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Esforzarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to try hard, make an effort, do one,s best”.
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 esforzo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que esforzarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for esforzarse 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 try hard, make an effort, do one,s best |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | esforzarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está esforzándose) and past continuous (estaba esforzándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. trying hard).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he esforzado and hubiera esforzado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have tried hard).
| Gerundio / Gerund | esforzándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | esforzado |
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 try hard” or “they try hard”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esforzo |
| Tú | te esforzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforza |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzamos |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzan |
| Vos | te esforzás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I tried hard” or “she tried hard” 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 esforcé | I tried hard |
| Tú | te esforzaste | You tried hard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforzó | He / she / you tried hard |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzamos | We tried hard |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzasteis | You tried hard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzaron | They / you tried hard |
| Vos | te esforzaste | You tried hard |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was trying hard” or “she was trying hard” 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 esforzaba | I was trying hard |
| Tú | te esforzabas | You were trying hard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforzaba | He was / she was / you were trying hard |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzábamos | We were trying hard |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzabais | You were trying hard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzaban | They / you were trying hard |
| Vos | te esforzabas | You were trying hard |
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 tried hard” and “she has tried hard”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he esforzado | I have tried hard |
| Tú | te has esforzado | You have tried hard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha esforzado | He has / she has / you have tried hard |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos esforzado | We have tried hard |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis esforzado | You have tried hard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han esforzado | They / you have tried hard |
| Vos | te has esforzado | You have tried hard |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would try hard” or “she would try hard”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esforzaría | I would try hard |
| Tú | te esforzarías | You would try hard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforzaría | He / she / you would try hard |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzaríamos | We would try hard |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzaríais | You would try hard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzarían | They / you would try hard |
| Vos | te esforzarías | You would try hard |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will try hard” or “they will try hard”.
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 esforzarse” means “They are going to try hard”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me esforzaré | I will try hard |
| Tú | te esforzarás | You will try hard |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforzará | He / she / you will try hard |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzaremos | We will try hard |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzaréis | You will try hard |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzarán | They / you will try hard |
| Vos | te esforzarás | You will try hard |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me esforce |
| Tú | te esforces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforce |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforcemos |
| Vosotros / as | os esforcéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforcen |
| Vos | te esforces |
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 esforzara | me esforzase |
| Tú | te esforzaras | me esforzase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforzara | se esforzase |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzáramos | nos esforzásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzarais | os esforzaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzaran | se esforzasen |
| Vos | te esforzaras | me esforzase |
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 esforzare |
| Tú | te esforzares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se esforzare |
| Nosotros / as | nos esforzáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os esforzareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se esforzaren |
| Vos | te esforzares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “try hard!” and “don’t try hard!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | esfórzate | no te esforces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esfórcese | no se esforce |
| Nosotros / as | esforcémonos | no nos esforcemos |
| Vosotros / as | esforzaos | no os esforcéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | esfórcense | no se esforcen |
| Vos | esforzate | no te esforces |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya esforzado |
| Tú | hayas esforzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya esforzado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos esforzado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis esforzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan esforzado |
| Vos | hayas esforzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera esforzado / hubiese esforzado |
| Tú | hubieras esforzado / hubieses esforzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera esforzado / hubiese esforzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos esforzado / hubiésemos esforzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais esforzado / hubieseis esforzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran esforzado / hubiesen esforzado |
| Vos | hubieras esforzado / hubieses esforzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere esforzado |
| Tú | hubieres esforzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere esforzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos esforzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis esforzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren esforzado |
| Vos | hubieres esforzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté esforzándose |
| Tú | estés esforzándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté esforzándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos esforzándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis esforzándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén esforzándose |
| Vos | estés esforzándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera esforzándose / estuviese esforzándose |
| Tú | estuvieras esforzándose / estuvieses esforzándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera esforzándose / estuviese esforzándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos esforzándose / estuviésamos esforzándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais esforzándose / estuvieseis esforzándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera esforzándose / estuviese esforzándose |
| Vos | estuvieras esforzándose / estuvieses esforzándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere esforzándose |
| Tú | estuvieres esforzándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere esforzándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos esforzándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis esforzándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere esforzándose |
| Vos | estuvieres esforzándose |
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 esforzás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te esforzaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te esforzabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te esforzarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te esforzarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te esforces |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te esforzaras / Vos me esforzase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos esforzate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te esforces |