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Desobedecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to disobey”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desobedecer 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 disobey |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desobedecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desobedeciendo) and past continuous (estaba desobedeciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. disobeying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desobedecido and hubiera desobedecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have disobeyed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desobedeciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desobedecido |
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 disobey” or “they disobey”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desobedezco |
| Tú | desobedeces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedece |
| Nosotros / as | desobedecemos |
| Vosotros / as | desobedecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecen |
| Vos | desobedecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I disobeyed” or “she disobeyed” 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 | desobedecí | I disobeyed |
| Tú | desobedeciste | You disobeyed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedeció | He / she / you disobeyed |
| Nosotros / as | desobedecimos | We disobeyed |
| Vosotros / as | desobedecisteis | You disobeyed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecieron | They / you disobeyed |
| Vos | desobedeciste | You disobeyed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was disobeying” or “she was disobeying” 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 | desobedecía | I was disobeying |
| Tú | desobedecías | You were disobeying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedecía | He was / she was / you were disobeying |
| Nosotros / as | desobedecíamos | We were disobeying |
| Vosotros / as | desobedecíais | You were disobeying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecían | They / you were disobeying |
| Vos | desobedecías | You were disobeying |
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 disobeyed” and “she has disobeyed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desobedecido | I have disobeyed |
| Tú | has desobedecido | You have disobeyed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desobedecido | He has / she has / you have disobeyed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desobedecido | We have disobeyed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desobedecido | You have disobeyed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desobedecido | They / you have disobeyed |
| Vos | has desobedecido | You have disobeyed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would disobey” or “she would disobey”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desobedecería | I would disobey |
| Tú | desobedecerías | You would disobey |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedecería | He / she / you would disobey |
| Nosotros / as | desobedeceríamos | We would disobey |
| Vosotros / as | desobedeceríais | You would disobey |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecerían | They / you would disobey |
| Vos | desobedecerías | You would disobey |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will disobey” or “they will disobey”.
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 desobedecer” means “They are going to disobey”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desobedeceré | I will disobey |
| Tú | desobedecerás | You will disobey |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedecerá | He / she / you will disobey |
| Nosotros / as | desobedeceremos | We will disobey |
| Vosotros / as | desobedeceréis | You will disobey |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecerán | They / you will disobey |
| Vos | desobedecerás | You will disobey |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desobedezca |
| Tú | desobedezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedezca |
| Nosotros / as | desobedezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | desobedezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedezcan |
| Vos | desobedezcas |
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 | desobedeciera | desobedeciese |
| Tú | desobedecieras | desobedeciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedeciera | desobedeciese |
| Nosotros / as | desobedeciéramos | desobedeciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | desobedecierais | desobedecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecieran | desobedeciesen |
| Vos | desobedecieras | desobedeciese |
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 | desobedeciere |
| Tú | desobedecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedeciere |
| Nosotros / as | desobedeciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | desobedeciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedecieren |
| Vos | desobedecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “disobey!” and “don’t disobey!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desobedece | no desobedezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desobedezca | no desobedezca |
| Nosotros / as | desobedezcamos | no desobedezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | desobedeced | no desobedezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desobedezcan | no desobedezcan |
| Vos | desobedecé | no desobedezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desobedecido |
| Tú | hayas desobedecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desobedecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desobedecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desobedecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desobedecido |
| Vos | hayas desobedecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desobedecido / hubiese desobedecido |
| Tú | hubieras desobedecido / hubieses desobedecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desobedecido / hubiese desobedecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desobedecido / hubiésemos desobedecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desobedecido / hubieseis desobedecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desobedecido / hubiesen desobedecido |
| Vos | hubieras desobedecido / hubieses desobedecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desobedecido |
| Tú | hubieres desobedecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desobedecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desobedecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desobedecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desobedecido |
| Vos | hubieres desobedecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desobedeciendo |
| Tú | estés desobedeciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desobedeciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desobedeciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desobedeciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desobedeciendo |
| Vos | estés desobedeciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desobedeciendo / estuviese desobedeciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras desobedeciendo / estuvieses desobedeciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desobedeciendo / estuviese desobedeciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desobedeciendo / estuviésamos desobedeciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desobedeciendo / estuvieseis desobedeciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desobedeciendo / estuviese desobedeciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras desobedeciendo / estuvieses desobedeciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desobedeciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres desobedeciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desobedeciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desobedeciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desobedeciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desobedeciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres desobedeciendo |
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 desobedecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desobedeciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desobedecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desobedecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desobedecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desobedezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desobedecieras / Vos desobedeciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desobedecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desobedezcas |