Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Desbaratar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to ruin, mess up, break”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desbaratar 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 ruin, mess up, break |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desbaratar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desbaratando) and past continuous (estaba desbaratando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. ruining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desbaratado and hubiera desbaratado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have ruined).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desbaratando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desbaratado |
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 ruin” or “they ruin”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desbarato |
| Tú | desbaratas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbarata |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratamos |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbaratan |
| Vos | desbaratás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I ruined” or “she ruined” 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 | desbaraté | I ruined |
| Tú | desbarataste | You ruined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbarató | He / she / you ruined |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratamos | We ruined |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratasteis | You ruined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbarataron | They / you ruined |
| Vos | desbarataste | You ruined |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was ruining” or “she was ruining” 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 | desbarataba | I was ruining |
| Tú | desbaratabas | You were ruining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbarataba | He was / she was / you were ruining |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratábamos | We were ruining |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratabais | You were ruining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbarataban | They / you were ruining |
| Vos | desbaratabas | You were ruining |
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 ruined” and “she has ruined”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desbaratado | I have ruined |
| Tú | has desbaratado | You have ruined |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desbaratado | He has / she has / you have ruined |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desbaratado | We have ruined |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desbaratado | You have ruined |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desbaratado | They / you have ruined |
| Vos | has desbaratado | You have ruined |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would ruin” or “she would ruin”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desbarataría | I would ruin |
| Tú | desbaratarías | You would ruin |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbarataría | He / she / you would ruin |
| Nosotros / as | desbarataríamos | We would ruin |
| Vosotros / as | desbarataríais | You would ruin |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbaratarían | They / you would ruin |
| Vos | desbaratarías | You would ruin |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will ruin” or “they will ruin”.
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 desbaratar” means “They are going to ruin”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desbarataré | I will ruin |
| Tú | desbaratarás | You will ruin |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbaratará | He / she / you will ruin |
| Nosotros / as | desbarataremos | We will ruin |
| Vosotros / as | desbarataréis | You will ruin |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbaratarán | They / you will ruin |
| Vos | desbaratarás | You will ruin |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desbarate |
| Tú | desbarates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbarate |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratemos |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbaraten |
| Vos | desbarates |
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 | desbaratara | desbaratase |
| Tú | desbarataras | desbaratase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbaratara | desbaratase |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratáramos | desbaratásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratarais | desbarataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbarataran | desbaratasen |
| Vos | desbarataras | desbaratase |
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 | desbaratare |
| Tú | desbaratares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbaratare |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbarataren |
| Vos | desbaratares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “ruin!” and “don’t ruin!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desbarata | no desbarates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbarate | no desbarate |
| Nosotros / as | desbaratemos | no desbaratemos |
| Vosotros / as | desbaratad | no desbaratéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbaraten | no desbaraten |
| Vos | desbaratá | no desbarates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desbaratado |
| Tú | hayas desbaratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desbaratado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desbaratado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desbaratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desbaratado |
| Vos | hayas desbaratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desbaratado / hubiese desbaratado |
| Tú | hubieras desbaratado / hubieses desbaratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desbaratado / hubiese desbaratado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desbaratado / hubiésemos desbaratado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desbaratado / hubieseis desbaratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desbaratado / hubiesen desbaratado |
| Vos | hubieras desbaratado / hubieses desbaratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desbaratado |
| Tú | hubieres desbaratado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desbaratado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desbaratado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desbaratado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desbaratado |
| Vos | hubieres desbaratado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desbaratando |
| Tú | estés desbaratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desbaratando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desbaratando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desbaratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desbaratando |
| Vos | estés desbaratando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desbaratando / estuviese desbaratando |
| Tú | estuvieras desbaratando / estuvieses desbaratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desbaratando / estuviese desbaratando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desbaratando / estuviésamos desbaratando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desbaratando / estuvieseis desbaratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desbaratando / estuviese desbaratando |
| Vos | estuvieras desbaratando / estuvieses desbaratando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desbaratando |
| Tú | estuvieres desbaratando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desbaratando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desbaratando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desbaratando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desbaratando |
| Vos | estuvieres desbaratando |
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 desbaratás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desbarataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desbaratabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desbaratarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desbaratarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desbarates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desbarataras / Vos desbaratase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desbaratá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desbarates |