Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Amanecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to dawn, break the day, wake up”.
Below are all of the conjugations for amanecer 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 dawn, break the day, wake up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | amanecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está amaneciendo) and past continuous (estaba amaneciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. waking up).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he amanecido and hubiera amanecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have woken up).
| Gerundio / Gerund | amaneciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | amanecido |
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 wake up” or “they wake up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | amanezco |
| Tú | amaneces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amanece |
| Nosotros / as | amanecemos |
| Vosotros / as | amanecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecen |
| Vos | amanecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I woke up” or “she woke up” 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 | amanecí | I woke up |
| Tú | amaneciste | You woke up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amaneció | He / she / you woke up |
| Nosotros / as | amanecimos | We woke up |
| Vosotros / as | amanecisteis | You woke up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecieron | They / you woke up |
| Vos | amaneciste | You woke up |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was waking up” or “she was waking up” 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 | amanecía | I was waking up |
| Tú | amanecías | You were waking up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amanecía | He was / she was / you were waking up |
| Nosotros / as | amanecíamos | We were waking up |
| Vosotros / as | amanecíais | You were waking up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecían | They / you were waking up |
| Vos | amanecías | You were waking up |
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 woken up” and “she has woken up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he amanecido | I have woken up |
| Tú | has amanecido | You have woken up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha amanecido | He has / she has / you have woken up |
| Nosotros / as | hemos amanecido | We have woken up |
| Vosotros / as | habéis amanecido | You have woken up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han amanecido | They / you have woken up |
| Vos | has amanecido | You have woken up |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would wake up” or “she would wake up”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | amanecería | I would wake up |
| Tú | amanecerías | You would wake up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amanecería | He / she / you would wake up |
| Nosotros / as | amaneceríamos | We would wake up |
| Vosotros / as | amaneceríais | You would wake up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecerían | They / you would wake up |
| Vos | amanecerías | You would wake up |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will wake up” or “they will wake up”.
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 amanecer” means “They are going to wake up”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | amaneceré | I will wake up |
| Tú | amanecerás | You will wake up |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amanecerá | He / she / you will wake up |
| Nosotros / as | amaneceremos | We will wake up |
| Vosotros / as | amaneceréis | You will wake up |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecerán | They / you will wake up |
| Vos | amanecerás | You will wake up |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | amanezca |
| Tú | amanezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amanezca |
| Nosotros / as | amanezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | amanezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanezcan |
| Vos | amanezcas |
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 | amaneciera | amaneciese |
| Tú | amanecieras | amaneciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amaneciera | amaneciese |
| Nosotros / as | amaneciéramos | amaneciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | amanecierais | amanecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecieran | amaneciesen |
| Vos | amanecieras | amaneciese |
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 | amaneciere |
| Tú | amanecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amaneciere |
| Nosotros / as | amaneciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | amaneciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanecieren |
| Vos | amanecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “wake up!” and “don’t wake up!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | amanece | no amanezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | amanezca | no amanezca |
| Nosotros / as | amanezcamos | no amanezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | amaneced | no amanezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | amanezcan | no amanezcan |
| Vos | amanecé | no amanezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya amanecido |
| Tú | hayas amanecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya amanecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos amanecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis amanecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan amanecido |
| Vos | hayas amanecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera amanecido / hubiese amanecido |
| Tú | hubieras amanecido / hubieses amanecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera amanecido / hubiese amanecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos amanecido / hubiésemos amanecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais amanecido / hubieseis amanecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran amanecido / hubiesen amanecido |
| Vos | hubieras amanecido / hubieses amanecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere amanecido |
| Tú | hubieres amanecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere amanecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos amanecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis amanecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren amanecido |
| Vos | hubieres amanecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté amaneciendo |
| Tú | estés amaneciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté amaneciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos amaneciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis amaneciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén amaneciendo |
| Vos | estés amaneciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera amaneciendo / estuviese amaneciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras amaneciendo / estuvieses amaneciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera amaneciendo / estuviese amaneciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos amaneciendo / estuviésamos amaneciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais amaneciendo / estuvieseis amaneciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera amaneciendo / estuviese amaneciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras amaneciendo / estuvieses amaneciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere amaneciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres amaneciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere amaneciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos amaneciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis amaneciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere amaneciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres amaneciendo |
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 amanecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos amaneciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos amanecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos amanecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos amanecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos amanezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos amanecieras / Vos amaneciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos amanecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no amanezcas |