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Destellar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to twinkle, sparkle, flash”.
Below are all of the conjugations for destellar 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 twinkle, sparkle, flash |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | destellar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está destellando) and past continuous (estaba destellando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. twinkling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he destellado and hubiera destellado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have twinkled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | destellando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | destellado |
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 twinkle” or “they twinkle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | destello |
| Tú | destellas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destella |
| Nosotros / as | destellamos |
| Vosotros / as | destelláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellan |
| Vos | destellás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I twinkled” or “she twinkled” 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 | destellé | I twinkled |
| Tú | destellaste | You twinkled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destelló | He / she / you twinkled |
| Nosotros / as | destellamos | We twinkled |
| Vosotros / as | destellasteis | You twinkled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellaron | They / you twinkled |
| Vos | destellaste | You twinkled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was twinkling” or “she was twinkling” 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 | destellaba | I was twinkling |
| Tú | destellabas | You were twinkling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destellaba | He was / she was / you were twinkling |
| Nosotros / as | destellábamos | We were twinkling |
| Vosotros / as | destellabais | You were twinkling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellaban | They / you were twinkling |
| Vos | destellabas | You were twinkling |
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 twinkled” and “she has twinkled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he destellado | I have twinkled |
| Tú | has destellado | You have twinkled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha destellado | He has / she has / you have twinkled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos destellado | We have twinkled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis destellado | You have twinkled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han destellado | They / you have twinkled |
| Vos | has destellado | You have twinkled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would twinkle” or “she would twinkle”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | destellaría | I would twinkle |
| Tú | destellarías | You would twinkle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destellaría | He / she / you would twinkle |
| Nosotros / as | destellaríamos | We would twinkle |
| Vosotros / as | destellaríais | You would twinkle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellarían | They / you would twinkle |
| Vos | destellarías | You would twinkle |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will twinkle” or “they will twinkle”.
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 destellar” means “They are going to twinkle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | destellaré | I will twinkle |
| Tú | destellarás | You will twinkle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destellará | He / she / you will twinkle |
| Nosotros / as | destellaremos | We will twinkle |
| Vosotros / as | destellaréis | You will twinkle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellarán | They / you will twinkle |
| Vos | destellarás | You will twinkle |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | destelle |
| Tú | destelles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destelle |
| Nosotros / as | destellemos |
| Vosotros / as | destelléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellen |
| Vos | destelles |
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 | destellara | destellase |
| Tú | destellaras | destellase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destellara | destellase |
| Nosotros / as | destelláramos | destellásemos |
| Vosotros / as | destellarais | destellaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellaran | destellasen |
| Vos | destellaras | destellase |
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 | destellare |
| Tú | destellares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destellare |
| Nosotros / as | destelláremos |
| Vosotros / as | destellareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellaren |
| Vos | destellares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “twinkle!” and “don’t twinkle!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | destella | no destelles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destelle | no destelle |
| Nosotros / as | destellemos | no destellemos |
| Vosotros / as | destellad | no destelléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destellen | no destellen |
| Vos | destellá | no destelles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya destellado |
| Tú | hayas destellado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya destellado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos destellado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis destellado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan destellado |
| Vos | hayas destellado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera destellado / hubiese destellado |
| Tú | hubieras destellado / hubieses destellado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera destellado / hubiese destellado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos destellado / hubiésemos destellado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais destellado / hubieseis destellado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran destellado / hubiesen destellado |
| Vos | hubieras destellado / hubieses destellado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere destellado |
| Tú | hubieres destellado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere destellado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos destellado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis destellado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren destellado |
| Vos | hubieres destellado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté destellando |
| Tú | estés destellando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté destellando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos destellando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis destellando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén destellando |
| Vos | estés destellando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera destellando / estuviese destellando |
| Tú | estuvieras destellando / estuvieses destellando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera destellando / estuviese destellando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos destellando / estuviésamos destellando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais destellando / estuvieseis destellando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera destellando / estuviese destellando |
| Vos | estuvieras destellando / estuvieses destellando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere destellando |
| Tú | estuvieres destellando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere destellando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos destellando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis destellando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere destellando |
| Vos | estuvieres destellando |
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 destellás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos destellaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos destellabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos destellarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos destellarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos destelles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos destellaras / Vos destellase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos destellá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no destelles |