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Desviar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to deflect, deviate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desviar 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 deflect, deviate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desviar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desviando) and past continuous (estaba desviando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. deflecting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desviado and hubiera desviado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have deflected).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desviando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desviado |
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 deflect” or “they deflect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desvío |
| Tú | desvías |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvía |
| Nosotros / as | desviamos |
| Vosotros / as | desviáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvían |
| Vos | desvías |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I deflected” or “she deflected” 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 | desvié | I deflected |
| Tú | desviaste | You deflected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvió | He / she / you deflected |
| Nosotros / as | desviamos | We deflected |
| Vosotros / as | desviasteis | You deflected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desviaron | They / you deflected |
| Vos | desviaste | You deflected |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was deflecting” or “she was deflecting” 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 | desviaba | I was deflecting |
| Tú | desviabas | You were deflecting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desviaba | He was / she was / you were deflecting |
| Nosotros / as | desviábamos | We were deflecting |
| Vosotros / as | desviabais | You were deflecting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desviaban | They / you were deflecting |
| Vos | desviabas | You were deflecting |
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 deflected” and “she has deflected”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desviado | I have deflected |
| Tú | has desviado | You have deflected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desviado | He has / she has / you have deflected |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desviado | We have deflected |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desviado | You have deflected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desviado | They / you have deflected |
| Vos | has desviado | You have deflected |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would deflect” or “she would deflect”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desviaría | I would deflect |
| Tú | desviarías | You would deflect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desviaría | He / she / you would deflect |
| Nosotros / as | desviaríamos | We would deflect |
| Vosotros / as | desviaríais | You would deflect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desviarían | They / you would deflect |
| Vos | desviarías | You would deflect |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will deflect” or “they will deflect”.
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 desviar” means “They are going to deflect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desviaré | I will deflect |
| Tú | desviarás | You will deflect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desviará | He / she / you will deflect |
| Nosotros / as | desviaremos | We will deflect |
| Vosotros / as | desviaréis | You will deflect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desviarán | They / you will deflect |
| Vos | desviarás | You will deflect |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desvíe |
| Tú | desvíes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvíe |
| Nosotros / as | desviemos |
| Vosotros / as | desviéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvíen |
| Vos | desvíes |
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 | desviara | desviase |
| Tú | desviaras | desviase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desviara | desviase |
| Nosotros / as | desviáramos | desviásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desviarais | desviaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desviaran | desviasen |
| Vos | desviaras | desviase |
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 | desviare |
| Tú | desviares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desviare |
| Nosotros / as | desviáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desviareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desviaren |
| Vos | desviares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “deflect!” and “don’t deflect!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desvía | no desvíes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desvíe | no desvíe |
| Nosotros / as | desviemos | no desviemos |
| Vosotros / as | desviad | no desviéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desvíen | no desvíen |
| Vos | desvía | no desvíes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desviado |
| Tú | hayas desviado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desviado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desviado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desviado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desviado |
| Vos | hayas desviado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desviado / hubiese desviado |
| Tú | hubieras desviado / hubieses desviado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desviado / hubiese desviado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desviado / hubiésemos desviado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desviado / hubieseis desviado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desviado / hubiesen desviado |
| Vos | hubieras desviado / hubieses desviado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desviado |
| Tú | hubieres desviado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desviado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desviado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desviado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desviado |
| Vos | hubieres desviado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desviando |
| Tú | estés desviando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desviando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desviando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desviando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desviando |
| Vos | estés desviando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desviando / estuviese desviando |
| Tú | estuvieras desviando / estuvieses desviando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desviando / estuviese desviando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desviando / estuviésamos desviando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desviando / estuvieseis desviando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desviando / estuviese desviando |
| Vos | estuvieras desviando / estuvieses desviando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desviando |
| Tú | estuvieres desviando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desviando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desviando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desviando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desviando |
| Vos | estuvieres desviando |
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 desvías |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desviaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desviabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desviarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desviarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desvíes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desviaras / Vos desviase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desvía |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desvíes |