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Desvelar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to keep awake, stay awake”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desvelar 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 keep awake, stay awake |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desvelar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desvelando) and past continuous (estaba desvelando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. keeping awake).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desvelado and hubiera desvelado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have kept awake).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desvelando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desvelado |
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 keep awake” or “they keep awake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desvelo |
| Tú | desvelas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvela |
| Nosotros / as | desvelamos |
| Vosotros / as | desveláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelan |
| Vos | desvelás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I kept awake” or “she kept awake” 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 | desvelé | I kept awake |
| Tú | desvelaste | You kept awake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desveló | He / she / you kept awake |
| Nosotros / as | desvelamos | We kept awake |
| Vosotros / as | desvelasteis | You kept awake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelaron | They / you kept awake |
| Vos | desvelaste | You kept awake |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was keeping awake” or “she was keeping awake” 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 | desvelaba | I was keeping awake |
| Tú | desvelabas | You were keeping awake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvelaba | He was / she was / you were keeping awake |
| Nosotros / as | desvelábamos | We were keeping awake |
| Vosotros / as | desvelabais | You were keeping awake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelaban | They / you were keeping awake |
| Vos | desvelabas | You were keeping awake |
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 kept awake” and “she has kept awake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desvelado | I have kept awake |
| Tú | has desvelado | You have kept awake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desvelado | He has / she has / you have kept awake |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desvelado | We have kept awake |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desvelado | You have kept awake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desvelado | They / you have kept awake |
| Vos | has desvelado | You have kept awake |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would keep awake” or “she would keep awake”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desvelaría | I would keep awake |
| Tú | desvelarías | You would keep awake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvelaría | He / she / you would keep awake |
| Nosotros / as | desvelaríamos | We would keep awake |
| Vosotros / as | desvelaríais | You would keep awake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelarían | They / you would keep awake |
| Vos | desvelarías | You would keep awake |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will keep awake” or “they will keep awake”.
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 desvelar” means “They are going to keep awake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desvelaré | I will keep awake |
| Tú | desvelarás | You will keep awake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvelará | He / she / you will keep awake |
| Nosotros / as | desvelaremos | We will keep awake |
| Vosotros / as | desvelaréis | You will keep awake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelarán | They / you will keep awake |
| Vos | desvelarás | You will keep awake |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desvele |
| Tú | desveles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvele |
| Nosotros / as | desvelemos |
| Vosotros / as | desveléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelen |
| Vos | desveles |
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 | desvelara | desvelase |
| Tú | desvelaras | desvelase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvelara | desvelase |
| Nosotros / as | desveláramos | desvelásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desvelarais | desvelaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelaran | desvelasen |
| Vos | desvelaras | desvelase |
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 | desvelare |
| Tú | desvelares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvelare |
| Nosotros / as | desveláremos |
| Vosotros / as | desvelareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelaren |
| Vos | desvelares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “keep awake!” and “don’t keep awake!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desvela | no desveles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvele | no desvele |
| Nosotros / as | desvelemos | no desvelemos |
| Vosotros / as | desvelad | no desveléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvelen | no desvelen |
| Vos | desvelá | no desveles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desvelado |
| Tú | hayas desvelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desvelado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desvelado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desvelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desvelado |
| Vos | hayas desvelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desvelado / hubiese desvelado |
| Tú | hubieras desvelado / hubieses desvelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desvelado / hubiese desvelado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desvelado / hubiésemos desvelado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desvelado / hubieseis desvelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desvelado / hubiesen desvelado |
| Vos | hubieras desvelado / hubieses desvelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desvelado |
| Tú | hubieres desvelado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desvelado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desvelado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desvelado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desvelado |
| Vos | hubieres desvelado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desvelando |
| Tú | estés desvelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desvelando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desvelando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desvelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desvelando |
| Vos | estés desvelando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desvelando / estuviese desvelando |
| Tú | estuvieras desvelando / estuvieses desvelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desvelando / estuviese desvelando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desvelando / estuviésamos desvelando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desvelando / estuvieseis desvelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desvelando / estuviese desvelando |
| Vos | estuvieras desvelando / estuvieses desvelando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desvelando |
| Tú | estuvieres desvelando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desvelando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desvelando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desvelando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desvelando |
| Vos | estuvieres desvelando |
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 desvelás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desvelaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desvelabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desvelarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desvelarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desveles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desvelaras / Vos desvelase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desvelá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desveles |