What’s your favorite piece of clothing? Do you love or hate shopping for new clothes? Are you a fashion expert? Whatever your answer to these questions, clothes are a part of our daily lives. That is why we’ll be focusing on the conjugation of the verb “vestir” or “to dress/get (someone) dressed” or “to wear” in Spanish.
Below, we’ll go over the vestir conjugation. We’ll start you off easy, just like your parents did when teaching you how to get dressed. We’ll also include some extra information at the end of the article. Are you ready to find the perfect style?
What kind of verb is vestir?
Just in case, we should note that vestir always refers to the “put your clothes on” meaning of the verb “to dress.” We are not dressing any salads here.
Vestir is an irregular verb, as it does not follow the usual pattern for Spanish verbs ending in “-ir.” To be more exact, vestir is a stem-changing verb, just like conseguir or servir, as only the last vowel of the stem tends to change. In some forms of the verb vestir, the “e” in “ves” changes to “i.”
You can take a deeper look at stem-changing verbs in this article.
Another thing to note about vestir is that the verb also has a reflexive conjugation: “vestirse.” What does this mean? Well, reflexive verbs are those that require a self-referential pronoun. This self-referential pronoun is one where the subject of the verb and the pronoun are the same. Tricky, we know. Let’s take a look at an example below.
- Mi sobrino viste a su muñeca. (My nephew dresses his doll.)
- Mi sobrino se viste solo. (My nephew dresses himself.)
In the first sentence, a person is dressing a doll. In the second one, the dressing is done to oneself. You’ll find a detailed explanation here if you are still unsure about reflexive verbs.
Verbals of vestir: infinitive, gerund and participle
Now that we’ve covered what type of verb vestir is, let’s dig into its conjugation. We’ll start by looking at its verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. Verbals function as nouns, adjectives and adverbs instead of as actual verbs. This may sound complicated, but once you go over the examples below, you’ll see that you’re up to an easy start with the vestir conjugation.
Infinitive
Vestir (to dress/get [someone] dressed/wear)
- Vamos a vestir a los niños. (Let’s get the children dressed.)
Gerund
Vistiendo (dressing/getting dressed/wearing)
- Estaba vistiendo un traje rosa. (He/She was wearing a pink suit.)
Participle
Vestido (dressed/gotten dressed)
- Si la hubieses vestido antes, no llegaríamos tarde. (Had you dressed her sooner, we wouldn’t be running late.)
Extra meaning alert
It’s worth noting that the word “vestido” has another meaning in Spanish. It works as a noun that refers to the item of clothing called “dress.” Quite similar to English here, right?
Vestir conjugation for all levels
Velcro shoes: vestir conjugation for beginners
Ready to learn how to get dressed on your own? There are ten tenses in the indicative mood in the Spanish language. In this section, we’ll go over the most common and simplest forms for the vestir conjugation: presente (present), pretérito imperfecto (imperfect preterite, a form of the past tense), pretérito perfecto (perfect preterite, another form of the past tense) and futuro (future).
We’ve also added a column for the self-referential pronoun, so you know how to form the reflexive version of vestir.
| Subject | Self-referential pronoun | Present | Imperfect Preterite | Perfect Preterite | Future |
| Yo (I) | me | visto | vestía | vestí | vestiré |
| Tu (You) Vos (Latin America) |
te | vistes
vestís |
vestías | vestiste | vestirás |
| Usted (You, formal)
El/Ella (He/She/It) |
se | viste | vestía | vistió | vestirá |
| Nosotros (We) | nos | vestimos | vestíamos | vestimos | vestiremos |
| Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America) |
os
se |
vestís
visten |
vestíais
vestían |
vestisteis
vistieron |
vestiréis
vestirán |
| Ellos (Them) | se | visten | vestían | vistieron | vestirán |
Vestir conjugation examples for beginners
- Present: Hoy viste de gala. (He/She’s wearing his/her best today.)
- Imperfect preterite: ¿Se vestían solos? (Did they use to dress themselves?)
- Perfect preterite: Se vistieron a las apuradas. (They got dressed in a rush.)
- Future: Para la fiesta vestiré una pollera de encaje. (I’ll wear a lace skirt to the party.)
Extra meaning alert
We should point out that the verb vestir shares some conjugation with the verb ver (to see). These include “viste” and “viste.” Review the ver conjugation in this article.
Tying your shoelaces: vestir conjugation for intermediate students
It’s time to take your dressing skills to the next level. In this section, we’ll focus on the compound tenses of the vestir conjugation in the indicative mood.
The trick to learning compound tenses in Spanish is mastering the haber conjugation. The only form of vestir that is used here is the participle “vestido.” Compound tenses in Spanish are formed with the correct form of the verb haber + the past participle of the verb in question (i.e., vestido), which is the one that carries the meaning.
Below you’ll find the pretérito perfecto (preterite perfect), pluscuamperfecto (pluperfect) and futuro compuesto (future perfect) tenses for vestir. You can also look at our haber conjugation article for some extra help.
| Subject | Self-
referential pronoun |
Preterite Perfect | Pluperfect | Future Perfect |
| Yo (I) | me | he vestido | había vestido | habré vestido |
| Tu/Vos (You) | te | has vestido | habías vestido | habrás vestido |
| Usted (You, formal)
El/Ella (He/She/It) |
se | ha vestido | había vestido | habrá vestido |
| Nosotros (We) | nos | hemos vestido | habíamos vestido | habremos vestido |
| Vosotros (You, plural)
Ustedes (Latin America) |
os
se |
habéis vestido
han vestido |
habíais vestido
habían vestido |
habréis vestido
habrán vestido |
| Ellos (Them) | se | han vestido | habían vestido | habrán vestido |
Vestir conjugation examples for intermediate level
- Preterite perfect: ¡No se han vestido todavía! (They haven’t gotten dressed yet!)
- Pluperfect: Te habías vestido de color rojo. (You had dressed in red.)
- Future perfect: ¿Ya se habrá vestido? (Will she/he have gotten dressed by now?)
Your first lace-up boots: vestir conjugation for advanced learners
It’s time to hit the catwalk! In this section, we’ll kick things up a notch by covering the subjunctive mood. This Spanish mood is rather abstract; it is used to express doubts, emotions, desires, and the unknown. Below, we’ll look at its presente (present), imperfecto (imperfect) and futuro (future) tenses for the vestir conjugation.
| Subject | Self-
referential pronoun |
Present | Imperfect | Future |
| Yo (I) | me | vista | vistiera o vistiese | vistiere |
| Tu (You)
Vos (Latin America) |
te | vistas | vistieras o vistieses | vistieres |
| Usted (You, formal)
El/Ella (He/She/It) |
se | vista | vistiera o vistiese | vistiere |
| Nosotros (We) | nos | vistamos | vistiéramos o vistiésemos | vistiéremos |
| Vosotros (You, plural)
Ustedes (Latin America) |
os
se |
vistáis
vistan |
vistierais o vistieseis
vistieran o vistiesen |
vistiereis
vistieren |
| Ellos (Them) | se | vistan | vistieran o vistiesen | vistieren |
- Present: ¡Qué vistan lo que quieran! (Let them wear whatever they want!)
- Imperfect: Si Julio se vistiese mejor, no lo hubiesen echado. (If Julie dressed himself better, he wouldn’t have been fired.)
The subjunctive future is rarely used in speech nowadays, and you are more likely to find it in literature or legal contexts. That is why we haven’t added a conjugation example for the vestir subjunctive future here. However, we still think it’s good for you to know it exists and what it looks like.
Extra meaning alert
The verb vestir sure has its fair share of multiple meanings. Did you know “vista” can be a conjugation or the verb or a noun meaning “view”? And “vistas” the plural “views”?
Extra vestir conjugation: conditional tenses and imperative
If you are aiming for Paris fashion week, we have some more tenses for you. In this section, we’ll look into the condicional simple (simple conditional), the condicional compuesto (conditional perfect), and the imperative.
Regarding the imperative, the self-referential pronoun comes after the verb as a part of it. Don’t worry; we’ll see an example after the table.
| Subject | Self-
referential pronoun |
Simple Conditional | Conditional Perfect | Imperative |
| Yo (I) | me | vestiría | habría vestido | |
| Tu (You)
Vos (Latin America) |
te | vestirías | habrías vestido | ¡viste! |
| Usted (You, formal)
El/Ella (He/She/It) |
se | vestiría | habría vestido | ¡vista! |
| Nosotros (We) | nos | vestiríamos | habríamos vestido | ¡vistamos! |
| Vosotros (You, plural)
Ustedes (Latin America) |
os
se |
vestiríais
vestirían |
habríais vestido
habrían vestido |
¡vestid!
¡vistan! |
| Ellos (Them) | se | vestirían | habrían vestido | ¡vistan! |
- Simple conditional: Si estuviese de luto, vestiría de negro. (If he/she were in mourning, he/she’d be dressed in black.)
- Conditional perfect: Si hubiese sabido, habría vestido al bebé. (Had I known, I would’ve gotten the baby dressed.)
- Imperative: ¡Vistete ya! (Get dressed now!)
If you want more information on conditional tenses, check out this article.
Bonus verbs: getting dressed and undressed
Spanish has several verbs when it comes to getting dressed (and undressed). We’ll take a look at these below.
Ponerse (to put sth on)
This verb can mean “putting (something) on.” Let’s see at a couple of examples:
- Se puso medias de lana. (He/She put on woolen socks.)
- Nos pusimos el mismo vestido. (We put on the same dress.)
Learn more about the verb poner in this article.
Calzar/se (to put on/wear shoes)
In Spanish, there i s a verb just for putting on your shoes, what shoes you’re wearing, or stating your shoe size!
- Me estoy calzando. (I am putting my shoes on.)
- Calza lo mismo que yo. (We’re the same shoe size.)
You can find the conjugation for calzar here and calzarse here.
Abrigarse (to cover up/put a coat on)
There is also a verb for putting on extra layers for warmth.
- ¡Abrigenzen! Hace mucho frío. (Cover up/Put a coat on! It’s really cold.)
- Si no te abrigas, te enfermarás. (If you don’t cover up/put a coat on, you’ll get sick.)
Find how to conjugate this verb on this page.
Desvestir/se (to undress)
On the other end of the spectrum, we have “desvestir/se” for undressing or getting undressed.
- Me desvestí y me acosté en la cama. (I got undressed and went to bed.)
- ¿Se desvistieron? (Have they undressed?)
This verb has the same conjugation as vestir. It just adds the “des-” prefix. You can take a look at how Spanish prefixes work in this article.
Desnudar/se (to undress/strip/get naked)
Finally, there is a verb for when you get completely naked.
- El médico me pidió que me desnudara. (The doctor asked me to undress.)
- Se desnudaron antes de entrar al mar. (They got naked/stripped before going into the ocean.)
You can find the full conjugation for this verb here.
We hope this guide on the vestir conjugation has proven useful and answered any questions you had regarding this verb.
Challenge yourself with Clozemaster
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