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Desarrollar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to develop”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desarrollar 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 develop |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desarrollar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desarrollando) and past continuous (estaba desarrollando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. developing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desarrollado and hubiera desarrollado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have developed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desarrollando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desarrollado |
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 develop” or “they develop”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desarrollo |
| Tú | desarrollas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrolla |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollamos |
| Vosotros / as | desarrolláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollan |
| Vos | desarrollás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I developed” or “she developed” 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 | desarrollé | I developed |
| Tú | desarrollaste | You developed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrolló | He / she / you developed |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollamos | We developed |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollasteis | You developed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollaron | They / you developed |
| Vos | desarrollaste | You developed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was developing” or “she was developing” 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 | desarrollaba | I was developing |
| Tú | desarrollabas | You were developing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrollaba | He was / she was / you were developing |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollábamos | We were developing |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollabais | You were developing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollaban | They / you were developing |
| Vos | desarrollabas | You were developing |
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 developed” and “she has developed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desarrollado | I have developed |
| Tú | has desarrollado | You have developed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desarrollado | He has / she has / you have developed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desarrollado | We have developed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desarrollado | You have developed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desarrollado | They / you have developed |
| Vos | has desarrollado | You have developed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would develop” or “she would develop”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desarrollaría | I would develop |
| Tú | desarrollarías | You would develop |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrollaría | He / she / you would develop |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollaríamos | We would develop |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollaríais | You would develop |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollarían | They / you would develop |
| Vos | desarrollarías | You would develop |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will develop” or “they will develop”.
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 desarrollar” means “They are going to develop”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desarrollaré | I will develop |
| Tú | desarrollarás | You will develop |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrollará | He / she / you will develop |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollaremos | We will develop |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollaréis | You will develop |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollarán | They / you will develop |
| Vos | desarrollarás | You will develop |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desarrolle |
| Tú | desarrolles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrolle |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollemos |
| Vosotros / as | desarrolléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollen |
| Vos | desarrolles |
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 | desarrollara | desarrollase |
| Tú | desarrollaras | desarrollase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrollara | desarrollase |
| Nosotros / as | desarrolláramos | desarrollásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollarais | desarrollaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollaran | desarrollasen |
| Vos | desarrollaras | desarrollase |
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 | desarrollare |
| Tú | desarrollares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrollare |
| Nosotros / as | desarrolláremos |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollaren |
| Vos | desarrollares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “develop!” and “don’t develop!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desarrolla | no desarrolles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desarrolle | no desarrolle |
| Nosotros / as | desarrollemos | no desarrollemos |
| Vosotros / as | desarrollad | no desarrolléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desarrollen | no desarrollen |
| Vos | desarrollá | no desarrolles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desarrollado |
| Tú | hayas desarrollado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desarrollado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desarrollado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desarrollado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desarrollado |
| Vos | hayas desarrollado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desarrollado / hubiese desarrollado |
| Tú | hubieras desarrollado / hubieses desarrollado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desarrollado / hubiese desarrollado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desarrollado / hubiésemos desarrollado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desarrollado / hubieseis desarrollado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desarrollado / hubiesen desarrollado |
| Vos | hubieras desarrollado / hubieses desarrollado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desarrollado |
| Tú | hubieres desarrollado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desarrollado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desarrollado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desarrollado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desarrollado |
| Vos | hubieres desarrollado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desarrollando |
| Tú | estés desarrollando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desarrollando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desarrollando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desarrollando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desarrollando |
| Vos | estés desarrollando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desarrollando / estuviese desarrollando |
| Tú | estuvieras desarrollando / estuvieses desarrollando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desarrollando / estuviese desarrollando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desarrollando / estuviésamos desarrollando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desarrollando / estuvieseis desarrollando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desarrollando / estuviese desarrollando |
| Vos | estuvieras desarrollando / estuvieses desarrollando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desarrollando |
| Tú | estuvieres desarrollando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desarrollando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desarrollando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desarrollando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desarrollando |
| Vos | estuvieres desarrollando |
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 desarrollás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desarrollaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desarrollabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desarrollarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desarrollarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desarrolles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desarrollaras / Vos desarrollase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desarrollá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desarrolles |