Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Desocupar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to clear, empty, vacate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desocupar 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 clear, empty, vacate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desocupar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desocupando) and past continuous (estaba desocupando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. clearing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desocupado and hubiera desocupado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have cleared).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desocupando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desocupado |
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 clear” or “they clear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desocupo |
| Tú | desocupas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupa |
| Nosotros / as | desocupamos |
| Vosotros / as | desocupáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocupan |
| Vos | desocupás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I cleared” or “she cleared” 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 | desocupé | I cleared |
| Tú | desocupaste | You cleared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupó | He / she / you cleared |
| Nosotros / as | desocupamos | We cleared |
| Vosotros / as | desocupasteis | You cleared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocuparon | They / you cleared |
| Vos | desocupaste | You cleared |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was clearing” or “she was clearing” 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 | desocupaba | I was clearing |
| Tú | desocupabas | You were clearing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupaba | He was / she was / you were clearing |
| Nosotros / as | desocupábamos | We were clearing |
| Vosotros / as | desocupabais | You were clearing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocupaban | They / you were clearing |
| Vos | desocupabas | You were clearing |
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 cleared” and “she has cleared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desocupado | I have cleared |
| Tú | has desocupado | You have cleared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desocupado | He has / she has / you have cleared |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desocupado | We have cleared |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desocupado | You have cleared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desocupado | They / you have cleared |
| Vos | has desocupado | You have cleared |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would clear” or “she would clear”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desocuparía | I would clear |
| Tú | desocuparías | You would clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocuparía | He / she / you would clear |
| Nosotros / as | desocuparíamos | We would clear |
| Vosotros / as | desocuparíais | You would clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocuparían | They / you would clear |
| Vos | desocuparías | You would clear |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will clear” or “they will clear”.
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 desocupar” means “They are going to clear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desocuparé | I will clear |
| Tú | desocuparás | You will clear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupará | He / she / you will clear |
| Nosotros / as | desocuparemos | We will clear |
| Vosotros / as | desocuparéis | You will clear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocuparán | They / you will clear |
| Vos | desocuparás | You will clear |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desocupe |
| Tú | desocupes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupe |
| Nosotros / as | desocupemos |
| Vosotros / as | desocupéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocupen |
| Vos | desocupes |
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 | desocupara | desocupase |
| Tú | desocuparas | desocupase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupara | desocupase |
| Nosotros / as | desocupáramos | desocupásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desocuparais | desocupaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocuparan | desocupasen |
| Vos | desocuparas | desocupase |
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 | desocupare |
| Tú | desocupares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupare |
| Nosotros / as | desocupáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desocupareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocuparen |
| Vos | desocupares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “clear!” and “don’t clear!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desocupa | no desocupes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desocupe | no desocupe |
| Nosotros / as | desocupemos | no desocupemos |
| Vosotros / as | desocupad | no desocupéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desocupen | no desocupen |
| Vos | desocupá | no desocupes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desocupado |
| Tú | hayas desocupado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desocupado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desocupado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desocupado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desocupado |
| Vos | hayas desocupado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desocupado / hubiese desocupado |
| Tú | hubieras desocupado / hubieses desocupado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desocupado / hubiese desocupado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desocupado / hubiésemos desocupado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desocupado / hubieseis desocupado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desocupado / hubiesen desocupado |
| Vos | hubieras desocupado / hubieses desocupado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desocupado |
| Tú | hubieres desocupado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desocupado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desocupado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desocupado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desocupado |
| Vos | hubieres desocupado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desocupando |
| Tú | estés desocupando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desocupando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desocupando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desocupando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desocupando |
| Vos | estés desocupando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desocupando / estuviese desocupando |
| Tú | estuvieras desocupando / estuvieses desocupando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desocupando / estuviese desocupando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desocupando / estuviésamos desocupando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desocupando / estuvieseis desocupando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desocupando / estuviese desocupando |
| Vos | estuvieras desocupando / estuvieses desocupando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desocupando |
| Tú | estuvieres desocupando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desocupando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desocupando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desocupando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desocupando |
| Vos | estuvieres desocupando |
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 desocupás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desocupaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desocupabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desocuparías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desocuparás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desocupes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desocuparas / Vos desocupase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desocupá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desocupes |