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Alistarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to enroll, enlist, get ready”.
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 alisto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que alistarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for alistarse 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 enroll, enlist, get ready |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | alistarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está alistándose) and past continuous (estaba alistándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. enrolling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he alistado and hubiera alistado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have enrolled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | alistándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | alistado |
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 enroll” or “they enroll”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me alisto |
| Tú | te alistas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alista |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistamos |
| Vosotros / as | os alistáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistan |
| Vos | alistás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I enrolled” or “she enrolled” 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 alisté | I enrolled |
| Tú | te alistaste | You enrolled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alistó | He / she / you enrolled |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistamos | We enrolled |
| Vosotros / as | os alistasteis | You enrolled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistaron | They / you enrolled |
| Vos | te alistaste | You enrolled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was enrolling” or “she was enrolling” 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 alistaba | I was enrolling |
| Tú | te alistabas | You were enrolling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alistaba | He was / she was / you were enrolling |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistábamos | We were enrolling |
| Vosotros / as | os alistabais | You were enrolling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistaban | They / you were enrolling |
| Vos | te alistabas | You were enrolling |
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 enrolled” and “she has enrolled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he alistado | I have enrolled |
| Tú | te has alistado | You have enrolled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha alistado | He has / she has / you have enrolled |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos alistado | We have enrolled |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis alistado | You have enrolled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han alistado | They / you have enrolled |
| Vos | te has alistado | You have enrolled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would enroll” or “she would enroll”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me alistaría | I would enroll |
| Tú | te alistarías | You would enroll |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alistaría | He / she / you would enroll |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistaríamos | We would enroll |
| Vosotros / as | os alistaríais | You would enroll |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistarían | They / you would enroll |
| Vos | te alistarías | You would enroll |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will enroll” or “they will enroll”.
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 alistarse” means “They are going to enroll”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me alistaré | I will enroll |
| Tú | te alistarás | You will enroll |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alistará | He / she / you will enroll |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistaremos | We will enroll |
| Vosotros / as | os alistaréis | You will enroll |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistarán | They / you will enroll |
| Vos | te alistarás | You will enroll |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aliste |
| Tú | te alistes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aliste |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistemos |
| Vosotros / as | os alistéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alisten |
| Vos | te alistes |
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 alistara | me alistase |
| Tú | te alistaras | me alistase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alistara | se alistase |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistáramos | nos alistásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os alistarais | os alistaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistaran | se alistasen |
| Vos | te alistaras | me alistase |
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 alistare |
| Tú | te alistares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se alistare |
| Nosotros / as | nos alistáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os alistareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se alistaren |
| Vos | te alistares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “enroll!” and “don’t enroll!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | alístate | no te alistes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | alístese | no se aliste |
| Nosotros / as | alistémonos | no nos alistemos |
| Vosotros / as | alistaos | no os alistéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | alístense | no se alisten |
| Vos | alistá | no te alistes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya alistado |
| Tú | hayas alistado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya alistado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos alistado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis alistado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan alistado |
| Vos | hayas alistado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera alistado / hubiese alistado |
| Tú | hubieras alistado / hubieses alistado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera alistado / hubiese alistado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos alistado / hubiésemos alistado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais alistado / hubieseis alistado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran alistado / hubiesen alistado |
| Vos | hubieras alistado / hubieses alistado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere alistado |
| Tú | hubieres alistado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere alistado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos alistado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis alistado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren alistado |
| Vos | hubieres alistado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté alistándose |
| Tú | estés alistándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté alistándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos alistándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis alistándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén alistándose |
| Vos | estés alistándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera alistándose / estuviese alistándose |
| Tú | estuvieras alistándose / estuvieses alistándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera alistándose / estuviese alistándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos alistándose / estuviésamos alistándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais alistándose / estuvieseis alistándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera alistándose / estuviese alistándose |
| Vos | estuvieras alistándose / estuvieses alistándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere alistándose |
| Tú | estuvieres alistándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere alistándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos alistándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis alistándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere alistándose |
| Vos | estuvieres alistándose |
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 alistás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te alistaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te alistabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te alistarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te alistarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te alistes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te alistaras / Vos me alistase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos alistá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te alistes |