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Cepillarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to brush oneself”.
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 cepillo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que cepillarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for cepillarse 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 brush oneself |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | cepillarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está cepillándose) and past continuous (estaba cepillándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. brushing one’s hair).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he cepillado and hubiera cepillado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have brushed one’s hair).
| Gerundio / Gerund | cepillándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | cepillado |
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 brush one’s hair” or “they brush one’s hair”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me cepillo |
| Tú | te cepillas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepilla |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepillamos |
| Vosotros / as | os cepilláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillan |
| Vos | te cepillás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I brushed one’s hair” or “she brushed one’s hair” 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 cepillé | I brushed one’s hair |
| Tú | te cepillaste | You brushed one’s hair |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepilló | He / she / you brushed one’s hair |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepillamos | We brushed one’s hair |
| Vosotros / as | os cepillasteis | You brushed one’s hair |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillaron | They / you brushed one’s hair |
| Vos | te cepillaste | You brushed one’s hair |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was brushing one’s hair” or “she was brushing one’s hair” 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 cepillaba | I was brushing one’s hair |
| Tú | te cepillabas | You were brushing one’s hair |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepillaba | He was / she was / you were brushing one’s hair |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepillábamos | We were brushing one’s hair |
| Vosotros / as | os cepillabais | You were brushing one’s hair |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillaban | They / you were brushing one’s hair |
| Vos | te cepillabas | You were brushing one’s hair |
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 brushed one’s hair” and “she has brushed one’s hair”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he cepillado | I have brushed one’s hair |
| Tú | te has cepillado | You have brushed one’s hair |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha cepillado | He has / she has / you have brushed one’s hair |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos cepillado | We have brushed one’s hair |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis cepillado | You have brushed one’s hair |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han cepillado | They / you have brushed one’s hair |
| Vos | te has cepillado | You have brushed one’s hair |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would brush one’s hair” or “she would brush one’s hair”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cepillaría | I would brush one’s hair |
| Tú | te cepillarías | You would brush one’s hair |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepillaría | He / she / you would brush one’s hair |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepillaríamos | We would brush one’s hair |
| Vosotros / as | os cepillaríais | You would brush one’s hair |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillarían | They / you would brush one’s hair |
| Vos | te cepillarías | You would brush one’s hair |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will brush one’s hair” or “they will brush one’s hair”.
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 cepillarse” means “They are going to brush one’s hair”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me cepillaré | I will brush one’s hair |
| Tú | te cepillarás | You will brush one’s hair |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepillará | He / she / you will brush one’s hair |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepillaremos | We will brush one’s hair |
| Vosotros / as | os cepillaréis | You will brush one’s hair |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillarán | They / you will brush one’s hair |
| Vos | te cepillarás | You will brush one’s hair |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me cepille |
| Tú | te cepilles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepille |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepillemos |
| Vosotros / as | os cepilléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillen |
| Vos | te cepilles |
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 cepillara | me cepillase |
| Tú | te cepillaras | me cepillase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepillara | se cepillase |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepilláramos | nos cepillásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os cepillarais | os cepillaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillaran | se cepillasen |
| Vos | te cepillaras | me cepillase |
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 cepillare |
| Tú | te cepillares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se cepillare |
| Nosotros / as | nos cepilláremos |
| Vosotros / as | os cepillareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se cepillaren |
| Vos | te cepillares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “brush one’s hair!” and “don’t brush one’s hair!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cepíllate | no te cepilles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cepíllese | no se cepille |
| Nosotros / as | cepillémonos | no nos cepillemos |
| Vosotros / as | cepillaos | no os cepilléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cepíllense | no se cepillen |
| Vos | cepillate | no te cepilles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya cepillado |
| Tú | hayas cepillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya cepillado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos cepillado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis cepillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan cepillado |
| Vos | hayas cepillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera cepillado / hubiese cepillado |
| Tú | hubieras cepillado / hubieses cepillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera cepillado / hubiese cepillado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos cepillado / hubiésemos cepillado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais cepillado / hubieseis cepillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran cepillado / hubiesen cepillado |
| Vos | hubieras cepillado / hubieses cepillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere cepillado |
| Tú | hubieres cepillado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere cepillado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos cepillado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis cepillado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren cepillado |
| Vos | hubieres cepillado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté cepillándose |
| Tú | estés cepillándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté cepillándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos cepillándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis cepillándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén cepillándose |
| Vos | estés cepillándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera cepillándose / estuviese cepillándose |
| Tú | estuvieras cepillándose / estuvieses cepillándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera cepillándose / estuviese cepillándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos cepillándose / estuviésamos cepillándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais cepillándose / estuvieseis cepillándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera cepillándose / estuviese cepillándose |
| Vos | estuvieras cepillándose / estuvieses cepillándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere cepillándose |
| Tú | estuvieres cepillándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere cepillándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos cepillándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis cepillándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere cepillándose |
| Vos | estuvieres cepillándose |
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 cepillás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te cepillaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te cepillabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te cepillarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te cepillarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te cepilles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te cepillaras / Vos me cepillase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos cepillate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te cepilles |