Sentarse: Translation & Conjugation
The Spanish verb ”sentarse” means ‘to sit down’, and it is a reflexive verb. In this lesson, we learn to conjugate ”sentarse” in the present tense and to use it in the context of real-life Spanish.
How Often Do You Sit?
Do you sit on a bench sometimes, just to admire the landscape? Do you ever sit on the floor, just to have a different feeling? To answer these questions, we need the verb ‘to sit down’, which in Spanish is sentarse (sehn-TAHR-seh).
Let’s see how Andrea replies to one of the questions:
A veces, me siento en la terraza de mi casa para mirar la playa. (Sometimes, I sit on the terrace in my house to look at the beach.)
To conjugate this verb in the present tense, we need two basic components:
A reflexive pronoun, which is me in the example.
The verb sentarse conjugated, which is siento in the example.
Sentarse is a reflexive verb because the action remains solely with the person who performs it. However, its use in Spanish is not is not just to indicate that we do the action of sitting down, perhaps on a chair. We also use it to mean that we sit down to rest, to relax, or to watch some sort of entertainment. Now, let’s go ahead and learn how to conjugate sentarse in the present tense.
Present Tense of Sentarse
Sentarse (sehn-TAHR-seh) – ‘to sit down’
Subject Pronoun Sentarse Conjugation Pronunciation Translation
yo me siento meh see-EHN-toh I sit down
tú te sientas teh see-EHN-tahs you (singular/informal) sit down
él/ella
usted se sienta seh see-EHN-tah he/she sits down – you (singular/formal) sit down
nosotros
nosotras nos sentamos nohs sehn-TAH-mohs we sit down
vosotros
vosotras os sentáis ohs sehn-TAH-ees you (plural/informal) sit down
ellos/ellas
ustedes se sientan seh see-EHN-tahn they/you (plural/formal) sit down
One quick note before we go on to an interview: sometimes, Spanish learners confuse the conjugation me siento with ‘I feel’. This is another reflexive verb: sentirse, which does mean ‘to feel’ AND conjugates as ‘me siento’ for the subject pronoun yo. However, you would know which verb it is because of the context. For instance, if someone says Me siento cansado, the word cansado (tired) makes us realize it is the verb ‘to feel’ and not ‘to sit down’.
Translation: In the Andes, people sit down to look at the mountain landscape.
landscape
Examples
Now, we are going to see the verb sentarse in action as people use it in conversation.
Sitting Down to Rest
We go to Guatemala to a small village that surrounds Lago Atitlán (Atitlan Lake). Many Americans retire in this area, where we can find a whole community of them. We interview Patrick and Suzanne today to ask why they love their terrace so much.
Patrick says:
Tenemos mucha tranquilidad en este lugar. Por las mañanas, mi esposa y yo nos sentamos a desayunar en la terraza. (We have a lot of tranquility in this place. In the mornings, my wife and I sit down to have breakfast on the terrace.)
We ask:
¿Por qué se sientan en la terraza?
Suzanne replies:
Porque podemos ver el lago. Además, yo me siento en la terraza por la tarde para leer. (Because we can look at the lake. Besides, I sit on the terrace in the afternoon to read.)
Patrick adds:
La verdad es que Suzanne se sienta en la terraza con mucha frecuencia. (The truth is Suzanne sits on the terrace very frequently.)
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