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Divorciarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to get divorced, separate”.
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 divorcio) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que divorciarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for divorciarse 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 get divorced, separate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | divorciarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está divorciándose) and past continuous (estaba divorciándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. getting divorced).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he divorciado and hubiera divorciado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have gotten divorced).
| Gerundio / Gerund | divorciándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | divorciado |
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 get divorced” or “they get divorced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me divorcio |
| Tú | te divorcias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorcia |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciamos |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorcian |
| Vos | te divorciás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I got divorced” or “she got divorced” 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 divorcié | I got divorced |
| Tú | te divorciaste | You got divorced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorció | He / she / you got divorced |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciamos | We got divorced |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciasteis | You got divorced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorciaron | They / you got divorced |
| Vos | te divorciaste | You got divorced |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was getting divorced” or “she was getting divorced” 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 divorciaba | I was getting divorced |
| Tú | te divorciabas | You were getting divorced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorciaba | He was / she was / you were getting divorced |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciábamos | We were getting divorced |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciabais | You were getting divorced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorciaban | They / you were getting divorced |
| Vos | te divorciabas | You were getting divorced |
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 gotten divorced” and “she has gotten divorced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he divorciado | I have gotten divorced |
| Tú | te has divorciado | You have gotten divorced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha divorciado | He has / she has / you have gotten divorced |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos divorciado | We have gotten divorced |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis divorciado | You have gotten divorced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han divorciado | They / you have gotten divorced |
| Vos | te has divorciado | You have gotten divorced |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would get divorced” or “she would get divorced”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me divorciaría | I would get divorced |
| Tú | te divorciarías | You would get divorced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorciaría | He / she / you would get divorced |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciaríamos | We would get divorced |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciaríais | You would get divorced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorciarían | They / you would get divorced |
| Vos | te divorciarías | You would get divorced |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will get divorced” or “they will get divorced”.
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 divorciarse” means “They are going to get divorced”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me divorciaré | I will get divorced |
| Tú | te divorciarás | You will get divorced |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorciará | He / she / you will get divorced |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciaremos | We will get divorced |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciaréis | You will get divorced |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorciarán | They / you will get divorced |
| Vos | te divorciarás | You will get divorced |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me divorcie |
| Tú | te divorcies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorcie |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciemos |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorcien |
| Vos | te divorcies |
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 divorciara | me divorciase |
| Tú | te divorciaras | me divorciase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorciara | se divorciase |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciáramos | nos divorciásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciarais | os divorciaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorciaran | se divorciasen |
| Vos | te divorciaras | me divorciase |
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 divorciare |
| Tú | te divorciares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se divorciare |
| Nosotros / as | nos divorciáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os divorciareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se divorciaren |
| Vos | te divorciares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “get divorced!” and “don’t get divorced!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | divorciate | no te divorcies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | divorciese | no se divorcie |
| Nosotros / as | divorciémonos | no nos divorciemos |
| Vosotros / as | divorciaos | no os divorciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | divorciense | no se divorcien |
| Vos | divorciate | no te divorcies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya divorciado |
| Tú | hayas divorciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya divorciado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos divorciado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis divorciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan divorciado |
| Vos | hayas divorciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera divorciado / hubiese divorciado |
| Tú | hubieras divorciado / hubieses divorciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera divorciado / hubiese divorciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos divorciado / hubiésemos divorciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais divorciado / hubieseis divorciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran divorciado / hubiesen divorciado |
| Vos | hubieras divorciado / hubieses divorciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere divorciado |
| Tú | hubieres divorciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere divorciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos divorciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis divorciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren divorciado |
| Vos | hubieres divorciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté divorciándose |
| Tú | estés divorciándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté divorciándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos divorciándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis divorciándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén divorciándose |
| Vos | estés divorciándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera divorciándose / estuviese divorciándose |
| Tú | estuvieras divorciándose / estuvieses divorciándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera divorciándose / estuviese divorciándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos divorciándose / estuviésamos divorciándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais divorciándose / estuvieseis divorciándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera divorciándose / estuviese divorciándose |
| Vos | estuvieras divorciándose / estuvieses divorciándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere divorciándose |
| Tú | estuvieres divorciándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere divorciándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos divorciándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis divorciándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere divorciándose |
| Vos | estuvieres divorciándose |
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 divorciás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te divorciaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te divorciabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te divorciarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te divorciarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te divorcies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te divorciaras / Vos me divorciase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos divorciate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te divorcies |