acercasteis

Acercasteis is the second-person plural form of the Spanish verb acercarse in the pretérito indefinido (simple past). It corresponds to the English you all approached. When used as a pronominal verb, the full form is vosotros os acercasteis, indicating that the subject is addressing a group in Spain. The same ending -asteis appears in the non-pronominal form acercasteis for the verb acercar (to bring near). In practice, acercasteis is understood as the past action of approaching, whether or not the reflexive pronoun is explicitly stated in written form.

Form and usage

The verb belongs to the -ar verb paradigm in the preterite. For acercarse, the complete conjugation in the preterite includes os as the reflexive pronoun: yo me acerqué, tú te acercaste, él se acercó, nosotros nos acercamos, vosotros os acercasteis, ellos se acercaron. When used transitively as acercar, the form without the reflexive pronoun is acercasteis: vosotros acercasteis el objeto a la mesa. In most contexts, acercasteis with the reflexive pronoun is the standard construction for the pronominal verb.

Regional variation

In Spain, acércase is commonly expressed with vosotros os acercasteis. In Latin America, the tú/vosotros distinction is often replaced by ustedes, with ustedes se acercaron in the preterite. Consequently, the exact form acérasteis is less frequent outside contexts where the vosotros form is used.

Examples

- Vosotros os acercasteis al grupo para saludar.

- Los niños acercasteis las sillas para que todos cupieran alrededor de la mesa (transitive use, less common in everyday speech).

See also

acercarse, acercar, preterite tense, vosotros.