting sick |
| Vos | te enfermabas | You were getting sick |
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 gotten sick” and “she has gotten sick”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he enfermado | I have gotten sick |
| Tú | te has enfermado | You have gotten sick |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha enfermado | He has / she has / you have gotten sick |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos enfermado | We have gotten sick |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis enfermado | You have gotten sick |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han enfermado | They / you have gotten sick |
| Vos | te has enfermado | You have gotten sick |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would get sick” or “she would get sick”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me enfermaría | I would get sick |
| Tú | te enfermarías | You would get sick |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enfermaría | He / she / you would get sick |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermaríamos | We would get sick |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermaríais | You would get sick |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermarían | They / you would get sick |
| Vos | te enfermarías | You would get sick |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will get sick” or “they will get sick”.
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 enfermarse” means “They are going to get sick”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me enfermaré | I will get sick |
| Tú | te enfermarás | You will get sick |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enfermará | He / she / you will get sick |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermaremos | We will get sick |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermaréis | You will get sick |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermarán | They / you will get sick |
| Vos | te enfermarás | You will get sick |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me enferme |
| Tú | te enfermes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enferme |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermemos |
| Vosotros / as | os enferméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermen |
| Vos | te enfermes |
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 enfermara | me enfermase |
| Tú | te enfermaras | me enfermase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enfermara | se enfermase |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermáramos | nos enfermásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermarais | os enfermaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermaran | se enfermasen |
| Vos | te enfermaras | me enfermase |
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 enfermare |
| Tú | te enfermares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se enfermare |
| Nosotros / as | nos enfermáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os enfermareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se enfermaren |
| Vos | te enfermares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “get sick!” and “don’t get sick!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | enférmate | no te enfermes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | enférmese | no se enferme |
| Nosotros / as | enfermémonos | no nos enfermemos |
| Vosotros / as | enfermaos | no os enferméis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | enférmense | no se enfermen |
| Vos | enfermate | no te enfermes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya enfermado |
| Tú | hayas enfermado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya enfermado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos enfermado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis enfermado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan enfermado |
| Vos | hayas enfermado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera enfermado / hubiese enfermado |
| Tú | hubieras enfermado / hubieses enfermado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera enfermado / hubiese enfermado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos enfermado / hubiésemos enfermado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais enfermado / hubieseis enfermado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran enfermado / hubiesen enfermado |
| Vos | hubieras enfermado / hubieses enfermado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere enfermado |
| Tú | hubieres enfermado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere enfermado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos enfermado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis enfermado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren enfermado |
| Vos | hubieres enfermado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté enfermándose |
| Tú | estés enfermándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté enfermándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos enfermándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis enfermándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén enfermándose |
| Vos | estés enfermándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera enfermándose / estuviese enfermándose |
| Tú | estuvieras enfermándose / estuvieses enfermándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera enfermándose / estuviese enfermándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos enfermándose / estuviésamos enfermándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais enfermándose / estuvieseis enfermándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera enfermándose / estuviese enfermándose |
| Vos | estuvieras enfermándose / estuvieses enfermándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere enfermándose |
| Tú | estuvieres enfermándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere enfermándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos enfermándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis enfermándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere enfermándose |
| Vos | estuvieres enfermándose |
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 enfermás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te enfermaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te enfermabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te enfermarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te enfermarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te enfermes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te enfermaras / Vos me enfermase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos enfermate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te enfermes |