desperté
/despeɾte/from spelling rules
The English phrase "woke up" is translated into Spanish as desperté.
When you want to say that you woke up yourself, the most common way to express this completed past action is me desperté.
Which one should you use?
The presence of the reflexive pronoun me changes the meaning of the verb. Use me desperté to mean you woke up yourself, but use desperté without me to mean you woke someone else up (for example, desperté a alguien means "I woke someone up").
How does it change in a sentence?
The form desperté is the first-person singular preterite (past tense). To say "I woke up" (referring to yourself), you must include the reflexive pronoun me to form me desperté.
How do you pronounce it?
/despeɾte/
Did you know?
- In some regions, the phrase despertar a alguien con el pie izquierdo is used similarly to the English 'woke up on the wrong side of the bed' to describe someone in a bad mood.
- While me desperté means 'I woke up', the phrase despertar el hambre is used figuratively to mean 'to whet the appetite' or stimulate a craving.
- In Spanish, there is a distinction between despertarse, which means to wake up, and levantarse, which means to physically get out of bed. A person can despertarse at 6 a.m. but not levantarse until 8 a.m.
Examples in context
- Me desperté muy tarde.I woke up really late.This sentence is useful for saying you woke up very late.Tatoeba #2223445 by Shishir, translation #9819393 by DJ_Saidez
- Me desperté al amanecer.I woke up at sunrise.This sentence is useful for saying you woke up at sunrise.Tatoeba #2267147 by hayastan, translation #2267146 by _undertoad
- Me desperté a las nueve.I woke up at nine.This sentence is useful for saying you woke up at nine.Tatoeba #13724535 by ecorralest101, translation #5509256 by mailohilohi
- Me desperté temprano hoy.I woke up early today.
- Hoy desperté más temprano que de costumbre.Today, I woke up earlier than usual.
- 50 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucía and Daniel are talking about their morning.
- LucíaHoy me desperté con mucha energía.Today I woke up with a lot of energy.
- DanielQué suerte, yo estoy muy cansado.How lucky, I am very tired.
- LucíaA qué hora te despertaste tú?What time did you wake up?
- DanielMe desperté hace solo diez minutos.I woke up only ten minutes ago.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
