Sentarse Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Quiz, and PDF

Come sit down for this lesson about the sentarse conjugation! Sentar is an irregular and stem-changing verb that means “to sit”. It is part of the –ar verbs in Spanish such as estar, dar, llegar, and pensar. 

Today, we’ll learn this Spanish conjugación in multiple forms, encompassing three moods:

• indicative mood 
• the subjunctive mood 
• and the imperative mood

Read ahead to find every tense of the sentarse conjugation and examples. 

At the end of the blog post, there is a multiple-choice quiz so you can test your newly acquired knowledge. Also, I am giving you useful information about bilingualism and how to learn Spanish faster.

¡Siéntate conmigo!
Sit with me!

The Ultimate Guide to Sentarse Conjugation

If you are not familiar with the tenses of the sentarse conjugation, don’t worry! I’ve got your back! I am breaking down every single one for you with translations and examples.

You also need to know that this post is designed so you can study it in bite sizes and with a downloadable and printable PDF with charts.  

Sentarse Conjugation: Verbals

For the sentarse verbo, there are two forms of sentarse that you need to learn.

1. Conjugation of haber + past participle of sentarse
2. Conjugation of estar + gerund form of sentarse

The infinitive form of the verb is sentar, sentarse.
The past participle of sentarse is sentado.
The gerund form of sentarse is sentando, sentándose.

These compound tenses involve using the helping verbs haber and estar. The conjugation changes in these tenses happen in the helping verb, while the form of sentarse stays the same. 

Let’s see them in action:

¿Te quieres sentar?
Juan has gone to the bathroom.

Me arrepiento de haberme sentado.
I regret having sat down.

Él se está sentando en la banca.
He is sitting on the bench.

Sentarse: a Reflexive Verb

Sentarse is a reflexive verb. That means that it uses the reflexive pronouns: me, te, se, nos to clarify who is sitting down. Each one responds to a specific pronoun:

• Yo me
• Tú te
• Él, ella, usted se
• Nosotros nos
• Ustedes, ellos se

Sentarse Conjugation: Indicative Mood

The indicative mood has the most basic tenses of the Spanish verb sentarse. By learning the present simple, past simple, future simple, past imperfect, and conditional you will understand basic expressions and conversation with sentarse.

Present simple

The present tense of the sentarse verb is the most common one. The stem changes to sient- in most cases.

Yo siempre me siento al frente.
I always sit upfront.

Nosotros nos sentamos separados cada lunes.
We sit apart every Monday.

Ellas nunca se sientan en orden.
They never sit in order.

The usted sentarse conjugation is the same as in él and ella though it means “you” in a formal way. 

Be careful! The words siento, sientas, sienta, and sientan are also conjugations of the verb sentir that means “to feel”. You can avoid confusing them by double-checking the context. This also happens with the present subjunctive.

Past Simple

In the past tense  —also called preterite tense or pretérito indefinido — the sentarse conjugation doesn’t have a stem change. 

Nosotros nos sentamos separados.
We sat apart.

Usted se sentó dos filas atrás de mí.
You sat two rows behind me.

¿Te sentaste o estuviste parado?
Did you sit or stand?

As you can see, the nosotros conjugation in both past tense and present tense is the same. Once again the only way of telling them apart is to look at the context.

Past Imperfect

“Used to” is the meaning of the past imperfect form.

Yo me sentaba en la última fila.
I used to sit in the last row.

Ustedes se sentaban afuera de la escuela.
You used to sit outside the school.

Él se sentaba junto a mí en misa.
He used to sit next to me at mass.

In the past imperfect tense the sentarse conjugation for yo and él, ella, usted, is the same.

Future Simple

In the future tense, the stem stays the same and every conjugación starts with sent-, they all translate to “will sit”.

Yo me sentaré en el sillón.
I will sit on the couch.

Tú te sentarás en donde yo diga.
You will sit where I say.

Nosotros nos sentaremos donde encontremos lugar.
We will sit where we find a spot.

Conditional

In the conditional form of the verb sentarse, the stem stays the same and the translation to English is “would sit”.

Usted se sentaría en la sala si pudiera.
You would sit in the living room if you could.

Ustedes se sentarían en donde sea.
You would sit anywhere.

Ellos se sentarían si pudieran.
They would sit if they could.

Sentarse Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

We use the subjunctive mood to talk about hypotheses, hopes, wishes, or uncertainty. This is a more advanced mode of the Spanish verb sentarse. The forms of this mood are the present, past, past perfect, and future subjunctive. The latter one is rarely used, so I did not include it in this lesson.

Present Subjunctive

El que tú te sientes aquí no me afecta.
The fact that you sit here, does not affect me. 

Lo que quiero es que nos sentemos en otro lado.
What I want is for us to leave early.

El que ustedes se sienten donde quieran, desordena todo.
The fact that you sit down wherever you want, messes everything up.

Past Subjunctive

Si yo me sentara, estaría más cómoda.
If I sat down, I would be more comfortable.

Sería mejor que usted se sentase aquí.
It would be better if you sat here.

Me gustaría que todos ustedes se sentaran.
I would like it if all of you sat down.

Past Perfect Subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive is also known as el pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo (pluperfect subjunctive) in Spanish, believe it or not. But don’t let the name scare you! It is used to explain past hypothetical situations that precede hypothetical outcomes. They often sound like a form of regret or scolding. 

For the past perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the sentarse verb.

Yo me hubiese sentado aquí pero está ocupado.
I would have sat here but it is occupied.

Ella se hubiera sentado si hubiera podido.
She would have sat if you could.

Usted se hubiese sentado adelante si eso quería.
You would have sat upfront if you wanted to.

Si te hubieses sentado desde que llegaste, no estarías cansado. 
If you had sat down since you got here, you wouldn’t be tired.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

In the present perfect subjunctive or pretérito perfecto del subjuntivo, you can perceive connections from past actions to the present. They still have an effect today although they could have happened a long time ago.

For the perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the sentarse verb.

¿No te importa que yo me haya sentado en la única silla?
Do you mind that I sat in the only chair?

Me alegra que te hayas sentado en mi mesa.
I am glad you sat at my table.

El que ustedes no se hayan sentado conmigo me enoja.
The fact that you didn’t sit with me angers me.

El que nosotros nos hayamos sentado lejos de ustedes no es a propósito.
The fact that we have sat far from you isn’t on purpose.  

Sentarse Conjugation: Imperative Mood

We use the imperative mood to give orders or commands. 

¡Siéntate ahora mismo!
Sit down right now! 

¡No se sienten en las sillas nuevas!
Do not go out without me.

¡Sentémonos antes de que nos ganen el lugar! 
Let’s sit down before they beat us to the spot!

The ustedes and usted sentarse conjugations are used as a formal command. It may sound a bit weird to give orders to someone that belongs to a higher hierarchy or that is older or that deserves a lot of respect. But imagine a scenario where you can save a person’s life or serve any high purpose by having them seated down. The rest of the imperative mood conjugations are meant to be an informal command. 

The imperative mood emphasizes the verb, as the sentence normally starts with it unless it is a negative form. In these cases, the reflexive pronoun sometimes adds to the verb at the end:

Sentémonos instead of nos sentamos. It is possible to keep the reflexive pronoun detached at the beginning but you need to give it an imperative voice with exclamation marks: te afeitas versus ¡te afeitas!  

Now, it’s time to practice what we’ve covered!

Sentarse Conjugation Exercises

To test with your newfound knowledge of sentarse conjugation, practice using the following exercises!

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Nicole Canún

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Blogger, content creator, and marketer. Proudly Mexican. Been to 30 countries. I love learning from different cultures and trying their cuisines. Obsessed with Asia. Fluent in Spanish and English, not so much in French.

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