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Atreverse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to dare, venture”.
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 atrevo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que atreverse).
Below are all of the conjugations for atreverse 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 dare, venture |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | atreverse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está atreviéndose) and past continuous (estaba atreviéndose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. daring).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he atrevido and hubiera atrevido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have dared).
| Gerundio / Gerund | atreviéndose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | atrevido |
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 dare” or “they dare”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me atrevo |
| Tú | te atreves |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atreve |
| Nosotros / as | nos atrevemos |
| Vosotros / as | os atrevéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atreven |
| Vos | te atrevés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I dared” or “she dared” 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 atreví | I dared |
| Tú | te atreviste | You dared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atrevió | He / she / you dared |
| Nosotros / as | nos atrevimos | We dared |
| Vosotros / as | os atrevisteis | You dared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atrevieron | They / you dared |
| Vos | te atreviste | You dared |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was daring” or “she was daring” 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 atrevía | I was daring |
| Tú | te atrevías | You were daring |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atrevía | He was / she was / you were daring |
| Nosotros / as | nos atrevíamos | We were daring |
| Vosotros / as | os atrevíais | You were daring |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atrevían | They / you were daring |
| Vos | te atrevías | You were daring |
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 dared” and “she has dared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he atrevido | I have dared |
| Tú | te has atrevido | You have dared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha atrevido | He has / she has / you have dared |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos atrevido | We have dared |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis atrevido | You have dared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han atrevido | They / you have dared |
| Vos | te has atrevido | You have dared |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would dare” or “she would dare”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me atrevería | I would dare |
| Tú | te atreverías | You would dare |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atrevería | He / she / you would dare |
| Nosotros / as | nos atreveríamos | We would dare |
| Vosotros / as | os atreveríais | You would dare |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atreverían | They / you would dare |
| Vos | te atreverías | You would dare |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will dare” or “they will dare”.
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 atreverse” means “They are going to dare”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me atreveré | I will dare |
| Tú | te atreverás | You will dare |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atreverá | He / she / you will dare |
| Nosotros / as | nos atreveremos | We will dare |
| Vosotros / as | os atreveréis | You will dare |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atreverán | They / you will dare |
| Vos | te atreverás | You will dare |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me atreva |
| Tú | te atrevas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atreva |
| Nosotros / as | nos atrevamos |
| Vosotros / as | os atreváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atrevan |
| Vos | te atrevas |
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 atreviera | me atreviese |
| Tú | te atrevieras | me atreviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atreviera | se atreviese |
| Nosotros / as | nos atreviéramos | nos atreviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | os atrevierais | os atrevieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atrevieran | se atreviesen |
| Vos | te atrevieras | me atreviese |
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 atreviere |
| Tú | te atrevieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se atreviere |
| Nosotros / as | nos atreviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | os atreviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se atrevieren |
| Vos | te atrevieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “dare!” and “don’t dare!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | atrévete | no te atrevas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | atrévase | no se atreva |
| Nosotros / as | atrevámonos | no nos atrevamos |
| Vosotros / as | atreveos | no os atreváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | atrévanse | no se atrevan |
| Vos | atrevé | no te atrevas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya atrevido |
| Tú | hayas atrevido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya atrevido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos atrevido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis atrevido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan atrevido |
| Vos | hayas atrevido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera atrevido / hubiese atrevido |
| Tú | hubieras atrevido / hubieses atrevido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera atrevido / hubiese atrevido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos atrevido / hubiésemos atrevido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais atrevido / hubieseis atrevido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran atrevido / hubiesen atrevido |
| Vos | hubieras atrevido / hubieses atrevido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere atrevido |
| Tú | hubieres atrevido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere atrevido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos atrevido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis atrevido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren atrevido |
| Vos | hubieres atrevido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté atreviéndose |
| Tú | estés atreviéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté atreviéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos atreviéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis atreviéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén atreviéndose |
| Vos | estés atreviéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera atreviéndose / estuviese atreviéndose |
| Tú | estuvieras atreviéndose / estuvieses atreviéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera atreviéndose / estuviese atreviéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos atreviéndose / estuviésamos atreviéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais atreviéndose / estuvieseis atreviéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera atreviéndose / estuviese atreviéndose |
| Vos | estuvieras atreviéndose / estuvieses atreviéndose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere atreviéndose |
| Tú | estuvieres atreviéndose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere atreviéndose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos atreviéndose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis atreviéndose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere atreviéndose |
| Vos | estuvieres atreviéndose |
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 atrevés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te atreviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te atrevías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te atreverías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te atreverás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te atrevas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te atrevieras / Vos me atreviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos atrevé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te atrevas |