levantarse

Levantarse means to get up, to stand up, or to rise — it is the verb you use for getting out of bed in the morning, standing up from a chair, the sun rising, dough rising, a protest rising up. Mechanically it is the friendliest possible irregular verb: it is perfectly regular as an -ar verb in every tense and mood. The only thing learners need to manage is the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os, se) and one small imperative quirk where the affirmative vosotros form drops a -d.

The reason levantarse is reflexive is that the action is being performed on oneself. Levantar (without the pronoun) means to lift something — levantar las pesas (to lift weights), levantar la mano (to raise your hand), levantar un edificio (to put up a building). Add se and you redirect that lifting onto the subject: me levanto = literally "I lift myself" → I get up. This is the same logic behind acostarse (to put oneself to bed), sentarse (to seat oneself), despertarse (to wake oneself up).

Non-finite forms

The gerundio levantándose carries an accent on the á- because attaching the pronoun pushes the stress count back (levantando → levantándose, antepenultimate stress requires the accent). The pronoun changes with the subject: levantándome, levantándote, levantándose, levantándonos, levantándoos, levantándose. The participle in compound tenses is invariable levantado, and the pronoun climbs to before haber: me he levantado, not *he levantadome.

Indicative — simple tenses

Presente

The conjugation is exactly the same as any regular -ar verb (hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan) with the reflexive pronoun stuck before it. The vosotros ending -áis keeps its accent on the á — standard for all -ar present-tense vosotros forms.

Pretérito perfecto simple

The yo form me levanté carries the standard accent on the final é for -ar preterites; the third-person singular se levantó does likewise on the final ó. Note that the nosotros form is identical to the present (nos levantamos) — context disambiguates, often by way of a time expression (esta mañana nos levantamos tarde vs normalmente nos levantamos pronto).

Pretérito imperfecto

The imperfect is the natural tense for describing past routines: cuando era pequeña, me levantaba a las seis — when I was little, I'd get up at six.

Futuro simple

In everyday peninsular speech, me voy a levantar dominates for short-term plans. Me levantaré is more common in firm commitments or written language.

Condicional

Indicative — compound tenses

All compound tenses use haber with the invariable participle levantado, and the reflexive pronoun climbs to before haber.

Pretérito perfecto compuesto

This is the everyday Spain tense for "this morning I got up": esta mañana me he levantado a las seis. Latin America would more often use the preterite (me levanté) here.

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto

Futuro compuesto

Condicional compuesto

Subjunctive — simple tenses

Presente de subjuntivo

Regular -ar subjunctive (endings switch to -e). Used after quiero que, espero que, antes de que, cuando (with future meaning), and so on.

Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)

Built from levantaron → levantara / levantase. Both sets are valid; -ra dominates in Spain.

Subjunctive — compound tenses

Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo

Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo

Imperative — and the dropped -d

The imperative is regular for an -ar reflexive verb, with one specific orthographic adjustment that affects every reflexive vosotros imperative: the -d of the standard -ar ending drops before the pronoun os. So levantad + os → levantaos, not *levantados. The same rule produces sentaos, callaos, lavaos, vestíos (note the accent on -ír verbs: vestíos).

A few accent details to note:

• Levántate — accent on vá- because attaching the pronoun pushes the stress two syllables back from the end (antepenultimate stress requires an accent).
• Levántese, levántense — same logic.
• Levantémonos — accent on té-; the -s of levantemos drops before nos (we don't say *levantemosnos), and the accent marks the now-antepenultimate stress.
• Levantaos — no accent: only one pronoun attached, stress count stays on -ta-.

Levantar (no pronoun) vs. levantarse (with pronoun)

The same root behaves very differently with and without the reflexive pronoun.

Without se — transitive, you lift something:

• levantar las pesas — to lift weights
• levantar la mano — to raise your hand
• levantar la voz — to raise your voice
• levantar un edificio / una casa — to put up a building
• levantar la mesa (Spain) — to clear the table
• levantar el ánimo a alguien — to lift someone's spirits
• levantar acta — to take down minutes (formal)

With se — the action turns onto the subject:

• levantarse — to get up (from bed, from a chair)
• levantarse temprano / tarde — to get up early / late
• levantarse en armas — to rise up in arms
• se le ha levantado el pan / la masa — the bread / dough has risen
• se ha levantado un poco de aire — a bit of wind has picked up (Spain)

High-frequency expressions and collocations

The classic English-speaker error: forgetting the reflexive pronoun

English uses get up as a phrasal verb with no equivalent of me / te / se. Learners regularly produce *yo levanto a las siete, which sounds bizarre — without the se, levantar needs a direct object (you have to be lifting something). To get yourself out of bed, the pronoun is obligatory.

The mirror error is leaving the pronoun off the infinitive after another verb. Both placements are valid for querer / ir a / tener que + infinitive: either the pronoun climbs to before the conjugated verb (me tengo que levantar) or it attaches to the infinitive (tengo que levantarme) — but you cannot omit it entirely. *Tengo que levantar a las siete is wrong; tengo que levantarme a las siete or me tengo que levantar a las siete are both right.

A second classic slip: forgetting that the affirmative vosotros imperative drops the -d. Students write *levantados on the analogy of the non-reflexive levantad, but the rule is that -d + os → -os: levantaos is the only correct form.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Levantarse is perfectly regular in every tense — no stem changes, no spelling shifts, no irregular preterite. The only thing to manage is the reflexive pronoun.
• Reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nos, os, se) climb to before the conjugated verb (me levanto, no me levanto) or attach to infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives (levantarme, levantándome, levántate).
• The affirmative vosotros imperative drops the -d before os: ¡levantaos!, not *levantados.
• Accents are needed when pronouns push the stress count back: levántate, levántese, levantémonos, levántense, levantándose.
• Without se, levantar means to lift something. The reflexive turns the lifting onto the subject and produces "to get up".
• Levantar/levantarse anchors a wide field of idioms: levantarse con el pie izquierdo, levantar cabeza, levantar la sesión, levantarse en armas, levantar la voz.