VERBS OF CHANGE

Today we’re going to learn about four different verbs that all help us express something close to the English verb to become. The first thing you might be thinking then is, isn’t there just a single verb that translates to mean to become?

Well, there are actually serveral, one of which is: convertirse. Whilst this does indeed mean to become, it is only appropriate to use this in certain situations. As you might have guessed, convertirse is the reflexive version of the verb convertir meaning to convert.

“Trabajó duro para convertirse en el mejor estudiante español.” (He worked hard to become the best Spanish student)

Whilst convertirse can be used to mean to become, its usage is somewhat limited and at times idiomatic, as must be followed by “en”. Therefore, today we are going to focus mainly on four other reflexive verbs that all help us describe things that are “becoming” or “getting”. We call these types of verbs, transitional verbs or verbs of change, as they help us describe transitions from one state to other. For instance: “I’m getting fat”, “She’s becoming annoying”, “We’re all getting rich” and so on.

Before we look at each verb in more detail the following table lists the verbs in question and gives us a little information about each, so we can quickly compare and contrast when it is appropriate to use each.

Hacerse	Used when describing changes to attributes. For instance: Becoming a doctor. It can be used in place of ser
Ponerse	Used to describe changes in state that are unlikely to be permanent. Such as becoming embarrassed. It can be used in place of estar
Quedarse	Used to describe changes in state that are a result of something else, like becoming sad after some bad news. It can be used in place of estar
Volverse	Used when describing involuntary attribute changes or state changes that are unlikely to change back. It can be used in place of either ser or estar

Notice that we’ve mentioned in the above descriptions whether the verb in question can replace either ser or estar. For instance “He is a doctor” uses ser to express is. Thus, a statement like “Once he passes his final exam he will become a doctor” would use hacerse to express become.

Let’s look at each of the four verbs of change in more detail:

Hacerse
Literally meaning to make oneself, hacerse is the reflexive and pronominal version of hacer (to make / to do). Whilst we don’t want to get too bogged down with the difference between a reflexive and pronominal usage of hacerse, the important thing to realise here is that the usage should be acting upon oneself.

Spanish	Meaning
“Me hago el almuerzo todos los días” 	I make myself lunch every day
“Con este nuevo sistema, me hago rico” 	With this new system, I'm getting rich

Whilst both the above examples use exactly the same “me hago” construction, only the 2nd example functions as a verb of change. Let’s see a few more examples of hacerse being used to express “becoming”.

Spanish	Meaning
“Deberían olvidarlo y hacerse amigos de nuevo”	They should forget it and become friends again
“Se hicieron budistas”	They became Buddhist
“Me he hecho una mejor persona”	I have become a better person
“Me voy a hacer ciudadano de españa”	I'm going to become a citizen of Spain
“Me haré un experto”	I will become an expert
“Me convertiré en un experto”	I will become an expert

Notice that in the two last examples, we’ve shown two different ways to express the same thing. In this instance it can be appropriate to use either hacerse or convertirse. Remember though, convertirse’s usage is slightly idiomatic, as it must be followed by “en” to express becoming.

Ponerse
Ponerse literally means to put oneself which translates as to get. It is used when estar might be appropriate but only if the changes we are describing are likely to be temporary.

Remember, we use estar when describing states, so this is very different to using hacerse when describing changes to attributes.

Let’s see a few examples of ponerse in action:

Spanish	Meaning
“Ella se puso roja de vergüenza”	She became red with embarrassment
“¡Callate! Te estás poniendo pesado”	Shut up! You're becoming / getting annoying
“Me había puesto triste”	I had become sad
“Probablemente se pondrán nerviosos”	They will probably become nervous
“Me voy a poner en forma”	I'm going to get fit

Quedarse
Quedarse is used to describe a change in state, but more in the sense of where you find yourself after the change has occurred, often in a negative sense. It literally means to stay, but can sometimes translate to mean become, keep, remain and a few other words that express a recent change in state as a result of something else. Let’s see a few examples:

Spanish	Meaning
“Quedarse embarazada”	To get pregnant
“Me quedé más contento después de verla”	I became happier after seeing her
“Vale la pena quedarse sin comer”	It was worth while going without food
“Estoy decepcionado porque me quedé tercero”	I'm disappointed because I came third
“Se quedaron dormidos”	They fell asleep

Volverse
Finally, we come to volverse. It literally means to return oneself, although it is fairly easy to see how it translates to mean to become, in the same way that returning to good health is another way to say becoming well.

Volverse can be used in place of both ser and estar.

When used in place of ser it functions much like hacerse. The main difference being you would tend to favour volverse when the change is considered involuntary or the result of others, whereas we would favour hacerse when the change is of one's own doing. Let’s see an example comparing the two:

Spanish	Meaning
“María estudió mucho y se ha hecho médico”	María studied hard and has become a doctor
“María como el resto de su familia se ha vuelto médico”	María like the rest of her family has become a doctor

We may also use volverse in place of estar. If we recall that ponerse is used to express changes that likely to be temporary, then the use of volverse tends to be used for state changes that are likely to persist.

Let’s see a few more examples of volverse expressing change:

Spanish	Meaning
“Te has vuelto loco”	You've gone mad
“Él se volvió muy arrogante a los quince años”	He became very arrogant at fifteen
“María y David se han vuelto una pareja aburrida”	Maria and David have become a boring couple
“David se ha vuelto irritante”	David has become irritating
“María se ha vuelto muy agradecida esta semana”	Maria has become very grateful this week

Other ways to express change
Whilst we’ve covered the main verbs of change today, it’s worth mentioning that there are plenty of other ways to express change. For instance, “llegar a ser” is another way to express to become which literally means “arriving to be”.

Also, some verbs may be used to express change without using other verbs of change. For instance, based on what we’ve learnt today, one might think “ponerse enfadado” might be the perfect way to express to become angry. However, that would be considered a strange construction in Spanish, as the verb enfadarse (to get angry) already exists and should be used on its own.

There are plenty of other verbs in Spanish that function alone to express becoming or getting without the use of other verbs of change. Whilst we won’t list them all today, we should at least be aware that they exist.

Conclusion | En conclusión
Today we’ve covered a lot of ground in what can be considered quite an advanced topic. Choosing the right verb of change can be difficult, particularly when at times there appears to be more than one possible option.

A lot of this comes down to practice and experience. However, making a mental connection between ser and estar should help us narrow down the choices.

As beginners, we are very used to expressing the state, condition or attribute of things in various time frames. But being able to express these actions actually changing, is in fact, quite a nuanced concept. Mastering this will certainly take our Spanish to the next level.

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