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Apartarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to keep away from, withdraw from”.
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 aparto) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que apartarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for apartarse 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 keep away from, withdraw from |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | apartarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está apartándose) and past continuous (estaba apartándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. keeping away from).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he apartado and hubiera apartado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have kept away from).
| Gerundio / Gerund | apartándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | apartado |
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 keep away from” or “they keep away from”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aparto |
| Tú | te apartas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aparta |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartamos |
| Vosotros / as | os apartáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartan |
| Vos | te apartás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I kept away from” or “she kept away from” 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 aparté | I kept away from |
| Tú | te apartaste | You kept away from |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apartó | He / she / you kept away from |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartamos | We kept away from |
| Vosotros / as | os apartasteis | You kept away from |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartaron | They / you kept away from |
| Vos | te apartaste | You kept away from |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was keeping away from” or “she was keeping away from” 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 apartaba | I was keeping away from |
| Tú | te apartabas | You were keeping away from |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apartaba | He was / she was / you were keeping away from |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartábamos | We were keeping away from |
| Vosotros / as | os apartabais | You were keeping away from |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartaban | They / you were keeping away from |
| Vos | te apartabas | You were keeping away from |
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 kept away from” and “she has kept away from”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he apartado | I have kept away from |
| Tú | te has apartado | You have kept away from |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha apartado | He has / she has / you have kept away from |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos apartado | We have kept away from |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis apartado | You have kept away from |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han apartado | They / you have kept away from |
| Vos | te has apartado | You have kept away from |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would keep away from” or “she would keep away from”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me apartaría | I would keep away from |
| Tú | te apartarías | You would keep away from |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apartaría | He / she / you would keep away from |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartaríamos | We would keep away from |
| Vosotros / as | os apartaríais | You would keep away from |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartarían | They / you would keep away from |
| Vos | te apartarías | You would keep away from |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will keep away from” or “they will keep away from”.
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 apartarse” means “They are going to keep away from”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me apartaré | I will keep away from |
| Tú | te apartarás | You will keep away from |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apartará | He / she / you will keep away from |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartaremos | We will keep away from |
| Vosotros / as | os apartaréis | You will keep away from |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartarán | They / you will keep away from |
| Vos | te apartarás | You will keep away from |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me aparte |
| Tú | te apartes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se aparte |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartemos |
| Vosotros / as | os apartéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se aparten |
| Vos | te apartes |
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 apartara | me apartase |
| Tú | te apartaras | me apartase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apartara | se apartase |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartáramos | nos apartásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os apartarais | os apartaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartaran | se apartasen |
| Vos | te apartaras | me apartase |
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 apartare |
| Tú | te apartares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se apartare |
| Nosotros / as | nos apartáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os apartareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se apartaren |
| Vos | te apartares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “keep away from!” and “don’t keep away from!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | apártate | no te apartes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | apártese | no se aparte |
| Nosotros / as | apartémonos | no nos apartemos |
| Vosotros / as | apartaos | no os apartéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | apártense | no se aparten |
| Vos | apartate | no te apartes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya apartado |
| Tú | hayas apartado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya apartado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos apartado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis apartado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan apartado |
| Vos | hayas apartado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera apartado / hubiese apartado |
| Tú | hubieras apartado / hubieses apartado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera apartado / hubiese apartado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos apartado / hubiésemos apartado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais apartado / hubieseis apartado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran apartado / hubiesen apartado |
| Vos | hubieras apartado / hubieses apartado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere apartado |
| Tú | hubieres apartado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere apartado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos apartado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis apartado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren apartado |
| Vos | hubieres apartado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté apartándose |
| Tú | estés apartándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté apartándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos apartándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis apartándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén apartándose |
| Vos | estés apartándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera apartándose / estuviese apartándose |
| Tú | estuvieras apartándose / estuvieses apartándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera apartándose / estuviese apartándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos apartándose / estuviésamos apartándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais apartándose / estuvieseis apartándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera apartándose / estuviese apartándose |
| Vos | estuvieras apartándose / estuvieses apartándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere apartándose |
| Tú | estuvieres apartándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere apartándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos apartándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis apartándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere apartándose |
| Vos | estuvieres apartándose |
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 apartás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te apartaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te apartabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te apartarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te apartarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te apartes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te apartaras / Vos me apartase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos apartate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te apartes |