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Desperdiciar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to waste, squander, misspend”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desperdiciar 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 waste, squander, misspend |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desperdiciar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desperdiciando) and past continuous (estaba desperdiciando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. wasting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desperdiciado and hubiera desperdiciado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have wasted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desperdiciando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desperdiciado |
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 waste” or “they waste”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desperdicio |
| Tú | desperdicias |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdicia |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciamos |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdician |
| Vos | desperdiciás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I wasted” or “she wasted” 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 | desperdicié | I wasted |
| Tú | desperdiciaste | You wasted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdició | He / she / you wasted |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciamos | We wasted |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciasteis | You wasted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdiciaron | They / you wasted |
| Vos | desperdiciaste | You wasted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was wasting” or “she was wasting” 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 | desperdiciaba | I was wasting |
| Tú | desperdiciabas | You were wasting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdiciaba | He was / she was / you were wasting |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciábamos | We were wasting |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciabais | You were wasting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdiciaban | They / you were wasting |
| Vos | desperdiciabas | You were wasting |
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 wasted” and “she has wasted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desperdiciado | I have wasted |
| Tú | has desperdiciado | You have wasted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desperdiciado | He has / she has / you have wasted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desperdiciado | We have wasted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desperdiciado | You have wasted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desperdiciado | They / you have wasted |
| Vos | has desperdiciado | You have wasted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would waste” or “she would waste”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desperdiciaría | I would waste |
| Tú | desperdiciarías | You would waste |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdiciaría | He / she / you would waste |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciaríamos | We would waste |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciaríais | You would waste |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdiciarían | They / you would waste |
| Vos | desperdiciarías | You would waste |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will waste” or “they will waste”.
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 desperdiciar” means “They are going to waste”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desperdiciaré | I will waste |
| Tú | desperdiciarás | You will waste |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdiciará | He / she / you will waste |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciaremos | We will waste |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciaréis | You will waste |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdiciarán | They / you will waste |
| Vos | desperdiciarás | You will waste |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desperdicie |
| Tú | desperdicies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdicie |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciemos |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdicien |
| Vos | desperdicies |
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 | desperdiciara | desperdiciase |
| Tú | desperdiciaras | desperdiciase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdiciara | desperdiciase |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciáramos | desperdiciásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciarais | desperdiciaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdiciaran | desperdiciasen |
| Vos | desperdiciaras | desperdiciase |
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 | desperdiciare |
| Tú | desperdiciares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdiciare |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdiciaren |
| Vos | desperdiciares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “waste!” and “don’t waste!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desperdicia | no desperdicies |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desperdicie | no desperdicie |
| Nosotros / as | desperdiciemos | no desperdiciemos |
| Vosotros / as | desperdiciad | no desperdiciéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desperdicien | no desperdicien |
| Vos | desperdiciá | no desperdicies |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desperdiciado |
| Tú | hayas desperdiciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desperdiciado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desperdiciado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desperdiciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desperdiciado |
| Vos | hayas desperdiciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desperdiciado / hubiese desperdiciado |
| Tú | hubieras desperdiciado / hubieses desperdiciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desperdiciado / hubiese desperdiciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desperdiciado / hubiésemos desperdiciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desperdiciado / hubieseis desperdiciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desperdiciado / hubiesen desperdiciado |
| Vos | hubieras desperdiciado / hubieses desperdiciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desperdiciado |
| Tú | hubieres desperdiciado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desperdiciado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desperdiciado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desperdiciado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desperdiciado |
| Vos | hubieres desperdiciado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desperdiciando |
| Tú | estés desperdiciando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desperdiciando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desperdiciando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desperdiciando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desperdiciando |
| Vos | estés desperdiciando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desperdiciando / estuviese desperdiciando |
| Tú | estuvieras desperdiciando / estuvieses desperdiciando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desperdiciando / estuviese desperdiciando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desperdiciando / estuviésamos desperdiciando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desperdiciando / estuvieseis desperdiciando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desperdiciando / estuviese desperdiciando |
| Vos | estuvieras desperdiciando / estuvieses desperdiciando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desperdiciando |
| Tú | estuvieres desperdiciando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desperdiciando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desperdiciando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desperdiciando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desperdiciando |
| Vos | estuvieres desperdiciando |
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 desperdiciás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desperdiciaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desperdiciabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desperdiciarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desperdiciarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desperdicies |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desperdiciaras / Vos desperdiciase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desperdiciá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desperdicies |