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Familiarizarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to get familiar with”.
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 familiarizo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que familiarizarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for familiarizarse 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 familiar with |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | familiarizarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está familiarizándose) and past continuous (estaba familiarizándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. got familiar with).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he got familiar with and hubiera got familiar with. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have getting familiar with).
| Gerundio / Gerund | familiarizándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | got familiar with |
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 familiar with” or “they get familiar with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me familiarizo |
| Tú | te familiarizas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiariza |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizamos |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizan |
| Vos | te familiarizás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I get familiar with” or “she get familiar with” 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 familiaricé | I get familiar with |
| Tú | te familiarizaste | You get familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarizó | He / she / you get familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizamos | We get familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizasteis | You get familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizaron | They / you get familiar with |
| Vos | te familiarizaste | You get familiar with |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was got familiar with” or “she was got familiar with” 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 familiarizaba | I was got familiar with |
| Tú | te familiarizabas | You were got familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarizaba | He was / she was / you were got familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizábamos | We were got familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizabais | You were got familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizaban | They / you were got familiar with |
| Vos | te familiarizabas | You were got familiar with |
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 getting familiar with” and “she has getting familiar with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he got familiar with | I have getting familiar with |
| Tú | te has got familiar with | You have getting familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha got familiar with | He has / she has / you have getting familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos got familiar with | We have getting familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis got familiar with | You have getting familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han got familiar with | They / you have getting familiar with |
| Vos | te has got familiar with | You have getting familiar with |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would get familiar with” or “she would get familiar with”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me familiarizaría | I would get familiar with |
| Tú | te familiarizarías | You would get familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarizaría | He / she / you would get familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizaríamos | We would get familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizaríais | You would get familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizarían | They / you would get familiar with |
| Vos | te familiarizarías | You would get familiar with |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will get familiar with” or “they will get familiar with”.
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 familiarizarse” means “They are going to get familiar with”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me familiarizaré | I will get familiar with |
| Tú | te familiarizarás | You will get familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarizará | He / she / you will get familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizaremos | We will get familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizaréis | You will get familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizarán | They / you will get familiar with |
| Vos | te familiarizarás | You will get familiar with |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me familiarice |
| Tú | te familiarices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarice |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiaricemos |
| Vosotros / as | os familiaricéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiaricen |
| Vos | te familiarices |
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 familiarizara | me familiarizase |
| Tú | te familiarizaras | me familiarizase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarizara | se familiarizase |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizáramos | nos familiarizásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizarais | os familiarizaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizaran | se familiarizasen |
| Vos | te familiarizaras | me familiarizase |
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 familiarizare |
| Tú | te familiarizares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se familiarizare |
| Nosotros / as | nos familiarizáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os familiarizareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se familiarizaren |
| Vos | te familiarizares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “get familiar with!” and “don’t get familiar with!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | familiarízate | no te familiarices |
| Él / Ella / Usted | familiarícese | no se familiarice |
| Nosotros / as | familiaricémonos | no nos familiaricemos |
| Vosotros / as | familiarizaos | no os familiaricéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | familiarícense | no se familiaricen |
| Vos | familiarizate | no te familiarices |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya got familiar with |
| Tú | hayas got familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya got familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos got familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis got familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan got familiar with |
| Vos | hayas got familiar with |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera got familiar with / hubiese got familiar with |
| Tú | hubieras got familiar with / hubieses got familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera got familiar with / hubiese got familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos got familiar with / hubiésemos got familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais got familiar with / hubieseis got familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran got familiar with / hubiesen got familiar with |
| Vos | hubieras got familiar with / hubieses got familiar with |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere got familiar with |
| Tú | hubieres got familiar with |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere got familiar with |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos got familiar with |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis got familiar with |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren got familiar with |
| Vos | hubieres got familiar with |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté familiarizándose |
| Tú | estés familiarizándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté familiarizándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos familiarizándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis familiarizándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén familiarizándose |
| Vos | estés familiarizándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera familiarizándose / estuviese familiarizándose |
| Tú | estuvieras familiarizándose / estuvieses familiarizándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera familiarizándose / estuviese familiarizándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos familiarizándose / estuviésamos familiarizándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais familiarizándose / estuvieseis familiarizándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera familiarizándose / estuviese familiarizándose |
| Vos | estuvieras familiarizándose / estuvieses familiarizándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere familiarizándose |
| Tú | estuvieres familiarizándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere familiarizándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos familiarizándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis familiarizándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere familiarizándose |
| Vos | estuvieres familiarizándose |
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 familiarizás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te familiarizaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te familiarizabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te familiarizarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te familiarizarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te familiarices |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te familiarizaras / Vos me familiarizase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos familiarizate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te familiarices |