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Derrotar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to defeat”.
Below are all of the conjugations for derrotar 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 defeat |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | derrotar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está derrotando) and past continuous (estaba derrotando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. defeating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he derrotado and hubiera derrotado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have defeated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | derrotando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | derrotado |
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 defeat” or “they defeat”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | derroto |
| Tú | derrotas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrota |
| Nosotros / as | derrotamos |
| Vosotros / as | derrotáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotan |
| Vos | derrotás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I defeated” or “she defeated” 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 | derroté | I defeated |
| Tú | derrotaste | You defeated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrotó | He / she / you defeated |
| Nosotros / as | derrotamos | We defeated |
| Vosotros / as | derrotasteis | You defeated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotaron | They / you defeated |
| Vos | derrotaste | You defeated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was defeating” or “she was defeating” 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 | derrotaba | I was defeating |
| Tú | derrotabas | You were defeating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrotaba | He was / she was / you were defeating |
| Nosotros / as | derrotábamos | We were defeating |
| Vosotros / as | derrotabais | You were defeating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotaban | They / you were defeating |
| Vos | derrotabas | You were defeating |
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 defeated” and “she has defeated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he derrotado | I have defeated |
| Tú | has derrotado | You have defeated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha derrotado | He has / she has / you have defeated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos derrotado | We have defeated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis derrotado | You have defeated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han derrotado | They / you have defeated |
| Vos | has derrotado | You have defeated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would defeat” or “she would defeat”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | derrotaría | I would defeat |
| Tú | derrotarías | You would defeat |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrotaría | He / she / you would defeat |
| Nosotros / as | derrotaríamos | We would defeat |
| Vosotros / as | derrotaríais | You would defeat |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotarían | They / you would defeat |
| Vos | derrotarías | You would defeat |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will defeat” or “they will defeat”.
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 derrotar” means “They are going to defeat”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | derrotaré | I will defeat |
| Tú | derrotarás | You will defeat |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrotará | He / she / you will defeat |
| Nosotros / as | derrotaremos | We will defeat |
| Vosotros / as | derrotaréis | You will defeat |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotarán | They / you will defeat |
| Vos | derrotarás | You will defeat |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | derrote |
| Tú | derrotes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrote |
| Nosotros / as | derrotemos |
| Vosotros / as | derrotéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derroten |
| Vos | derrotes |
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 | derrotara | derrotase |
| Tú | derrotaras | derrotase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrotara | derrotase |
| Nosotros / as | derrotáramos | derrotásemos |
| Vosotros / as | derrotarais | derrotaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotaran | derrotasen |
| Vos | derrotaras | derrotase |
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 | derrotare |
| Tú | derrotares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrotare |
| Nosotros / as | derrotáremos |
| Vosotros / as | derrotareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derrotaren |
| Vos | derrotares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “defeat!” and “don’t defeat!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | derrota | no derrotes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | derrote | no derrote |
| Nosotros / as | derrotemos | no derrotemos |
| Vosotros / as | derrotad | no derrotéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | derroten | no derroten |
| Vos | derrotá | no derrotes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya derrotado |
| Tú | hayas derrotado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya derrotado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos derrotado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis derrotado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan derrotado |
| Vos | hayas derrotado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera derrotado / hubiese derrotado |
| Tú | hubieras derrotado / hubieses derrotado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera derrotado / hubiese derrotado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos derrotado / hubiésemos derrotado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais derrotado / hubieseis derrotado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran derrotado / hubiesen derrotado |
| Vos | hubieras derrotado / hubieses derrotado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere derrotado |
| Tú | hubieres derrotado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere derrotado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos derrotado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis derrotado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren derrotado |
| Vos | hubieres derrotado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté derrotando |
| Tú | estés derrotando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté derrotando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos derrotando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis derrotando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén derrotando |
| Vos | estés derrotando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera derrotando / estuviese derrotando |
| Tú | estuvieras derrotando / estuvieses derrotando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera derrotando / estuviese derrotando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos derrotando / estuviésamos derrotando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais derrotando / estuvieseis derrotando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera derrotando / estuviese derrotando |
| Vos | estuvieras derrotando / estuvieses derrotando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere derrotando |
| Tú | estuvieres derrotando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere derrotando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos derrotando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis derrotando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere derrotando |
| Vos | estuvieres derrotando |
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 derrotás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos derrotaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos derrotabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos derrotarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos derrotarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos derrotes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos derrotaras / Vos derrotase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos derrotá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no derrotes |