me acabo de despertar
/me akabo de despeɾtaɾ/from spelling rules
In Spanish, "I just woke up" is said as me acabo de despertar.
This phrase is used to state that you have recently stopped sleeping. It relies on the construction of using the verb acabar followed by de and an infinitive to express that an action has occurred very recently.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express that an action happened very recently, Spanish uses the construction acabar de + infinitive. You can modify this phrase to change the subject: use me acabas de despertar to say "you just woke me up", or change the reflexive pronoun to se and the verb to acaba to say se acaba de despertar (he/she/it just woke up).
Did you know?
- The word acabar in this phrase can also mean 'to end' or 'to kill' in different contexts, though it expresses a simple sequence of time here.
- The verb despertar shares an ancient root with the Latin word expertus, which is the source of the English word 'expert'.
- Spanish distinguishes between waking up and getting out of bed, meaning you can be despierto (awake) for an hour before you are levantado (up).
Examples in context
- Recién me desperté y estoy todavía un poco cansado.I just woke up, and I'm still a bit tired.
- Buenos días señor, me acabo de levantar y estoy listo para comenzar el día.Good morning, sir, I just got up and I'm ready to start the day.
- Me acabo de despertar y tengo hambre.I just woke up and I'm hungry.
- Perdona, me acabo de despertar.Sorry, I just woke up.
- No estoy muy atento, me acabo de despertar.I'm not very attentive, I just woke up.
Example conversation
Javier answers a phone call from Sofía in the morning.
- SofíaHola Javier, ¿estás listo para salir?Hi Javier, are you ready to go?
- JavierNo, me acabo de despertar.No, I just woke up.
- Sofía¡Pero ya son las diez de la mañana!But it's already ten in the morning!
- JavierDame diez minutos y estoy listo.Give me ten minutes and I'll be ready.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries acabo, de, despertar, me, CC BY-SA 4.0.
