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Derribar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to knock down, tear down, overthrow”.
Below are all of the conjugations for derribar 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 knock down, tear down, overthrow |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | derribar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está derribando) and past continuous (estaba derribando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. knocking down).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he derribado and hubiera derribado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have knocked down).
| Gerundio / Gerund | derribando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | derribado |
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 knock down” or “they knock down”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | derribo |
| Tú | derribas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derriba |
| Nosotros / as | derribamos |
| Vosotros / as | derribáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derriban |
| Vos | derribás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I knocked down” or “she knocked down” 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 | derribé | I knocked down |
| Tú | derribaste | You knocked down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribó | He / she / you knocked down |
| Nosotros / as | derribamos | We knocked down |
| Vosotros / as | derribasteis | You knocked down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derribaron | They / you knocked down |
| Vos | derribaste | You knocked down |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was knocking down” or “she was knocking down” 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 | derribaba | I was knocking down |
| Tú | derribabas | You were knocking down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribaba | He was / she was / you were knocking down |
| Nosotros / as | derribábamos | We were knocking down |
| Vosotros / as | derribabais | You were knocking down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derribaban | They / you were knocking down |
| Vos | derribabas | You were knocking down |
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 knocked down” and “she has knocked down”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he derribado | I have knocked down |
| Tú | has derribado | You have knocked down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha derribado | He has / she has / you have knocked down |
| Nosotros / as | hemos derribado | We have knocked down |
| Vosotros / as | habéis derribado | You have knocked down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han derribado | They / you have knocked down |
| Vos | has derribado | You have knocked down |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would knock down” or “she would knock down”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | derribaría | I would knock down |
| Tú | derribarías | You would knock down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribaría | He / she / you would knock down |
| Nosotros / as | derribaríamos | We would knock down |
| Vosotros / as | derribaríais | You would knock down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derribarían | They / you would knock down |
| Vos | derribarías | You would knock down |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will knock down” or “they will knock down”.
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 derribar” means “They are going to knock down”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | derribaré | I will knock down |
| Tú | derribarás | You will knock down |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribará | He / she / you will knock down |
| Nosotros / as | derribaremos | We will knock down |
| Vosotros / as | derribaréis | You will knock down |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derribarán | They / you will knock down |
| Vos | derribarás | You will knock down |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | derribe |
| Tú | derribes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribe |
| Nosotros / as | derribemos |
| Vosotros / as | derribéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derriben |
| Vos | derribes |
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 | derribara | derribase |
| Tú | derribaras | derribase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribara | derribase |
| Nosotros / as | derribáramos | derribásemos |
| Vosotros / as | derribarais | derribaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derribaran | derribasen |
| Vos | derribaras | derribase |
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 | derribare |
| Tú | derribares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribare |
| Nosotros / as | derribáremos |
| Vosotros / as | derribareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derribaren |
| Vos | derribares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “knock down!” and “don’t knock down!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | derriba | no derribes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derribe | no derribe |
| Nosotros / as | derribemos | no derribemos |
| Vosotros / as | derribad | no derribéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derriben | no derriben |
| Vos | derribá | no derribes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya derribado |
| Tú | hayas derribado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya derribado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos derribado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis derribado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan derribado |
| Vos | hayas derribado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera derribado / hubiese derribado |
| Tú | hubieras derribado / hubieses derribado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera derribado / hubiese derribado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos derribado / hubiésemos derribado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais derribado / hubieseis derribado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran derribado / hubiesen derribado |
| Vos | hubieras derribado / hubieses derribado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere derribado |
| Tú | hubieres derribado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere derribado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos derribado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis derribado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren derribado |
| Vos | hubieres derribado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté derribando |
| Tú | estés derribando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté derribando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos derribando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis derribando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén derribando |
| Vos | estés derribando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera derribando / estuviese derribando |
| Tú | estuvieras derribando / estuvieses derribando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera derribando / estuviese derribando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos derribando / estuviésamos derribando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais derribando / estuvieseis derribando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera derribando / estuviese derribando |
| Vos | estuvieras derribando / estuvieses derribando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere derribando |
| Tú | estuvieres derribando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere derribando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos derribando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis derribando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere derribando |
| Vos | estuvieres derribando |
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 derribás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos derribaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos derribabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos derribarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos derribarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos derribes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos derribaras / Vos derribase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos derribá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no derribes |