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Demandar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to demand, claim, request”.
Below are all of the conjugations for demandar 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 demand, claim, request |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | demandar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está demandando) and past continuous (estaba demandando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. demanding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he demandado and hubiera demandado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have demanded).
| Gerundio / Gerund | demandando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | demandado |
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 demand” or “they demand”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | demando |
| Tú | demandas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demanda |
| Nosotros / as | demandamos |
| Vosotros / as | demandáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandan |
| Vos | demandás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I demanded” or “she demanded” 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 | demandé | I demanded |
| Tú | demandaste | You demanded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demandó | He / she / you demanded |
| Nosotros / as | demandamos | We demanded |
| Vosotros / as | demandasteis | You demanded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandaron | They / you demanded |
| Vos | demandaste | You demanded |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was demanding” or “she was demanding” 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 | demandaba | I was demanding |
| Tú | demandabas | You were demanding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demandaba | He was / she was / you were demanding |
| Nosotros / as | demandábamos | We were demanding |
| Vosotros / as | demandabais | You were demanding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandaban | They / you were demanding |
| Vos | demandabas | You were demanding |
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 demanded” and “she has demanded”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he demandado | I have demanded |
| Tú | has demandado | You have demanded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha demandado | He has / she has / you have demanded |
| Nosotros / as | hemos demandado | We have demanded |
| Vosotros / as | habéis demandado | You have demanded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han demandado | They / you have demanded |
| Vos | has demandado | You have demanded |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would demand” or “she would demand”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | demandaría | I would demand |
| Tú | demandarías | You would demand |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demandaría | He / she / you would demand |
| Nosotros / as | demandaríamos | We would demand |
| Vosotros / as | demandaríais | You would demand |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandarían | They / you would demand |
| Vos | demandarías | You would demand |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will demand” or “they will demand”.
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 demandar” means “They are going to demand”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | demandaré | I will demand |
| Tú | demandarás | You will demand |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demandará | He / she / you will demand |
| Nosotros / as | demandaremos | We will demand |
| Vosotros / as | demandaréis | You will demand |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandarán | They / you will demand |
| Vos | demandarás | You will demand |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | demande |
| Tú | demandes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demande |
| Nosotros / as | demandemos |
| Vosotros / as | demandéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demanden |
| Vos | demandes |
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 | demandara | demandase |
| Tú | demandaras | demandase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demandara | demandase |
| Nosotros / as | demandáramos | demandásemos |
| Vosotros / as | demandarais | demandaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandaran | demandasen |
| Vos | demandaras | demandase |
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 | demandare |
| Tú | demandares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demandare |
| Nosotros / as | demandáremos |
| Vosotros / as | demandareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demandaren |
| Vos | demandares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “demand!” and “don’t demand!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | demanda | no demandes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demande | no demande |
| Nosotros / as | demandemos | no demandemos |
| Vosotros / as | demandad | no demandéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demanden | no demanden |
| Vos | demandá | no demandes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya demandado |
| Tú | hayas demandado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya demandado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos demandado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis demandado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan demandado |
| Vos | hayas demandado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera demandado / hubiese demandado |
| Tú | hubieras demandado / hubieses demandado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera demandado / hubiese demandado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos demandado / hubiésemos demandado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais demandado / hubieseis demandado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran demandado / hubiesen demandado |
| Vos | hubieras demandado / hubieses demandado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere demandado |
| Tú | hubieres demandado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere demandado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos demandado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis demandado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren demandado |
| Vos | hubieres demandado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté demandando |
| Tú | estés demandando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté demandando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos demandando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis demandando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén demandando |
| Vos | estés demandando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera demandando / estuviese demandando |
| Tú | estuvieras demandando / estuvieses demandando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera demandando / estuviese demandando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos demandando / estuviésamos demandando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais demandando / estuvieseis demandando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera demandando / estuviese demandando |
| Vos | estuvieras demandando / estuvieses demandando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere demandando |
| Tú | estuvieres demandando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere demandando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos demandando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis demandando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere demandando |
| Vos | estuvieres demandando |
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 demandás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos demandaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos demandabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos demandarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos demandarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos demandes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos demandaras / Vos demandase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos demandá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no demandes |