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Desdoblar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to unfold, spread out”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desdoblar 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 unfold, spread out |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desdoblar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desdoblando) and past continuous (estaba desdoblando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. unfolding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desdoblado and hubiera desdoblado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have unfolded).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desdoblando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desdoblado |
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 unfold” or “they unfold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desdoblo |
| Tú | desdoblas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdobla |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblamos |
| Vosotros / as | desdobláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblan |
| Vos | desdoblás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I unfolded” or “she unfolded” 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 | desdoblé | I unfolded |
| Tú | desdoblaste | You unfolded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdobló | He / she / you unfolded |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblamos | We unfolded |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblasteis | You unfolded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblaron | They / you unfolded |
| Vos | desdoblaste | You unfolded |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was unfolding” or “she was unfolding” 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 | desdoblaba | I was unfolding |
| Tú | desdoblabas | You were unfolding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoblaba | He was / she was / you were unfolding |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblábamos | We were unfolding |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblabais | You were unfolding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblaban | They / you were unfolding |
| Vos | desdoblabas | You were unfolding |
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 unfolded” and “she has unfolded”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desdoblado | I have unfolded |
| Tú | has desdoblado | You have unfolded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desdoblado | He has / she has / you have unfolded |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desdoblado | We have unfolded |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desdoblado | You have unfolded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desdoblado | They / you have unfolded |
| Vos | has desdoblado | You have unfolded |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would unfold” or “she would unfold”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desdoblaría | I would unfold |
| Tú | desdoblarías | You would unfold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoblaría | He / she / you would unfold |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblaríamos | We would unfold |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblaríais | You would unfold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblarían | They / you would unfold |
| Vos | desdoblarías | You would unfold |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will unfold” or “they will unfold”.
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 desdoblar” means “They are going to unfold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desdoblaré | I will unfold |
| Tú | desdoblarás | You will unfold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoblará | He / she / you will unfold |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblaremos | We will unfold |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblaréis | You will unfold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblarán | They / you will unfold |
| Vos | desdoblarás | You will unfold |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desdoble |
| Tú | desdobles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoble |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblemos |
| Vosotros / as | desdobléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblen |
| Vos | desdobles |
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 | desdoblara | desdoblase |
| Tú | desdoblaras | desdoblase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoblara | desdoblase |
| Nosotros / as | desdobláramos | desdoblásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblarais | desdoblaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblaran | desdoblasen |
| Vos | desdoblaras | desdoblase |
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 | desdoblare |
| Tú | desdoblares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoblare |
| Nosotros / as | desdobláremos |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblaren |
| Vos | desdoblares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “unfold!” and “don’t unfold!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desdobla | no desdobles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdoble | no desdoble |
| Nosotros / as | desdoblemos | no desdoblemos |
| Vosotros / as | desdoblad | no desdobléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdoblen | no desdoblen |
| Vos | desdoblá | no desdobles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desdoblado |
| Tú | hayas desdoblado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desdoblado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desdoblado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desdoblado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desdoblado |
| Vos | hayas desdoblado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desdoblado / hubiese desdoblado |
| Tú | hubieras desdoblado / hubieses desdoblado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desdoblado / hubiese desdoblado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desdoblado / hubiésemos desdoblado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desdoblado / hubieseis desdoblado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desdoblado / hubiesen desdoblado |
| Vos | hubieras desdoblado / hubieses desdoblado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desdoblado |
| Tú | hubieres desdoblado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desdoblado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desdoblado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desdoblado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desdoblado |
| Vos | hubieres desdoblado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desdoblando |
| Tú | estés desdoblando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desdoblando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desdoblando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desdoblando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desdoblando |
| Vos | estés desdoblando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desdoblando / estuviese desdoblando |
| Tú | estuvieras desdoblando / estuvieses desdoblando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desdoblando / estuviese desdoblando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desdoblando / estuviésamos desdoblando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desdoblando / estuvieseis desdoblando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desdoblando / estuviese desdoblando |
| Vos | estuvieras desdoblando / estuvieses desdoblando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desdoblando |
| Tú | estuvieres desdoblando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desdoblando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desdoblando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desdoblando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desdoblando |
| Vos | estuvieres desdoblando |
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 desdoblás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desdoblaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desdoblabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desdoblarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desdoblarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desdobles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desdoblaras / Vos desdoblase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desdoblá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desdobles |