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What will the sheep count?:

Conjugation of the verb Dormir

The perfect time of each day for many people, no matter if you are someone who takes afternoon naps, sleeps a lot at night, or are the rare 5% of the population that gets less than 5 hours of rest at any time of the day and wake up ready to face the world; we all enjoy sleeping after a long day of work. And although the word Dormir applies to that “natural temporary state of rest during which an individual becomes physically inactive”, to learn its conjugations we need to be wide awake, are you active?

Dormir, another member of the Irregular family

Let’s do a brief review on what this means: it is considered an irregular verb the one that must change in (almost) each case in order to conjugate, and as the verb Dormir loves to have several versions of itself depending on the occasion, it is a member of this beloved little group.

This verb may seem a bit complicated, but after the progress you make everyday by learning Spanish, it will be very easy to learn all about the moment when we get to count sheep.

Sleeping Beauty verbals

Verbals are words that decided to stop being verbs, and need other words in order to be used. No matter the person, tense, number, these words will remain the same (hooray!). The verb Dormir has three verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. Let’s move on to the examples:

VerbalCommon UseExampleEnglish
Infinitivodormir (to sleep / sleeping)Non conjugated
/ Noun
Dormir me hace felizSleeping makes me happy
Gerunddurmiendo (sleeping)AdverbEstuve durmiendo con mi perroI was sleeping with my dog
Participedormido (asleep)AdjectiveMe quedé dormido en claseI fell asleep in class

Let’s get down to business: conjugate

One of the infallible and classic methods that exist to learn how to conjugate the verb Dormir is to memorize the ways in which it is conjugated, as there are several cases. However, native Spanish speakers don’t memorize these conjugations, they use them! Many Spanish teachers, and I include myself, strongly recommend having practical exercises with real conversations to obtain “naturalness” in the way of speaking

Dormir Conjugation: Indicative Mood

You have to take into account the focus that is used when a person is speaking, what the verb or phrase is saying in general, and the most common focus in Spanish is the indicative mood. Although less common, don’t forget that the auxiliary verb Haber (to have) is an important part of its compound tenses!

Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood
SubjectPresentPreteriteImperfectConditionalFuture
(sleep)(slept)(slept)(would sleep)(will sleep)
yoduermodormídormíadormiríadormiré
duermesdormistedormíasdormiríasdormirás
él/ella/ustedduermesdurmiódormíadormiríadormirá
nosotrosdormimosdormimosdormíamosdormiríamosdormiremos
ellos/ellas/ustedes

duermendurmierondormíandormiríandormirán

Some examples:

Anoche dormiste muy bien luego de bañarte – You slept very well last night after taking a bath.

Nosotros dormiremos más tranquilos luego de terminar los exámenes finales – We will sleep more soundly after finishing our final exams.

Saber Conjugation: Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood

SubjectPresent PerfectPast Perfect (pluperfect)Past PluperfectConditionalFuture Perfect
(have/has sleep)(had slept)(had slept)(would have sleep)(will have sleep)
yohe dormidohube dormidohabía dormidohabría dormidohabré dormido
has dormidohubiste dormidohabía dormidohabrías dormidohabrás dormido
él/ella/ustedha dormidohubo dormidohabía dormidohabría dormidohabrá dormido
nosotroshemos dormidohubimos dormidohabíamos dormidohabríamos dormidohabremos dormido
ellos/ellas/ustedeshan dormidohubieron dormidohabían dormidohabrían dormidohabrán dormido

Dormir Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

With this mood, we hypothesize or express our wishes. The number of verb tenses is reduced, being divided equally into simple and compound.

Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

SubjectPresentImperfectImperfect 2Future
yoduermadurmieradurmiesedurmiere
duermasdurmierasdurmiesesdurmieres
él/ella/ustedduermadurmieradurmiesedurmiere
nosotrosdurmamosduermiéramosdurmiésemosdurmiéremos
ellos/ellas/ustedesduermandurmierandurmiesendurmieren

More examples:

Tienes que dejar el perro fuera para que durmamos tranquilos – You have to leave the dog outside so that we can sleep peacefully.

Si durmiese en otra cama, descansaría mejor – If I slept in another bed, I would rest better.

Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

SubjectPresentImperfectImperfect 2Future
yohaya dormidohubiera dormidohubiese dormidohubiere dormido
hayas dormidohubieras dormidohubieses dormidohubieres dormido
él/ella/ustedhaya dormidohubiera dormidohubiese dormidohubiere dormido
nosotroshayamos dormidohubiéramos dormidohubiésemos dormidohubiéremos dormido
ellos/ellas/ustedeshayan dormidohubieran dormidohubiesen dormidohubieren dormido

Dormir Conjugation: Imperative Mood

We enter the last mood you are going to memorize, with fewer subjects to learn (fortunately): the bossy (or Imperative) mood. With this conjugation, you can express orders. And since you can’t order yourself or a third party, you will only learn 3 persons and 1 verb tense. Possible uses of the Imperative mood? Children, pets, or that roommate who won’t stop eating your stuff.

Imperative Mood’s Conjugations

SubjectAffirmativeNegative
(sleep / let's sleep)(don't sleep / let's not sleep)
duermeno duermas
nosotrosdurmamosno durmamos
ustedesduermanno duermas

Examples:

No duermas hasta que termines de estudiar – Don’t sleep until you finish studying.

Ustedes duerman en la habitación, nosotros durmamos en la sala – You sleep in the bedroom, we sleep in the living room.

Spanish Verb Dormir – Quiz/Worksheet

As I mentioned before, practicing will be your best ally in mastering Spanish, and since our goal is to help you, we will leave you some sentences to review what we have learned in this lesson. Fill in the correct conjugation in the spaces below:

1. Mi gato _________ todo el día. (My cat sleeps all day)

2.Yo no _________ con mis hermanos. (I don’t sleep with my siblings)

3.No pude _________ bien anoche, estoy nervioso por la consulta médica. (I couldn’t sleep well last night, I’m nervous about the doctor’s appointment)

4.Con estas pastillas, tu abuela _________ mejor. (Your grandmother will sleep better with these pills)

5.El sábado mis amigas y yo _________ juntas, tendremos una pijamada. (On Saturday my girlfriends and I will sleep together, we’re having a sleepover)

6.No _________ sin cenar. (Don’t sleep without dinner)

7.Nosotros _________ en la otra habitación. (Let’s sleep in the other room)

8.Anoche _________ juntos, pero te quedaste despierto jugando videojuegos. (Last night we would have slept together, but you stayed up playing video games)

9.Yo _________ tranquilo si dejara el café por las noches. (I would sleep peacefully if I gave up coffee at night)

10.Ella no _________ bien anoche porque estaba preocupada por su novio. (She didn’t sleep well last night because she was worried about her boyfriend)

 

Answers

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1.Duerme

2.Duermo

3.Dormir

4.Dormirá

5.Dormiremos

6.Duermas

7.Durmamos

8.Hubiésemos dormido

 

 

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