Vestirse según la ocasión – Conjugation of the Spanish Verb “Vestirse”
When learning a new language, it is important to be able to talk about our daily life activities, such as eating, waking up, going to work, taking a shower, etc. Vestirse is one of those verbs we cannot ignore when learning how to talk about our daily routine, since it means “to get dressed, to put on clothes”.
What we first have to know is that Vestirse is a reflexive verb, meaning that is one of those actions that you do for and to yourself. You can also identify a reflexive verb because they always end with -se at the end of the infinitive form.
It is crucial to understand that a reflexive verb reflects back to the subject who is doing the action; therefore, if we omit the -se and the end of the verb, we would be talking about a slightly different action. Take a look at these two sentences above:
- Yo me visto de la misma manera todos los días. (English = I dress the same way every day.)
- Yo visto a mi muñeca todos los días. (English = I dress my doll every day.)
In the first sentence, you’re the one who is doing the action for yourself, since you’re the one who’s putting your clothes on your own body. Yet, in the second sentence you’re doing the action for someone else, in this case for your doll. In the first sentence we’re using a reflective verb, and in the second one we don’t need it since the verb is no longer reflecting back to the subject Yo = I.
With that being said, let’s take a look at the conjugation of this verb in the indicative mood:
Vestirse Conjugation: Present Tense
| Subject | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Yo | me visto |
| Tú | te vistes |
| Él/Ella/Usted | se viste |
| Nosotros | nos vestimos |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | se visten |
We can observe that for every subject we have a different verb conjugation with a different reflexive pronoun. For the conjugation of this verb, we have four different reflexive pronouns:
- me
- te
- se
- nos
When talking about the infinitive form of this verb, you have to use these pronouns according to the subject:
Vestirse (Impersonal Infinitive Mood)
- Vestirme (Yo)
- Vestirte (Tú)
- Vestirse (Él/Ella/Usted)
- Vestirnos (Nosotros)
- Vestirse (Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes)
You can think of these reflexive pronouns as if you were saying “myself, yourself, himself, etc.” For instance: vestirme = to dress myself, vestirte = to dress yourself.
Therefore, we will always need a reflexive pronoun when conjugating a reflexive verb. Both the verb conjugation and the reflexive pronoun match the subject. We can observe this with the conjugation of Vestirse in other tenses:
Irregular forms of the Spanish verb Vestirse are Present Tense (Yo, Tú, Él/Ella/Usted, Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes), Preterite (Él/Ella/Usted, Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes)
| Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | me visto | me vestí | me vestía | me vestiría | me vestiré |
| Tú | te vistes | te vestiste | te vestías | te vestirías | te vestirás |
| Él/Ella/Usted | se viste | se vistió | se vestía | se vestiría | se vestirá |
| se vestirá | Nosotros | nos vestimos | nos vestíamos | nos vestiríamos | nos vestiremos |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | se visten | se vistieron | se vestían | se vestirían | se vestirán |
Examples
-
Yo me vestiré de blanco para el evento. (English = I will dress in white for the event.)
-
Laura (Ella) se vistió apresuradamente para poder llegar a tiempo. (English = Laura got dressed hurriedly to be able to arrive on time).
-
Nosotros nos vestíamos con uniforme para ir a la escuela. (English = We dressed in uniform to go to school).
The one and only… The Subjunctive Mood
When you want to express any wish or desire, the subjunctive mood will be your best ally. Let’s take a look at the conjugation of this useful mood:
Subjunctive Form
| Present | Imperfect | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | me vista | me vistiera, me vistiese | me vistiere |
| Tú | te vistas | te vistieras, te vistieses | te vistieres |
| Él/Ella/Usted | se vista | se vistiera, se vistiese | se vistiere |
| Nosotros | nos vistamos | nos vistiéramos, nos vistiésemos | nos vistiéremos |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | se vistan | se vistieran, se vistiesen | se vistieren |
Examples:
- Mi mamá quiere que yo me vista como ella cuando era joven. (English = My mom wants me to dress like her when she was young).
- Te pedí que te vistieras para salir a cenar. (English = I asked you to get dressed to go out to dinner).
- Es importante que usted se vista según el código de vestimenta. (English = It is important that you dress according to the dress code).
Imperative Mood of Vestirse
Another common way to use Vestirse is with the Imperative mood which is used to give orders to somebody. You can imagine using the imperative mood of Vestirse when you want somebody to get dressed fastly or for some special occasion. For instance, to go to have dinner with somebody, where you want your guest to get dressed the best he or she can 😉
Imperative
| Afirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | vístete | no te vistas |
| Usted | vístase | no se vista |
| Nosotros | vistámonos | no nos vistamos |
| Ustedes | vístanse | no se vistan |
Examples:
- Vístete para ir a la boda. (English = Dress up to go to the wedding).
- No se vistan con ropa de invierno para ir a Hawái. (English = Don’t dress in winter clothes to go to Hawaii).
- Vístase con el uniforme de la empresa. (English = Dress in the company uniform).
Okay! Enough said… Let’s get into a little bit of practice! Yay!
Vestirse – Quiz/Worksheet
Instruction: Fill in the blanks with the correct conjugation of the verb Vestirse.
1. ¡Siempre_____________de la misma forma! (You always dress the same way!).
2. A Susana le gusta_____________de amarillo. (Susana likes to dress in yellow).
3. Cuando iba a la primaria, yo_____________sin ayuda de nadie todos los días. (When I was in elementary school, I would get dressed without anyone’s help every day).
4. Mi papá_____________de payaso para mi fiesta de cumpleaños. (My dad dressed up as a clown for my birthday party).
5. De ahora en adelante, mis hijos_____________por su cuenta. (From now on, my children will dress themselves).
6. Me gustaría que_____________ un poco más formal. (I wish you would dress a little more formal).
7. El director nos pidió que_____________de blanco para asistir a la ceremonia. (The principal asked us to dress in white to attend the ceremony).
8. ¡_____________de una vez! (Dress up at once!).
Answers to the quiz.
1. te vistes
2. vestirse
3. me vestía
4. se vistió
5. se vestirán
6. te vistieras/te vistieses
7. nos vistiéramos/nos vistiésemos
8. vístete
So, that’s it for now regarding this verb. Remember that practice makes perfect, so what are you waiting for? Book a lesson with us to put everything you’ve just learned into practice! We hope you now have a better and deeper understanding of this verb and that you can get dressed more smoothly in Spanish! See you next time.
P.S. Can you guess what the title of this article means? If you said, “Dress according to the occasion” you are on the right track!
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