Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like despertarse, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).
Despertarse (dehs-pehr-tahr-seh) (to wake oneself up) is a stem-changing reflexive -ar verb; in the present tense, it has an e-to-ie stem change in all but the nosotros and vosotros forms. Remember that reflexive verbs require reflexive pronouns. Here’s the present tense conjugation:
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo me despierto | I wake up |
| tú te despiertas | You (informal) wake up |
| él/ella/ello/uno se despierta | He/she/one wakes up |
| usted se despierta | You (formal) wake up |
| nosotros nos despertamos | We wake up |
| vosotros os despertáis | You all (informal) wake up |
| ellos/ellas se despiertan | They wake up |
| ustedes se despiertan | You all (formal) wake up |
The following examples show you despertarse in action:
Él se despierta a las siete de la mañana todos los días. (He wakes [himself] up at 7 a.m. every day.)
¿Se despiertan ellos a tiempo? (Do they wake up on time?)
Need to know how to conjugate despertarse in another tense? The following tables show you the preterit, imperfect, and future forms.
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo me desperté | I woke up |
| tú te despertaste | You (informal) woke up |
| él/ella/ello/uno se despertó | He/she/one woke up |
| usted se despertó | You (formal) woke up |
| nosotros nos despertamos | We woke up |
| vosotros os despertasteis | You all (informal) woke up |
| ellos/ellas se despertaron | They woke up |
| ustedes se despertaron | You all (formal) woke up |
You use the preterit tense like this:
¿Te despertaste temprano? (Did you wake up early?)
Sí. Me desperté temprano y estaba lloviendo. (Yes. I did wake up early, and it was raining.)
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo me despertaba | I used to wake up |
| tú te despertabas | You (informal) used to wake up |
| él/ella/ello/uno se despertaba | He/she/one used to wake up |
| usted se despertaba | You (formal) used to wake up |
| nosotros nos despertábamos | We used to wake up |
| vosotros os despertabais | You all (informal) used to wake up |
| ellos/ellas se despertaban | They used to wake up |
| ustedes se despertaban | You all (formal) used to wake up |
Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:
Mis amigos se despertaban cantando. (My friendo used to get up singing.)
Me despertaba cada mañana a la misma hora. (I used to wake up every morning at the same time.)
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo me despertaré | I will wake up |
| tú te despertarás | You (informal) will wake up |
| él/ella/ello/uno se despertará | He/she/one will wake up |
| usted se despertará | You (formal) will wake up |
| nosotros nos despertaremos | We will wake up |
| vosotros os despertaréis | You all (informal) will wake up |
| ellos/ellas se despertarán | They will wake up |
| ustedes se despertarán | You all (formal) will wake up |
The following samples put the future tense to work:
¿Se despertarán ustedes a las siete de la mañana? (Will you wake up at seven in the morning?)
Sí. Nos despertaremos a las siete. (Yes. We will get up at seven.)