Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Demorar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to delay, retard”.
Below are all of the conjugations for demorar 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 delay, retard |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | demorar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está demorando) and past continuous (estaba demorando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. delaying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he demorado and hubiera demorado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have delayed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | demorando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | demorado |
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 delay” or “they delay”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | demoro |
| Tú | demoras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demora |
| Nosotros / as | demoramos |
| Vosotros / as | demoráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoran |
| Vos | demorás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I delayed” or “she delayed” 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 | demoré | I delayed |
| Tú | demoraste | You delayed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demoró | He / she / you delayed |
| Nosotros / as | demoramos | We delayed |
| Vosotros / as | demorasteis | You delayed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoraron | They / you delayed |
| Vos | demoraste | You delayed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was delaying” or “she was delaying” 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 | demoraba | I was delaying |
| Tú | demorabas | You were delaying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demoraba | He was / she was / you were delaying |
| Nosotros / as | demorábamos | We were delaying |
| Vosotros / as | demorabais | You were delaying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoraban | They / you were delaying |
| Vos | demorabas | You were delaying |
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 delayed” and “she has delayed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he demorado | I have delayed |
| Tú | has demorado | You have delayed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha demorado | He has / she has / you have delayed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos demorado | We have delayed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis demorado | You have delayed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han demorado | They / you have delayed |
| Vos | has demorado | You have delayed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would delay” or “she would delay”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | demoraría | I would delay |
| Tú | demorarías | You would delay |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demoraría | He / she / you would delay |
| Nosotros / as | demoraríamos | We would delay |
| Vosotros / as | demoraríais | You would delay |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demorarían | They / you would delay |
| Vos | demorarías | You would delay |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will delay” or “they will delay”.
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 demorar” means “They are going to delay”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | demoraré | I will delay |
| Tú | demorarás | You will delay |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demorará | He / she / you will delay |
| Nosotros / as | demoraremos | We will delay |
| Vosotros / as | demoraréis | You will delay |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demorarán | They / you will delay |
| Vos | demorarás | You will delay |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | demore |
| Tú | demores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demore |
| Nosotros / as | demoremos |
| Vosotros / as | demoréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoren |
| Vos | demores |
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 | demorara | demorase |
| Tú | demoraras | demorase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demorara | demorase |
| Nosotros / as | demoráramos | demorásemos |
| Vosotros / as | demorarais | demoraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoraran | demorasen |
| Vos | demoraras | demorase |
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 | demorare |
| Tú | demorares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demorare |
| Nosotros / as | demoráremos |
| Vosotros / as | demorareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoraren |
| Vos | demorares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “delay!” and “don’t delay!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | demora | no demores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | demore | no demore |
| Nosotros / as | demoremos | no demoremos |
| Vosotros / as | demorad | no demoréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | demoren | no demoren |
| Vos | demorá | no demores |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya demorado |
| Tú | hayas demorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya demorado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos demorado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis demorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan demorado |
| Vos | hayas demorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera demorado / hubiese demorado |
| Tú | hubieras demorado / hubieses demorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera demorado / hubiese demorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos demorado / hubiésemos demorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais demorado / hubieseis demorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran demorado / hubiesen demorado |
| Vos | hubieras demorado / hubieses demorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere demorado |
| Tú | hubieres demorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere demorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos demorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis demorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren demorado |
| Vos | hubieres demorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté demorando |
| Tú | estés demorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté demorando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos demorando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis demorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén demorando |
| Vos | estés demorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera demorando / estuviese demorando |
| Tú | estuvieras demorando / estuvieses demorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera demorando / estuviese demorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos demorando / estuviésamos demorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais demorando / estuvieseis demorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera demorando / estuviese demorando |
| Vos | estuvieras demorando / estuvieses demorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere demorando |
| Tú | estuvieres demorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere demorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos demorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis demorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere demorando |
| Vos | estuvieres demorando |
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 demorás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos demoraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos demorabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos demorarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos demorarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos demores |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos demoraras / Vos demorase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos demorá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no demores |