Arrepentirse Conjugation in Spanish
Introduction
arrepentirse means "to regret" in English, and it is one of the verbs you will meet constantly in everyday Spanish — for regretting a past action or decision. Learning it properly means more than memorising one form: the verb changes across thirteen tenses, and this page gives you every one of them, with the exact forms from the VerbFlow engine, so you can check any person or tense in seconds. Arrepentirse is a reflexive (pronominal) stem-changing -ir verb (e → ie), and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, preterite, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. That matters because the patterns on this page are the patterns you will reuse every time you speak or write. Work through the tables first, then read the notes under each tense — they explain when to use each tense and what to watch out for with this verb in particular. A natural example is: Cada día, yo me arrepiento de no haber llamado antes. — "Every day, I regret not having called earlier." Once you can say that sentence confidently, try changing the person and the tense using the tables below.
Quick facts
| Infinitive | arrepentirse |
| Translation | to regret |
| Verb type | Reflexive (pronominal) stem-changing -ir verb (e → ie) |
| Gerund | arrepintiendo |
| Past participle | arrepentido |
| Auxiliary | haber (all compound tenses) |
| Irregular tenses | present, present-subjunctive, preterite, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative |
Reflexive verb: the pronouns me, te, se, nos, os, se go with the verb in every tense. The tables below show the verb forms themselves; add the pronoun in front (me arrepiento, te arrepientes, se arrepiente, and so on). In affirmative commands the pronoun attaches to the end of the verb instead.
Full conjugation of arrepentirse
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepiento |
| tú | arrepientes |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepiente |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepentimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepentís |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepienten |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepentí |
| tú | arrepentiste |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepintió |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepentimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepentisteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepintieron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepentía |
| tú | arrepentías |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepentía |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepentíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepentíais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepentían |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepentiré |
| tú | arrepentirás |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepentirá |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepentiremos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepentiréis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepentirán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepentiría |
| tú | arrepentirías |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepentiría |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepentiríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepentiríais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepentirían |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepienta |
| tú | arrepientas |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepienta |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepintamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepintáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepientan |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | arrepintiera |
| tú | arrepintieras |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepintiera |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepintiéramos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepintierais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepintieran |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he arrepentido |
| tú | has arrepentido |
| él / ella / Ud. | ha arrepentido |
| nosotros / nosotras | hemos arrepentido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habéis arrepentido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | han arrepentido |
Pluperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había arrepentido |
| tú | habías arrepentido |
| él / ella / Ud. | había arrepentido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habíamos arrepentido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habíais arrepentido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habían arrepentido |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré arrepentido |
| tú | habrás arrepentido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habrá arrepentido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habremos arrepentido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habréis arrepentido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrán arrepentido |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría arrepentido |
| tú | habrías arrepentido |
| él / ella / Ud. | habría arrepentido |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos arrepentido |
| vosotros / vosotras | habríais arrepentido |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | habrían arrepentido |
Imperative — affirmative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | arrepiente |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepienta |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepintamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepentid |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepientan |
Imperative — negative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | arrepientas |
| él / ella / Ud. | arrepienta |
| nosotros / nosotras | arrepintamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | arrepintáis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | arrepientan |
Gerund: arrepintiendo · Past participle: arrepentido
Arrepentirse in every tense — notes and examples
Present indicative
The present is the tense for habits, facts and what is happening now. It is the first tense to master, because the present subjunctive and the affirmative imperative are both built from the present yo form. In the present the stem changes (e → ie) in the yo, tú, él/ella and ellos/ellas forms, but not in nosotros or vosotros — compare arrepiento with arrepentimos. Example: Cada día, yo me arrepiento de no haber llamado antes. — "Every day, I regret not having called earlier."
Preterite
The preterite is for completed actions in the past — things that started and finished at a definite moment. Use it for a single event, a sequence of events, or an action with a clear end. Example: Ayer, yo me arrepentí de no haber llamado antes. — "Yesterday, I regretted not having called earlier."
Imperfect
The imperfect is for the past without a definite end: habits, background scenes, descriptions and actions in progress when something else happened. It never states when the action finished. Example: Antes, yo me arrepentía de no haber llamado antes. — "Before, I regretted not having called earlier."
Future
The future is for what will happen, and also for guesses about the present ("I wonder if…"). For regular verbs it is the infinitive plus the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. Example: Mañana, yo me arrepentiré de no haber llamado antes. — "Tomorrow, I will regret not having called earlier."
Conditional
The conditional is for what would happen — polite requests, hypothetical results and reported expectations. It shares its stem with the future, so any irregular future stem appears here too. Example: Yo me arrepentiría de no haber llamado antes si tuviera la oportunidad. — "I would regret not having called earlier if I had the chance."
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is for wishes, doubts, emotions and other non-facts after que, and after expressions such as ojalá, es importante que or no creo que. It is not a tense for stating facts. The present subjunctive is irregular for this verb: the stem changes e → ie in the stressed persons (arrepienta, arrepientas, arrepienta, arrepientan) and e → i in nosotros and vosotros (arrepintamos, arrepintáis). Example: Espero que ella se arrepienta de no haber llamado antes. — "I hope she will regret not having called earlier."
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms)
The imperfect subjunctive (-ra forms) is for wishes and doubts about the past, and for the if-part of hypothetical sentences (si + imperfect subjunctive, conditional). This page shows the -ra forms from the engine. Example: Si ella se arrepintiera de no haber llamado antes, todo cambiaría. — "If she regretted not having called earlier, everything would change."
Present perfect
The present perfect (haber + past participle) is for past actions connected to the present — recent events, experience, or something that has just happened. The auxiliary is always haber. Example: Yo me he arrepentido de sus palabras varias veces. — "I have regretted his words several times."
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (había + past participle) is the past of the past: something that had already happened before another past event. Example: Yo me había arrepentido de no haber llamado antes antes de la reunión. — "I had regretted not having called earlier before the meeting."
Future perfect
The future perfect (habré + past participle) is for something that will already be finished by a future moment, or for a guess about the past. It is less common in speech than the simple future. Example: Para mañana, yo me habré arrepentido de no haber llamado antes. — "By tomorrow, I will have regretted not having called earlier."
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect (habría + past participle) is for what would have happened — the past of the conditional, used for regrets and unreal past conditions. Example: Yo me habría arrepentido de no haber llamado antes si hubiera tenido tiempo. — "I would have regretted not having called earlier if I had had time."
Imperative — affirmative
The affirmative imperative is for direct orders, instructions and invitations. The tú form comes from the present él/ella form, and the formal, nosotros and plural forms come from the present subjunctive. Example: Que ella se arrepienta de no haber llamado antes. — "Let her regret not having called earlier."
Imperative — negative
The negative imperative (no + subjunctive) is for telling someone not to do something. All five persons come from the present subjunctive, which is why they look different from the affirmative tú form. Example: No te arrepientas de no haber llamado antes. — "Do not regret not having called earlier."
Example sentences with arrepentirse
Yo me arrepiento de no haber llamado antes. — "I regret not having called earlier."
¿Tú te arrepientes de sus palabras? — "Do you regret his words?"
Ayer, él se arrepintió de no haber llamado antes. — "Yesterday, he regretted not having called earlier."
Nosotros nos arrepentimos de sus palabras a tiempo. — "We regretted his words on time."
Antes, ellos se arrepentían de no haber llamado antes. — "Before, they regretted not having called earlier."
Mañana, yo me arrepentiré de sus palabras. — "Tomorrow, I will regret his words."
Nosotros nos arrepentiríamos de no haber llamado antes si pudiéramos. — "We would regret not having called earlier if we could."
Yo me he arrepentido de sus palabras varias veces. — "I have regretted his words several times."
Espero que ella se arrepienta de no haber llamado antes. — "I hope she will regret not having called earlier."
Me estoy arrepintiendo de no haber llamado antes ahora mismo. — "I am regretting not having called earlier right now."
Common mistakes with arrepentirse
1. Dropping the accent on the preterite yo form
The preterite yo form is arrepentí — with the accent. Without it the word is misspelled, and in some verbs the accent is the only thing separating one tense from another.
2. Confusing arrepentirse with lamentar (to regret)
arrepentirse means "to regret", while lamentar means "to regret". They overlap in English but they are not interchangeable in Spanish: use arrepentirse when you mean regretting a past action or decision, and lamentar for its own meaning. Check the conjugation of lamentar before choosing.
3. Mixing up the preterite and the imperfect
Ayer yo arrepentí de no haber llamado antes (preterite: one finished event yesterday) is not the same as antes yo arrepentía de no haber llamado antes (imperfect: what used to happen). If you can add "yesterday" or "last week", you usually want the preterite; if you can add "used to", you want the imperfect.
4. Forgetting the reflexive pronoun
arrepentirse is reflexive: the pronoun is part of the verb. It is yo me arrepiento de no haber llamado antes, not yo arrepiento de no haber llamado antes. Without me the sentence is incomplete.
5. Putting the pronoun in the wrong place with the gerund
With the gerund the pronoun goes before estar, not after the gerund: me estoy arrepintiendo de no haber llamado antes. Saying estoy arrepintiendo without the pronoun loses the reflexive meaning.
Quiz: arrepentirse
1. Yo me ___ de no haber llamado antes.
a. arrepiente b. arrepiento c. arrepienten
2. Ella se ___ de no haber llamado antes.
a. arrepiento b. arrepiente c. arrepienten
3. Ayer, yo me ___ de no haber llamado antes.
a. arrepiento b. arrepentí c. arrepiente
4. Ellos se ___ de no haber llamado antes ayer.
a. arrepiento b. arrepintieron c. arrepiente
5. Antes, yo me ___ de no haber llamado antes.
a. arrepiento b. arrepentía c. arrepiente
6. Mañana, yo me ___ de no haber llamado antes.
a. arrepiento b. arrepentiré c. arrepiente
7. Yo me ___ de no haber llamado antes si pudiera.
a. arrepiento b. arrepentiría c. arrepiente
8. Espero que ella se ___ de no haber llamado antes.
a. arrepiento b. arrepienta c. arrepiente
9. Me estoy ___ de no haber llamado antes ahora mismo.
a. arrepentido b. arrepintiendo c. arrepiento
10. Yo me he ___ de sus palabras varias veces.
a. arrepintiendo b. arrepentido c. arrepiento
Answer key
arrepiento — present tense, yo form.
arrepiente — present tense, él/ella form.
arrepentí — preterite, yo form — a finished action yesterday.
arrepintieron — preterite, ellos/ellas form.
arrepentía — imperfect, yo form — a past habit.
arrepentiré — future, yo form.
arrepentiría — conditional, yo form — a hypothetical.
arrepienta — present subjunctive after 'espero que'.
arrepintiendo — gerund — the progressive is estar + gerund, with the pronoun before estar.
arrepentido — past participle — the present perfect is haber + participle.
Frequently asked questions about arrepentirse
What does arrepentirse mean in English?
Arrepentirse means "to regret". It is used for regretting a past action or decision. A simple example is yo arrepiento de no haber llamado antes — "I regret not having called earlier."
Is arrepentirse regular or irregular?
Arrepentirse is a reflexive (pronominal) stem-changing -ir verb (e → ie), and it is irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, preterite, imperfect-subjunctive, gerund, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The forms that most often catch learners out are the present yo form arrepiento, the preterite yo form arrepentí and the past participle arrepentido — learn those three first, then fill in the rest from the tables above.
What is the gerund and the past participle of arrepentirse?
The gerund is arrepintiendo (used for the progressive: estoy arrepintiendo) and the past participle is arrepentido (used with haber in all perfect tenses: he arrepentido). Both forms are used constantly, so they are worth memorising on their own.
How do I say "I regret" in the past?
It depends on the meaning. For one finished action use the preterite: ayer yo arrepentí de no haber llamado antes — "yesterday I regretted not having called earlier". For a past habit or background use the imperfect: antes yo arrepentía de no haber llamado antes — "before, I regretted not having called earlier". The mistake most learners make is using one for the other.
Does arrepentirse take the subjunctive?
Not usually. Arrepentirse on its own takes the indicative — yo arrepiento de no haber llamado antes. You will meet the subjunctive with arrepentirse only inside a larger construction that itself triggers it, such as no creo que or es importante que, and then the subjunctive form is arrepienta.