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Desatar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to untie, undo”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desatar 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 untie, undo |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desatar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desatando) and past continuous (estaba desatando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. untying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desatado and hubiera desatado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have untied).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desatando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desatado |
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 untie” or “they untie”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desato |
| Tú | desatas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desata |
| Nosotros / as | desatamos |
| Vosotros / as | desatáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desatan |
| Vos | desatás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I untied” or “she untied” 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 | desaté | I untied |
| Tú | desataste | You untied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desató | He / she / you untied |
| Nosotros / as | desatamos | We untied |
| Vosotros / as | desatasteis | You untied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desataron | They / you untied |
| Vos | desataste | You untied |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was untying” or “she was untying” 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 | desataba | I was untying |
| Tú | desatabas | You were untying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desataba | He was / she was / you were untying |
| Nosotros / as | desatábamos | We were untying |
| Vosotros / as | desatabais | You were untying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desataban | They / you were untying |
| Vos | desatabas | You were untying |
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 untied” and “she has untied”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desatado | I have untied |
| Tú | has desatado | You have untied |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desatado | He has / she has / you have untied |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desatado | We have untied |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desatado | You have untied |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desatado | They / you have untied |
| Vos | has desatado | You have untied |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would untie” or “she would untie”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desataría | I would untie |
| Tú | desatarías | You would untie |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desataría | He / she / you would untie |
| Nosotros / as | desataríamos | We would untie |
| Vosotros / as | desataríais | You would untie |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desatarían | They / you would untie |
| Vos | desatarías | You would untie |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will untie” or “they will untie”.
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 desatar” means “They are going to untie”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desataré | I will untie |
| Tú | desatarás | You will untie |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desatará | He / she / you will untie |
| Nosotros / as | desataremos | We will untie |
| Vosotros / as | desataréis | You will untie |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desatarán | They / you will untie |
| Vos | desatarás | You will untie |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desate |
| Tú | desates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desate |
| Nosotros / as | desatemos |
| Vosotros / as | desatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desaten |
| Vos | desates |
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 | desatara | desatase |
| Tú | desataras | desatase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desatara | desatase |
| Nosotros / as | desatáramos | desatásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desatarais | desataseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desataran | desatasen |
| Vos | desataras | desatase |
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 | desatare |
| Tú | desatares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desatare |
| Nosotros / as | desatáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desatareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desataren |
| Vos | desatares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “untie!” and “don’t untie!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desata | no desates |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desate | no desate |
| Nosotros / as | desatemos | no desatemos |
| Vosotros / as | desatad | no desatéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desaten | no desaten |
| Vos | desatá | no desates |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desatado |
| Tú | hayas desatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desatado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desatado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desatado |
| Vos | hayas desatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desatado / hubiese desatado |
| Tú | hubieras desatado / hubieses desatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desatado / hubiese desatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desatado / hubiésemos desatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desatado / hubieseis desatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desatado / hubiesen desatado |
| Vos | hubieras desatado / hubieses desatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desatado |
| Tú | hubieres desatado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desatado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desatado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desatado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desatado |
| Vos | hubieres desatado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desatando |
| Tú | estés desatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desatando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desatando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desatando |
| Vos | estés desatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desatando / estuviese desatando |
| Tú | estuvieras desatando / estuvieses desatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desatando / estuviese desatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desatando / estuviésamos desatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desatando / estuvieseis desatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desatando / estuviese desatando |
| Vos | estuvieras desatando / estuvieses desatando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desatando |
| Tú | estuvieres desatando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desatando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desatando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desatando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desatando |
| Vos | estuvieres desatando |
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 desatás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desataste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desatabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desatarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desatarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desates |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desataras / Vos desatase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desatá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desates |