Enfermaste

Enfermaste is the second-person singular form of the Spanish verb enfermar in the preterite tense. It can function as a transitive form meaning you caused someone else to become ill, or, in reflexive constructions, it is used to express that you became ill yourself when paired with the appropriate pronoun, as in te enfermaste or te enfermaste in common usage. The standard non-reflexive form is typically used when describing that someone (you) caused another person to fall ill.

Usage and meaning:

In everyday narration, enfermaste is used to describe past events or actions completed at a definite time. Examples include: Ayer enfermaste de gripe. (Yesterday you got sick with the flu.) When used transitively, it can mean you caused someone else to become ill, such as Tú enfermaste a tu vecino con esa gripe. (You made your neighbor sick with that flu.)

Grammatical notes:

Enfermar is a regular verb in the preterite, so the tú form takes the ending -aste, yielding enfermaste. The verb can also appear in reflexive form as enfermarse, with corresponding forms like me enfermé, te enfermaste, se enfermó, depending on the subject and person. The exact reflexive spelling may vary slightly by dialect, but the non-reflexive form enfermaste remains standard for the direct-action sense.

Related terms:

Related words include enfermo (ill person), enfermedad (illness), and the verb enfermar (to cause to become ill). The noun form enfermedad and the adjective enfermizo describe states related to illness.

See also:

Enfermar, enfermo, enfermedad, enfermarse.