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Esmerarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to do one’s best”.
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 esmero) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que esmerarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for esmerarse 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 do one’s best |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esmerarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esmerándose) and past continuous (estaba esmerándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. doing one’s best).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esmerado and hubiera esmerado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have done one’s best).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esmerándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esmerado |
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 do one’s best” or “they do one’s best”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esmero |
| Tú | te esmeras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmera |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeramos |
| Vosotros / as | os esmeráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmeran |
| Vos | te esmerás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I did one’s best” or “she did one’s best” 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 esmeré | I did one’s best |
| Tú | te esmeraste | You did one’s best |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmeró | He / she / you did one’s best |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeramos | We did one’s best |
| Vosotros / as | os esmerasteis | You did one’s best |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmeraron | They / you did one’s best |
| Vos | te esmeraste | You did one’s best |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was doing one’s best” or “she was doing one’s best” 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 esmeraba | I was doing one’s best |
| Tú | te esmerabas | You were doing one’s best |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmeraba | He was / she was / you were doing one’s best |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmerábamos | We were doing one’s best |
| Vosotros / as | os esmerabais | You were doing one’s best |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmeraban | They / you were doing one’s best |
| Vos | te esmerabas | You were doing one’s best |
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 done one’s best” and “she has done one’s best”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he esmerado | I have done one’s best |
| Tú | te has esmerado | You have done one’s best |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha esmerado | He has / she has / you have done one’s best |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos esmerado | We have done one’s best |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis esmerado | You have done one’s best |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han esmerado | They / you have done one’s best |
| Vos | te has esmerado | You have done one’s best |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would do one’s best” or “she would do one’s best”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esmeraría | I would do one’s best |
| Tú | te esmerarías | You would do one’s best |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmeraría | He / she / you would do one’s best |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeraríamos | We would do one’s best |
| Vosotros / as | os esmeraríais | You would do one’s best |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmerarían | They / you would do one’s best |
| Vos | te esmerarías | You would do one’s best |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will do one’s best” or “they will do one’s best”.
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 esmerarse” means “They are going to do one’s best”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esmeraré | I will do one’s best |
| Tú | te esmerarás | You will do one’s best |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmerará | He / she / you will do one’s best |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeraremos | We will do one’s best |
| Vosotros / as | os esmeraréis | You will do one’s best |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmerarán | They / you will do one’s best |
| Vos | te esmerarás | You will do one’s best |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esmere |
| Tú | te esmeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmere |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeremos |
| Vosotros / as | os esmeréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmeren |
| Vos | te esmeres |
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 esmerara | me esmerase |
| Tú | te esmeraras | me esmerase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmerara | se esmerase |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeráramos | nos esmerásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os esmerarais | os esmeraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmeraran | se esmerasen |
| Vos | te esmeraras | me esmerase |
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 esmerare |
| Tú | te esmerares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esmerare |
| Nosotros / as | nos esmeráremos |
| Vosotros / as | os esmerareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esmeraren |
| Vos | te esmerares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “do one’s best!” and “don’t do one’s best!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | esmérate | no te esmeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esmérese | no se esmere |
| Nosotros / as | esmerémonos | no nos esmeremos |
| Vosotros / as | esmeraos | no os esmeréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esmérense | no se esmeren |
| Vos | esmerate | no te esmeres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esmerado |
| Tú | hayas esmerado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esmerado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esmerado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esmerado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esmerado |
| Vos | hayas esmerado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esmerado / hubiese esmerado |
| Tú | hubieras esmerado / hubieses esmerado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esmerado / hubiese esmerado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esmerado / hubiésemos esmerado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esmerado / hubieseis esmerado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esmerado / hubiesen esmerado |
| Vos | hubieras esmerado / hubieses esmerado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esmerado |
| Tú | hubieres esmerado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esmerado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esmerado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esmerado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esmerado |
| Vos | hubieres esmerado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esmerándose |
| Tú | estés esmerándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esmerándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esmerándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esmerándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esmerándose |
| Vos | estés esmerándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esmerándose / estuviese esmerándose |
| Tú | estuvieras esmerándose / estuvieses esmerándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esmerándose / estuviese esmerándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esmerándose / estuviésamos esmerándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esmerándose / estuvieseis esmerándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esmerándose / estuviese esmerándose |
| Vos | estuvieras esmerándose / estuvieses esmerándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esmerándose |
| Tú | estuvieres esmerándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esmerándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esmerándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esmerándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esmerándose |
| Vos | estuvieres esmerándose |
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 esmerás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te esmeraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te esmerabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te esmerarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te esmerarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te esmeres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te esmeraras / Vos me esmerase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esmerate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te esmeres |