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Desinteresarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lose interest”.
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 desintereso) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que desinteresarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for desinteresarse 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 lose interest |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desinteresarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desinteresándose) and past continuous (estaba desinteresándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. losing interest).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desinteresado and hubiera desinteresado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have lost interest).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desinteresándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desinteresado |
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 lose interest” or “they lose interest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desintereso |
| Tú | te desinteresas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresa |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresamos |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresan |
| Vos | te desinteresás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I lost interest” or “she lost interest” 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 desinteresé | I lost interest |
| Tú | te desinteresaste | You lost interest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresó | He / she / you lost interest |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresamos | We lost interest |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresasteis | You lost interest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresaron | They / you lost interest |
| Vos | te desinteresaste | You lost interest |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was losing interest” or “she was losing interest” 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 desinteresaba | I was losing interest |
| Tú | te desinteresabas | You were losing interest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresaba | He was / she was / you were losing interest |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresábamos | We were losing interest |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresabais | You were losing interest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresaban | They / you were losing interest |
| Vos | te desinteresabas | You were losing interest |
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 lost interest” and “she has lost interest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he desinteresado | I have lost interest |
| Tú | te has desinteresado | You have lost interest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha desinteresado | He has / she has / you have lost interest |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos desinteresado | We have lost interest |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis desinteresado | You have lost interest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han desinteresado | They / you have lost interest |
| Vos | te has desinteresado | You have lost interest |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lose interest” or “she would lose interest”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desinteresaría | I would lose interest |
| Tú | te desinteresarías | You would lose interest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresaría | He / she / you would lose interest |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresaríamos | We would lose interest |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresaríais | You would lose interest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresarían | They / you would lose interest |
| Vos | te desinteresarías | You would lose interest |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lose interest” or “they will lose interest”.
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 desinteresarse” means “They are going to lose interest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desinteresaré | I will lose interest |
| Tú | te desinteresarás | You will lose interest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresará | He / she / you will lose interest |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresaremos | We will lose interest |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresaréis | You will lose interest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresarán | They / you will lose interest |
| Vos | te desinteresarás | You will lose interest |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desinterese |
| Tú | te desintereses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinterese |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desintereséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresen |
| Vos | te desintereses |
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 desinteresara | me desinteresase |
| Tú | te desinteresaras | me desinteresase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresara | se desinteresase |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresáramos | nos desinteresásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresarais | os desinteresaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresaran | se desinteresasen |
| Vos | te desinteresaras | me desinteresase |
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 desinteresare |
| Tú | te desinteresares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desinteresare |
| Nosotros / as | nos desinteresáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os desinteresareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desinteresaren |
| Vos | te desinteresares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lose interest!” and “don’t lose interest!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desinterésate | no te desintereses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desinterésese | no se desinterese |
| Nosotros / as | desinteresémonos | no nos desinteresemos |
| Vosotros / as | desinteresaos | no os desintereséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desinterésense | no se desinteresen |
| Vos | desinteresate | no te desintereses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desinteresado |
| Tú | hayas desinteresado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desinteresado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desinteresado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desinteresado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desinteresado |
| Vos | hayas desinteresado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desinteresado / hubiese desinteresado |
| Tú | hubieras desinteresado / hubieses desinteresado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desinteresado / hubiese desinteresado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desinteresado / hubiésemos desinteresado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desinteresado / hubieseis desinteresado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desinteresado / hubiesen desinteresado |
| Vos | hubieras desinteresado / hubieses desinteresado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desinteresado |
| Tú | hubieres desinteresado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desinteresado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desinteresado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desinteresado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desinteresado |
| Vos | hubieres desinteresado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desinteresándose |
| Tú | estés desinteresándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desinteresándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desinteresándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desinteresándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desinteresándose |
| Vos | estés desinteresándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desinteresándose / estuviese desinteresándose |
| Tú | estuvieras desinteresándose / estuvieses desinteresándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desinteresándose / estuviese desinteresándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desinteresándose / estuviésamos desinteresándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desinteresándose / estuvieseis desinteresándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desinteresándose / estuviese desinteresándose |
| Vos | estuvieras desinteresándose / estuvieses desinteresándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desinteresándose |
| Tú | estuvieres desinteresándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desinteresándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desinteresándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desinteresándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desinteresándose |
| Vos | estuvieres desinteresándose |
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 desinteresás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te desinteresaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te desinteresabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te desinteresarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te desinteresarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te desintereses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te desinteresaras / Vos me desinteresase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desinteresate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te desintereses |