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Jactarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to boast, brag”.
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 jacto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que jactarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for jactarse 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 boast, brag |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | jactarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está jactándose) and past continuous (estaba jactándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. boasting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he jactado and hubiera jactado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have boasted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | jactándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | jactado |
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 boast” or “they boast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me jacto |
| Tú | te jactas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jacta |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactamos |
| Vosotros / as | os jactáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactan |
| Vos | jactás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I boasted” or “she boasted” 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 jacté | I boasted |
| Tú | te jactaste | You boasted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jactó | He / she / you boasted |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactamos | We boasted |
| Vosotros / as | os jactasteis | You boasted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactaron | They / you boasted |
| Vos | te jactaste | You boasted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was boasting” or “she was boasting” 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 jactaba | I was boasting |
| Tú | te jactabas | You were boasting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jactaba | He was / she was / you were boasting |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactábamos | We were boasting |
| Vosotros / as | os jactabais | You were boasting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactaban | They / you were boasting |
| Vos | te jactabas | You were boasting |
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 boasted” and “she has boasted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he jactado | I have boasted |
| Tú | te has jactado | You have boasted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha jactado | He has / she has / you have boasted |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos jactado | We have boasted |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis jactado | You have boasted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han jactado | They / you have boasted |
| Vos | te has jactado | You have boasted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would boast” or “she would boast”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me jactaría | I would boast |
| Tú | te jactarías | You would boast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jactaría | He / she / you would boast |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactaríamos | We would boast |
| Vosotros / as | os jactaríais | You would boast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactarían | They / you would boast |
| Vos | te jactarías | You would boast |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will boast” or “they will boast”.
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 jactarse” means “They are going to boast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me jactaré | I will boast |
| Tú | te jactarás | You will boast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jactará | He / she / you will boast |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactaremos | We will boast |
| Vosotros / as | os jactaréis | You will boast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactarán | They / you will boast |
| Vos | te jactarás | You will boast |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me jacte |
| Tú | te jactes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jacte |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactemos |
| Vosotros / as | os jactéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jacten |
| Vos | te jactes |
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 jactara | me jactase |
| Tú | te jactaras | me jactase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jactara | se jactase |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactáramos | nos jactásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os jactarais | os jactaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactaran | se jactasen |
| Vos | te jactaras | me jactase |
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 jactare |
| Tú | te jactares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se jactare |
| Nosotros / as | nos jactáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os jactareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se jactaren |
| Vos | te jactares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “boast!” and “don’t boast!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | jáctate | no te jactes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | jáctese | no se jacte |
| Nosotros / as | jactémonos | no nos jactemos |
| Vosotros / as | jactaos | no os jactéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | jáctense | no se jacten |
| Vos | jactá | no te jactes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya jactado |
| Tú | hayas jactado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya jactado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos jactado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis jactado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan jactado |
| Vos | hayas jactado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera jactado / hubiese jactado |
| Tú | hubieras jactado / hubieses jactado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera jactado / hubiese jactado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos jactado / hubiésemos jactado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais jactado / hubieseis jactado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran jactado / hubiesen jactado |
| Vos | hubieras jactado / hubieses jactado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere jactado |
| Tú | hubieres jactado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere jactado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos jactado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis jactado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren jactado |
| Vos | hubieres jactado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté jactándose |
| Tú | estés jactándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté jactándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos jactándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis jactándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén jactándose |
| Vos | estés jactándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera jactándose / estuviese jactándose |
| Tú | estuvieras jactándose / estuvieses jactándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera jactándose / estuviese jactándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos jactándose / estuviésamos jactándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais jactándose / estuvieseis jactándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera jactándose / estuviese jactándose |
| Vos | estuvieras jactándose / estuvieses jactándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere jactándose |
| Tú | estuvieres jactándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere jactándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos jactándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis jactándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere jactándose |
| Vos | estuvieres jactándose |
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 jactás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te jactaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te jactabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te jactarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te jactarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te jactes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te jactaras / Vos me jactase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos jactá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te jactes |