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Descuidar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to neglect, forget”.
Below are all of the conjugations for descuidar 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 neglect, forget |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | descuidar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está descuidando) and past continuous (estaba descuidando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. neglecting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he descuidado and hubiera descuidado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have neglected).
| Gerundio / Gerund | descuidando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | descuidado |
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 neglect” or “they neglect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | descuido |
| Tú | descuidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuida |
| Nosotros / as | descuidamos |
| Vosotros / as | descuidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidan |
| Vos | descuidás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I neglected” or “she neglected” 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 | descuidé | I neglected |
| Tú | descuidaste | You neglected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuidó | He / she / you neglected |
| Nosotros / as | descuidamos | We neglected |
| Vosotros / as | descuidasteis | You neglected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidaron | They / you neglected |
| Vos | descuidaste | You neglected |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was neglecting” or “she was neglecting” 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 | descuidaba | I was neglecting |
| Tú | descuidabas | You were neglecting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuidaba | He was / she was / you were neglecting |
| Nosotros / as | descuidábamos | We were neglecting |
| Vosotros / as | descuidabais | You were neglecting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidaban | They / you were neglecting |
| Vos | descuidabas | You were neglecting |
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 neglected” and “she has neglected”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he descuidado | I have neglected |
| Tú | has descuidado | You have neglected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha descuidado | He has / she has / you have neglected |
| Nosotros / as | hemos descuidado | We have neglected |
| Vosotros / as | habéis descuidado | You have neglected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han descuidado | They / you have neglected |
| Vos | has descuidado | You have neglected |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would neglect” or “she would neglect”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | descuidaría | I would neglect |
| Tú | descuidarías | You would neglect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuidaría | He / she / you would neglect |
| Nosotros / as | descuidaríamos | We would neglect |
| Vosotros / as | descuidaríais | You would neglect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidarían | They / you would neglect |
| Vos | descuidarías | You would neglect |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will neglect” or “they will neglect”.
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 descuidar” means “They are going to neglect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | descuidaré | I will neglect |
| Tú | descuidarás | You will neglect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuidará | He / she / you will neglect |
| Nosotros / as | descuidaremos | We will neglect |
| Vosotros / as | descuidaréis | You will neglect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidarán | They / you will neglect |
| Vos | descuidarás | You will neglect |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | descuide |
| Tú | descuides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuide |
| Nosotros / as | descuidemos |
| Vosotros / as | descuidéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuiden |
| Vos | descuides |
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 | descuidara | descuidase |
| Tú | descuidaras | descuidase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuidara | descuidase |
| Nosotros / as | descuidáramos | descuidásemos |
| Vosotros / as | descuidarais | descuidaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidaran | descuidasen |
| Vos | descuidaras | descuidase |
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 | descuidare |
| Tú | descuidares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuidare |
| Nosotros / as | descuidáremos |
| Vosotros / as | descuidareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuidaren |
| Vos | descuidares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “neglect!” and “don’t neglect!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | descuida | no descuides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descuide | no descuide |
| Nosotros / as | descuidemos | no descuidemos |
| Vosotros / as | descuidad | no descuidéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descuiden | no descuiden |
| Vos | descuidá | no descuides |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya descuidado |
| Tú | hayas descuidado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya descuidado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos descuidado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis descuidado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan descuidado |
| Vos | hayas descuidado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera descuidado / hubiese descuidado |
| Tú | hubieras descuidado / hubieses descuidado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera descuidado / hubiese descuidado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos descuidado / hubiésemos descuidado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais descuidado / hubieseis descuidado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran descuidado / hubiesen descuidado |
| Vos | hubieras descuidado / hubieses descuidado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere descuidado |
| Tú | hubieres descuidado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere descuidado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos descuidado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis descuidado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren descuidado |
| Vos | hubieres descuidado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté descuidando |
| Tú | estés descuidando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté descuidando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos descuidando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis descuidando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén descuidando |
| Vos | estés descuidando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera descuidando / estuviese descuidando |
| Tú | estuvieras descuidando / estuvieses descuidando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera descuidando / estuviese descuidando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos descuidando / estuviésamos descuidando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais descuidando / estuvieseis descuidando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera descuidando / estuviese descuidando |
| Vos | estuvieras descuidando / estuvieses descuidando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere descuidando |
| Tú | estuvieres descuidando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere descuidando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos descuidando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis descuidando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere descuidando |
| Vos | estuvieres descuidando |
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 descuidás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos descuidaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos descuidabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos descuidarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos descuidarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos descuides |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos descuidaras / Vos descuidase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos descuidá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no descuides |