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Desbordar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to overflow”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desbordar 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 overflow |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desbordar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desbordando) and past continuous (estaba desbordando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. overflowing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desbordado and hubiera desbordado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have overflowed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desbordando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desbordado |
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 overflow” or “they overflow”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desbordo |
| Tú | desbordas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desborda |
| Nosotros / as | desbordamos |
| Vosotros / as | desbordáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordan |
| Vos | desbordás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I overflowed” or “she overflowed” 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 | desbordé | I overflowed |
| Tú | desbordaste | You overflowed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbordó | He / she / you overflowed |
| Nosotros / as | desbordamos | We overflowed |
| Vosotros / as | desbordasteis | You overflowed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordaron | They / you overflowed |
| Vos | desbordaste | You overflowed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was overflowing” or “she was overflowing” 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 | desbordaba | I was overflowing |
| Tú | desbordabas | You were overflowing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbordaba | He was / she was / you were overflowing |
| Nosotros / as | desbordábamos | We were overflowing |
| Vosotros / as | desbordabais | You were overflowing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordaban | They / you were overflowing |
| Vos | desbordabas | You were overflowing |
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 overflowed” and “she has overflowed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desbordado | I have overflowed |
| Tú | has desbordado | You have overflowed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desbordado | He has / she has / you have overflowed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desbordado | We have overflowed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desbordado | You have overflowed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desbordado | They / you have overflowed |
| Vos | has desbordado | You have overflowed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would overflow” or “she would overflow”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desbordaría | I would overflow |
| Tú | desbordarías | You would overflow |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbordaría | He / she / you would overflow |
| Nosotros / as | desbordaríamos | We would overflow |
| Vosotros / as | desbordaríais | You would overflow |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordarían | They / you would overflow |
| Vos | desbordarías | You would overflow |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will overflow” or “they will overflow”.
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 desbordar” means “They are going to overflow”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desbordaré | I will overflow |
| Tú | desbordarás | You will overflow |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbordará | He / she / you will overflow |
| Nosotros / as | desbordaremos | We will overflow |
| Vosotros / as | desbordaréis | You will overflow |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordarán | They / you will overflow |
| Vos | desbordarás | You will overflow |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desborde |
| Tú | desbordes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desborde |
| Nosotros / as | desbordemos |
| Vosotros / as | desbordéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desborden |
| Vos | desbordes |
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 | desbordara | desbordase |
| Tú | desbordaras | desbordase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbordara | desbordase |
| Nosotros / as | desbordáramos | desbordásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desbordarais | desbordaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordaran | desbordasen |
| Vos | desbordaras | desbordase |
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 | desbordare |
| Tú | desbordares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desbordare |
| Nosotros / as | desbordáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desbordareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desbordaren |
| Vos | desbordares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “overflow!” and “don’t overflow!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desborda | no desbordes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desborde | no desborde |
| Nosotros / as | desbordemos | no desbordemos |
| Vosotros / as | desbordad | no desbordéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desborden | no desborden |
| Vos | desbordá | no desbordes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desbordado |
| Tú | hayas desbordado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desbordado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desbordado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desbordado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desbordado |
| Vos | hayas desbordado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desbordado / hubiese desbordado |
| Tú | hubieras desbordado / hubieses desbordado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desbordado / hubiese desbordado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desbordado / hubiésemos desbordado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desbordado / hubieseis desbordado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desbordado / hubiesen desbordado |
| Vos | hubieras desbordado / hubieses desbordado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desbordado |
| Tú | hubieres desbordado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desbordado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desbordado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desbordado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desbordado |
| Vos | hubieres desbordado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desbordando |
| Tú | estés desbordando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desbordando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desbordando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desbordando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desbordando |
| Vos | estés desbordando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desbordando / estuviese desbordando |
| Tú | estuvieras desbordando / estuvieses desbordando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desbordando / estuviese desbordando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desbordando / estuviésamos desbordando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desbordando / estuvieseis desbordando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desbordando / estuviese desbordando |
| Vos | estuvieras desbordando / estuvieses desbordando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desbordando |
| Tú | estuvieres desbordando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desbordando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desbordando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desbordando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desbordando |
| Vos | estuvieres desbordando |
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 desbordás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desbordaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desbordabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desbordarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desbordarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desbordes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desbordaras / Vos desbordase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desbordá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desbordes |