Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Despilfarrar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to squander, waste”.
Below are all of the conjugations for despilfarrar 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 squander, waste |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despilfarrar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despilfarrando) and past continuous (estaba despilfarrando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. squandering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despilfarrado and hubiera despilfarrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have squandered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despilfarrando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despilfarrado |
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 squander” or “they squander”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despilfarro |
| Tú | despilfarras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarra |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarramos |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarran |
| Vos | despilfarrás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I squandered” or “she squandered” 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 | despilfarré | I squandered |
| Tú | despilfarraste | You squandered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarró | He / she / you squandered |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarramos | We squandered |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarrasteis | You squandered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarraron | They / you squandered |
| Vos | despilfarraste | You squandered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was squandering” or “she was squandering” 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 | despilfarraba | I was squandering |
| Tú | despilfarrabas | You were squandering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarraba | He was / she was / you were squandering |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarrábamos | We were squandering |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarrabais | You were squandering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarraban | They / you were squandering |
| Vos | despilfarrabas | You were squandering |
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 squandered” and “she has squandered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he despilfarrado | I have squandered |
| Tú | has despilfarrado | You have squandered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha despilfarrado | He has / she has / you have squandered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos despilfarrado | We have squandered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis despilfarrado | You have squandered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han despilfarrado | They / you have squandered |
| Vos | has despilfarrado | You have squandered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would squander” or “she would squander”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despilfarraría | I would squander |
| Tú | despilfarrarías | You would squander |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarraría | He / she / you would squander |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarraríamos | We would squander |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarraríais | You would squander |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarrarían | They / you would squander |
| Vos | despilfarrarías | You would squander |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will squander” or “they will squander”.
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 despilfarrar” means “They are going to squander”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despilfarraré | I will squander |
| Tú | despilfarrarás | You will squander |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarrará | He / she / you will squander |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarraremos | We will squander |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarraréis | You will squander |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarrarán | They / you will squander |
| Vos | despilfarrarás | You will squander |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despilfarre |
| Tú | despilfarres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarre |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarremos |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarren |
| Vos | despilfarres |
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 | despilfarrara | despilfarrase |
| Tú | despilfarraras | despilfarrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarrara | despilfarrase |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarráramos | despilfarrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarrarais | despilfarraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarraran | despilfarrasen |
| Vos | despilfarraras | despilfarrase |
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 | despilfarrare |
| Tú | despilfarrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarrare |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarráremos |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarraren |
| Vos | despilfarrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “squander!” and “don’t squander!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despilfarra | no despilfarres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despilfarre | no despilfarre |
| Nosotros / as | despilfarremos | no despilfarremos |
| Vosotros / as | despilfarrad | no despilfarréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despilfarren | no despilfarren |
| Vos | despilfarrá | no despilfarres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despilfarrado |
| Tú | hayas despilfarrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despilfarrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despilfarrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despilfarrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despilfarrado |
| Vos | hayas despilfarrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despilfarrado / hubiese despilfarrado |
| Tú | hubieras despilfarrado / hubieses despilfarrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despilfarrado / hubiese despilfarrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despilfarrado / hubiésemos despilfarrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despilfarrado / hubieseis despilfarrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despilfarrado / hubiesen despilfarrado |
| Vos | hubieras despilfarrado / hubieses despilfarrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despilfarrado |
| Tú | hubieres despilfarrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despilfarrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despilfarrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despilfarrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despilfarrado |
| Vos | hubieres despilfarrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despilfarrando |
| Tú | estés despilfarrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despilfarrando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despilfarrando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despilfarrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despilfarrando |
| Vos | estés despilfarrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despilfarrando / estuviese despilfarrando |
| Tú | estuvieras despilfarrando / estuvieses despilfarrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despilfarrando / estuviese despilfarrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despilfarrando / estuviésamos despilfarrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despilfarrando / estuvieseis despilfarrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despilfarrando / estuviese despilfarrando |
| Vos | estuvieras despilfarrando / estuvieses despilfarrando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despilfarrando |
| Tú | estuvieres despilfarrando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despilfarrando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despilfarrando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despilfarrando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despilfarrando |
| Vos | estuvieres despilfarrando |
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 despilfarrás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos despilfarraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos despilfarrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos despilfarrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos despilfarrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos despilfarres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos despilfarraras / Vos despilfarrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despilfarrá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no despilfarres |