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Describir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to describe”.
Below are all of the conjugations for describir 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 describe |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | describir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está describiendo) and past continuous (estaba describiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. describing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he descrito and hubiera descrito. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have described).
| Gerundio / Gerund | describiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | descrito |
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 describe” or “they describe”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | describo |
| Tú | describes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describe |
| Nosotros / as | describimos |
| Vosotros / as | describís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describen |
| Vos | describís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I described” or “she described” 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 | describí | I described |
| Tú | describiste | You described |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describió | He / she / you described |
| Nosotros / as | describimos | We described |
| Vosotros / as | describisteis | You described |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describieron | They / you described |
| Vos | describiste | You described |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was describing” or “she was describing” 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 | describía | I was describing |
| Tú | describías | You were describing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describía | He was / she was / you were describing |
| Nosotros / as | describíamos | We were describing |
| Vosotros / as | describíais | You were describing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describían | They / you were describing |
| Vos | describías | You were describing |
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 described” and “she has described”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he descrito | I have described |
| Tú | has descrito | You have described |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha descrito | He has / she has / you have described |
| Nosotros / as | hemos descrito | We have described |
| Vosotros / as | habéis descrito | You have described |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han descrito | They / you have described |
| Vos | has descrito | You have described |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would describe” or “she would describe”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | describiría | I would describe |
| Tú | describirías | You would describe |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describiría | He / she / you would describe |
| Nosotros / as | describiríamos | We would describe |
| Vosotros / as | describiríais | You would describe |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describirían | They / you would describe |
| Vos | describirías | You would describe |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will describe” or “they will describe”.
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 describir” means “They are going to describe”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | describiré | I will describe |
| Tú | describirás | You will describe |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describirá | He / she / you will describe |
| Nosotros / as | describiremos | We will describe |
| Vosotros / as | describiréis | You will describe |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describirán | They / you will describe |
| Vos | describirás | You will describe |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | describa |
| Tú | describas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describa |
| Nosotros / as | describamos |
| Vosotros / as | describáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describan |
| Vos | describas |
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 | describiera | describiese |
| Tú | describieras | describiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describiera | describiese |
| Nosotros / as | describiéramos | describiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | describierais | describieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describieran | describiesen |
| Vos | describieras | describiese |
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 | describiere |
| Tú | describieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describiera |
| Nosotros / as | describiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | describiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describieren |
| Vos | describieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “describe!” and “don’t describe!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | describe | no describas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | describa | no describa |
| Nosotros / as | describamos | no describamos |
| Vosotros / as | describid | no describáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | describan | no describan |
| Vos | describí | no describas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya descrito |
| Tú | hayas descrito |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya descrito |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos descrito |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis descrito |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan descrito |
| Vos | hayas descrito |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera descrito / hubiese descrito |
| Tú | hubieras descrito / hubieses descrito |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera descrito / hubiese descrito |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos descrito / hubiésemos descrito |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais descrito / hubieseis descrito |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran descrito / hubiesen descrito |
| Vos | hubieras descrito / hubieses descrito |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere descrito |
| Tú | hubieres descrito |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere descrito |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos descrito |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis descrito |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren descrito |
| Vos | hubieres descrito |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté describiendo |
| Tú | estés describiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté describiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos describiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis describiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén describiendo |
| Vos | estés describiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera describiendo / estuviese describiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras describiendo / estuvieses describiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera describiendo / estuviese describiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos describiendo / estuviésamos describiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais describiendo / estuvieseis describiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera describiendo / estuviese describiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras describiendo / estuvieses describiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere describiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres describiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere describiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos describiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis describiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere describiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres describiendo |
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 describís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos describiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos describías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos describirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos describirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos describas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos describieras / Vos describiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos describí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no describas |