Acostarme?
I saw a sentence 'antes de acostarme......' I learned that the verb 'acostarse' changes to 'me acuesto, te acuestas........ What is acostarme?
Me acuesto a las once= Acostarme a las once?
4 Answers
Acostar is the infinitive of the verb that you're using.
Me acuesto a las once would mean I go to bed at eleven.
The reason you saw "antes de acostarme" is because "antes de" is a preposition. In Spanish you always use the infinitive after a preposition. In this case antes de acostarme would mean before going to sleep.
You are right that when you conjugate acostarse it would change to me acuesto etc. However, in this case it is not conjugated, it is in the infinitive. When a verb is in the infinitive it is common to add (or "append") pronouns to the end, such as "me," to form a word like acostarme.
There are other times you will see acostarme though. For example: Sometimes we need to use two verbs in a sentence, and only one will be conjugated.
"I usually go to bed at 11." would be "Suelo acostarme a las once."
The two verbs here are "soler" and "acostar."
It is the infinitive of the verb with the first person reflexive bit on the end - to put me to bed.
Me acuesto a las once = I go to bed at 11
Acostarme a las once = to go to bed at 11 (when talking about one's self)
Antes de acostarme means before going to bed, again, when talking about yourself, becomes easier to see if you complete the sentence. E.g. antes de acostarme, siempre tomo una botella de The Macallan 1926.
It can also mean to sleep with someone.
¿No me digas que vas a acostarte con este hombre?
Also "acostarse" means to lay down. For example: voy a acostarme en la cama " I'm going to lay down on the bed". El medico puede decir: por favor acuestese aqui, "please lay down up here"
