Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Menu
Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Desabotonar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to unbutton”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desabotonar 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 unbutton |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desabotonar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desabotonando) and past continuous (estaba desabotonando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. unbuttoning).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desabotonado and hubiera desabotonado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have unbuttoned).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desabotonando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desabotonado |
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 unbutton” or “they unbutton”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desabotono |
| Tú | desabotonas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotona |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonamos |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonan |
| Vos | desabotonás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I unbuttoned” or “she unbuttoned” 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 | desabotoné | I unbuttoned |
| Tú | desabotonaste | You unbuttoned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotonó | He / she / you unbuttoned |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonamos | We unbuttoned |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonasteis | You unbuttoned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonaron | They / you unbuttoned |
| Vos | desabotonaste | You unbuttoned |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was unbuttoning” or “she was unbuttoning” 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 | desabotonaba | I was unbuttoning |
| Tú | desabotonabas | You were unbuttoning |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotonaba | He was / she was / you were unbuttoning |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonábamos | We were unbuttoning |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonabais | You were unbuttoning |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonaban | They / you were unbuttoning |
| Vos | desabotonabas | You were unbuttoning |
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 unbuttoned” and “she has unbuttoned”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desabotonado | I have unbuttoned |
| Tú | has desabotonado | You have unbuttoned |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desabotonado | He has / she has / you have unbuttoned |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desabotonado | We have unbuttoned |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desabotonado | You have unbuttoned |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desabotonado | They / you have unbuttoned |
| Vos | has desabotonado | You have unbuttoned |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would unbutton” or “she would unbutton”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desabotonaría | I would unbutton |
| Tú | desabotonarías | You would unbutton |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotonaría | He / she / you would unbutton |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonaríamos | We would unbutton |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonaríais | You would unbutton |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonarían | They / you would unbutton |
| Vos | desabotonarías | You would unbutton |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will unbutton” or “they will unbutton”.
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 desabotonar” means “They are going to unbutton”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desabotonaré | I will unbutton |
| Tú | desabotonarás | You will unbutton |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotonará | He / she / you will unbutton |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonaremos | We will unbutton |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonaréis | You will unbutton |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonarán | They / you will unbutton |
| Vos | desabotonarás | You will unbutton |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desabotone |
| Tú | desabotones |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotone |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonemos |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonen |
| Vos | desabotones |
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 | desabotonara | desabotonase |
| Tú | desabotonaras | desabotonase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotonara | desabotonase |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonáramos | desabotonásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonarais | desabotonaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonaran | desabotonasen |
| Vos | desabotonaras | desabotonase |
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 | desabotonare |
| Tú | desabotonares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotonare |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonaren |
| Vos | desabotonares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “unbutton!” and “don’t unbutton!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desabotona | no desabotones |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desabotone | no desabotone |
| Nosotros / as | desabotonemos | no desabotonemos |
| Vosotros / as | desabotonad | no desabotonéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desabotonen | no desabotonen |
| Vos | desabotoná | no desabotones |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desabotonado |
| Tú | hayas desabotonado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desabotonado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desabotonado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desabotonado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desabotonado |
| Vos | hayas desabotonado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desabotonado / hubiese desabotonado |
| Tú | hubieras desabotonado / hubieses desabotonado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desabotonado / hubiese desabotonado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desabotonado / hubiésemos desabotonado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desabotonado / hubieseis desabotonado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desabotonado / hubiesen desabotonado |
| Vos | hubieras desabotonado / hubieses desabotonado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desabotonado |
| Tú | hubieres desabotonado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desabotonado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desabotonado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desabotonado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desabotonado |
| Vos | hubieres desabotonado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desabotonando |
| Tú | estés desabotonando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desabotonando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desabotonando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desabotonando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desabotonando |
| Vos | estés desabotonando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desabotonando / estuviese desabotonando |
| Tú | estuvieras desabotonando / estuvieses desabotonando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desabotonando / estuviese desabotonando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desabotonando / estuviésamos desabotonando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desabotonando / estuvieseis desabotonando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desabotonando / estuviese desabotonando |
| Vos | estuvieras desabotonando / estuvieses desabotonando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desabotonando |
| Tú | estuvieres desabotonando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desabotonando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desabotonando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desabotonando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desabotonando |
| Vos | estuvieres desabotonando |
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 desabotonás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desabotonaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desabotonabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desabotonarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desabotonarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desabotones |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desabotonaras / Vos desabotonase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desabotoná |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desabotones |