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Desayunarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to eat breakfast”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me desayuno) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que desayunarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for desayunarse in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to eat breakfast |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desayunarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desayunándose) and past continuous (estaba desayunándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. eating breakfast).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desayunado and hubiera desayunado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have eaten breakfast).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desayunándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desayunado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I eat breakfast” or “they eat breakfast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desayuno |
| Tú | te desayunas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayuna |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunamos |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunan |
| Vos | te desayunás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I ate breakfast” or “she ate breakfast” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desayuné | I ate breakfast |
| Tú | te desayunaste | You ate breakfast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayunó | He / she / you ate breakfast |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunamos | We ate breakfast |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunasteis | You ate breakfast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunaron | They / you ate breakfast |
| Vos | te desayunaste | You ate breakfast |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was eating breakfast” or “she was eating breakfast” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desayunaba | I was eating breakfast |
| Tú | te desayunabas | You were eating breakfast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayunaba | He was / she was / you were eating breakfast |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunábamos | We were eating breakfast |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunabais | You were eating breakfast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunaban | They / you were eating breakfast |
| Vos | te desayunabas | You were eating breakfast |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have eaten breakfast” and “she has eaten breakfast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he desayunado | I have eaten breakfast |
| Tú | te has desayunado | You have eaten breakfast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha desayunado | He has / she has / you have eaten breakfast |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos desayunado | We have eaten breakfast |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis desayunado | You have eaten breakfast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han desayunado | They / you have eaten breakfast |
| Vos | te has desayunado | You have eaten breakfast |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would eat breakfast” or “she would eat breakfast”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desayunaría | I would eat breakfast |
| Tú | te desayunarías | You would eat breakfast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayunaría | He / she / you would eat breakfast |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunaríamos | We would eat breakfast |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunaríais | You would eat breakfast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunarían | They / you would eat breakfast |
| Vos | te desayunarías | You would eat breakfast |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will eat breakfast” or “they will eat breakfast”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a desayunarse” means “They are going to eat breakfast”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desayunaré | I will eat breakfast |
| Tú | te desayunarás | You will eat breakfast |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayunará | He / she / you will eat breakfast |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunaremos | We will eat breakfast |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunaréis | You will eat breakfast |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunarán | They / you will eat breakfast |
| Vos | te desayunarás | You will eat breakfast |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desayune |
| Tú | te desayunes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayune |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunen |
| Vos | te desayunes |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desayunara | me desayunase |
| Tú | te desayunaras | me desayunase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayunara | se desayunase |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunáramos | nos desayunásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunarais | os desayunaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunaran | se desayunasen |
| Vos | te desayunaras | me desayunase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desayunare |
| Tú | te desayunares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desayunare |
| Nosotros / as | nos desayunáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os desayunareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desayunaren |
| Vos | te desayunares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “eat breakfast!” and “don’t eat breakfast!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desayúnate | no te desayunes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desayúnese | no se desayune |
| Nosotros / as | desayunémonos | no nos desayunemos |
| Vosotros / as | desayunaos | no os desayunéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desayúnense | no se desayunen |
| Vos | desayunate | no te desayunes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desayunado |
| Tú | hayas desayunado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desayunado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desayunado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desayunado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desayunado |
| Vos | hayas desayunado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desayunado / hubiese desayunado |
| Tú | hubieras desayunado / hubieses desayunado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desayunado / hubiese desayunado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desayunado / hubiésemos desayunado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desayunado / hubieseis desayunado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desayunado / hubiesen desayunado |
| Vos | hubieras desayunado / hubieses desayunado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desayunado |
| Tú | hubieres desayunado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desayunado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desayunado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desayunado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desayunado |
| Vos | hubieres desayunado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desayunándose |
| Tú | estés desayunándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desayunándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desayunándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desayunándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desayunándose |
| Vos | estés desayunándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desayunándose / estuviese desayunándose |
| Tú | estuvieras desayunándose / estuvieses desayunándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desayunándose / estuviese desayunándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desayunándose / estuviésamos desayunándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desayunándose / estuvieseis desayunándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desayunándose / estuviese desayunándose |
| Vos | estuvieras desayunándose / estuvieses desayunándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desayunándose |
| Tú | estuvieres desayunándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desayunándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desayunándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desayunándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desayunándose |
| Vos | estuvieres desayunándose |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos te desayunás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te desayunaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te desayunabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te desayunarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te desayunarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te desayunes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te desayunaras / Vos me desayunase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desayunate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te desayunes |