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Aferrarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to cling to, hold onto”.
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 aferro) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que aferrarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for aferrarse 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 cling to, hold onto |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | aferrarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está aferrándose) and past continuous (estaba aferrándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. holding onto).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he aferrado and hubiera aferrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have held onto).
| Gerundio / Gerund | aferrándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | aferrado |
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 hold onto” or “they hold onto”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aferro |
| Tú | te aferras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferra |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferramos |
| Vosotros / as | os aferráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferran |
| Vos | te aficionás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I held onto” or “she held onto” 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 aferré | I held onto |
| Tú | te aferraste | You held onto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferró | He / she / you held onto |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferramos | We held onto |
| Vosotros / as | os aferrasteis | You held onto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferraron | They / you held onto |
| Vos | te aferraste | You held onto |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was holding onto” or “she was holding onto” 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 aferraba | I was holding onto |
| Tú | te aferrabas | You were holding onto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferraba | He was / she was / you were holding onto |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferrábamos | We were holding onto |
| Vosotros / as | os aferrabais | You were holding onto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferraban | They / you were holding onto |
| Vos | te aferrabas | You were holding onto |
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 held onto” and “she has held onto”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he aferrado | I have held onto |
| Tú | te has aferrado | You have held onto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha aferrado | He has / she has / you have held onto |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos aferrado | We have held onto |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis aferrado | You have held onto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han aferrado | They / you have held onto |
| Vos | te has aferrado | You have held onto |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would hold onto” or “she would hold onto”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me aferraría | I would hold onto |
| Tú | te aferrarías | You would hold onto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferraría | He / she / you would hold onto |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferraríamos | We would hold onto |
| Vosotros / as | os aferraríais | You would hold onto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferrarían | They / you would hold onto |
| Vos | te aferrarías | You would hold onto |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will hold onto” or “they will hold onto”.
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 aferrarse” means “They are going to hold onto”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me aferraré | I will hold onto |
| Tú | te aferrarás | You will hold onto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferrará | He / she / you will hold onto |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferraremos | We will hold onto |
| Vosotros / as | os aferraréis | You will hold onto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferrarán | They / you will hold onto |
| Vos | te aferrarás | You will hold onto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aferre |
| Tú | te aferres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferre |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferremos |
| Vosotros / as | os aferréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferren |
| Vos | te aferres |
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 aferrara | me aferrase |
| Tú | te aferraras | me aferrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferrara | se aferrase |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferráramos | nos aferrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os aferrarais | os aferraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferraran | se aferrasen |
| Vos | te aferraras | me aferrase |
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 aferrare |
| Tú | te aferrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aferrare |
| Nosotros / as | nos aferráremos |
| Vosotros / as | os aferrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aferraren |
| Vos | te aferrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “hold onto!” and “don’t hold onto!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | aférrate | no te aferres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | aférrese | no se aferre |
| Nosotros / as | aferrémonos | no nos aferremos |
| Vosotros / as | aferraos | no os aferréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | aférrense | no se aferren |
| Vos | aferrate | no te aferres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya aferrado |
| Tú | hayas aferrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya aferrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos aferrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis aferrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan aferrado |
| Vos | hayas aferrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera aferrado / hubiese aferrado |
| Tú | hubieras aferrado / hubieses aferrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera aferrado / hubiese aferrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos aferrado / hubiésemos aferrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais aferrado / hubieseis aferrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran aferrado / hubiesen aferrado |
| Vos | hubieras aferrado / hubieses aferrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere aferrado |
| Tú | hubieres aferrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere aferrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos aferrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis aferrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren aferrado |
| Vos | hubieres aferrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté aferrándose |
| Tú | estés aferrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté aferrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos aferrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis aferrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén aferrándose |
| Vos | estés aferrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera aferrándose / estuviese aferrándose |
| Tú | estuvieras aferrándose / estuvieses aferrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera aferrándose / estuviese aferrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos aferrándose / estuviésamos aferrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais aferrándose / estuvieseis aferrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera aferrándose / estuviese aferrándose |
| Vos | estuvieras aferrándose / estuvieses aferrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere aferrándose |
| Tú | estuvieres aferrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere aferrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos aferrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis aferrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere aferrándose |
| Vos | estuvieres aferrándose |
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 aficionás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te aferraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te aferrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te aferrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te aferrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te aferres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te aferraras / Vos me aferrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos aferrate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te aferres |