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Equivocarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to make a mistake, be mistaken”.
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 equivoco) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que equivocarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for equivocarse 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 make a mistake, be mistaken |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | equivocarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está equivocándose) and past continuous (estaba equivocándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. making a mistake).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he equivocado and hubiera equivocado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have made a mistake).
| Gerundio / Gerund | equivocándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | equivocado |
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 make a mistake” or “they make a mistake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me equivoco |
| Tú | te equivocas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivoca |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocamos |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocan |
| Vos | te equivocás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I made a mistake” or “she made a mistake” 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 equivoqué | I made a mistake |
| Tú | te equivocaste | You made a mistake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivocó | He / she / you made a mistake |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocamos | We made a mistake |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocasteis | You made a mistake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocaron | They / you made a mistake |
| Vos | te equivocaste | You made a mistake |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was making a mistake” or “she was making a mistake” 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 equivocaba | I was making a mistake |
| Tú | te equivocabas | You were making a mistake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivocaba | He was / she was / you were making a mistake |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocábamos | We were making a mistake |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocabais | You were making a mistake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocaban | They / you were making a mistake |
| Vos | te equivocabas | You were making a mistake |
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 made a mistake” and “she has made a mistake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he equivocado | I have made a mistake |
| Tú | te has equivocado | You have made a mistake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha equivocado | He has / she has / you have made a mistake |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos equivocado | We have made a mistake |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis equivocado | You have made a mistake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han equivocado | They / you have made a mistake |
| Vos | te has equivocado | You have made a mistake |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would make a mistake” or “she would make a mistake”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me equivocaría | I would make a mistake |
| Tú | te equivocarías | You would make a mistake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivocaría | He / she / you would make a mistake |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocaríamos | We would make a mistake |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocaríais | You would make a mistake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocarían | They / you would make a mistake |
| Vos | te equivocarías | You would make a mistake |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will make a mistake” or “they will make a mistake”.
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 equivocarse” means “They are going to make a mistake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me equivocaré | I will make a mistake |
| Tú | te equivocarás | You will make a mistake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivocará | He / she / you will make a mistake |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocaremos | We will make a mistake |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocaréis | You will make a mistake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocarán | They / you will make a mistake |
| Vos | te equivocarás | You will make a mistake |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me equivoque |
| Tú | te equivoques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivoque |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivoquemos |
| Vosotros / as | os equivoquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivoquen |
| Vos | te equivoques |
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 equivocara | me equivocase |
| Tú | te equivocaras | me equivocase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivocara | se equivocase |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocáramos | nos equivocásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocarais | os equivocaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocaran | se equivocasen |
| Vos | te equivocaras | me equivocase |
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 equivocare |
| Tú | te equivocares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se equivocare |
| Nosotros / as | nos equivocáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os equivocareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se equivocaren |
| Vos | te equivocares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “make a mistake!” and “don’t make a mistake!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | equivócate | no te equivoques |
| Él / Ella / Usted | equivóquese | no se equivoque |
| Nosotros / as | equivoquémonos | no nos equivoquemos |
| Vosotros / as | equivocaos | no os equivoquéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | equivóquense | no se equivoquen |
| Vos | equivocate | no te equivoques |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya equivocado |
| Tú | hayas equivocado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya equivocado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos equivocado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis equivocado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan equivocado |
| Vos | hayas equivocado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera equivocado / hubiese equivocado |
| Tú | hubieras equivocado / hubieses equivocado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera equivocado / hubiese equivocado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos equivocado / hubiésemos equivocado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais equivocado / hubieseis equivocado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran equivocado / hubiesen equivocado |
| Vos | hubieras equivocado / hubieses equivocado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere equivocado |
| Tú | hubieres equivocado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere equivocado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos equivocado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis equivocado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren equivocado |
| Vos | hubieres equivocado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté equivocándose |
| Tú | estés equivocándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté equivocándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos equivocándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis equivocándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén equivocándose |
| Vos | estés equivocándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera equivocándose / estuviese equivocándose |
| Tú | estuvieras equivocándose / estuvieses equivocándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera equivocándose / estuviese equivocándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos equivocándose / estuviésamos equivocándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais equivocándose / estuvieseis equivocándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera equivocándose / estuviese equivocándose |
| Vos | estuvieras equivocándose / estuvieses equivocándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere equivocándose |
| Tú | estuvieres equivocándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere equivocándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos equivocándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis equivocándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere equivocándose |
| Vos | estuvieres equivocándose |
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 equivocás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te equivocaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te equivocabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te equivocarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te equivocarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te equivoques |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te equivocaras / Vos me equivocase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos equivocate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te equivoques |