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Desencadenar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to unchain, break loose, liberate”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desencadenar 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 unchain, break loose, liberate |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desencadenar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desencadenando) and past continuous (estaba desencadenando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. unchaining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desencadenado and hubiera desencadenado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have unchained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desencadenando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desencadenado |
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 unchain” or “they unchain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desencadeno |
| Tú | desencadenas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadena |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenamos |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenan |
| Vos | desencadenás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I unchained” or “she unchained” 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 | desencadené | I unchained |
| Tú | desencadenaste | You unchained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadenó | He / she / you unchained |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenamos | We unchained |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenasteis | You unchained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenaron | They / you unchained |
| Vos | desencadenaste | You unchained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was unchaining” or “she was unchaining” 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 | desencadenaba | I was unchaining |
| Tú | desencadenabas | You were unchaining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadenaba | He was / she was / you were unchaining |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenábamos | We were unchaining |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenabais | You were unchaining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenaban | They / you were unchaining |
| Vos | desencadenabas | You were unchaining |
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 unchained” and “she has unchained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desencadenado | I have unchained |
| Tú | has desencadenado | You have unchained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desencadenado | He has / she has / you have unchained |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desencadenado | We have unchained |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desencadenado | You have unchained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desencadenado | They / you have unchained |
| Vos | has desencadenado | You have unchained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would unchain” or “she would unchain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desencadenaría | I would unchain |
| Tú | desencadenarías | You would unchain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadenaría | He / she / you would unchain |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenaríamos | We would unchain |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenaríais | You would unchain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenarían | They / you would unchain |
| Vos | desencadenarías | You would unchain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will unchain” or “they will unchain”.
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 desencadenar” means “They are going to unchain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desencadenaré | I will unchain |
| Tú | desencadenarás | You will unchain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadenará | He / she / you will unchain |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenaremos | We will unchain |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenaréis | You will unchain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenarán | They / you will unchain |
| Vos | desencadenarás | You will unchain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desencadene |
| Tú | desencadenes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadene |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenemos |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenen |
| Vos | desencadenes |
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 | desencadenara | desencadenase |
| Tú | desencadenaras | desencadenase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadenara | desencadenase |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenáramos | desencadenásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenarais | desencadenaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenaran | desencadenasen |
| Vos | desencadenaras | desencadenase |
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 | desencadenare |
| Tú | desencadenares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadenare |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenaren |
| Vos | desencadenares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “unchain!” and “don’t unchain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desencadena | no desencadenes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desencadene | no desencadene |
| Nosotros / as | desencadenemos | no desencadenemos |
| Vosotros / as | desencadenad | no desencadenéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desencadenen | no desencadenen |
| Vos | desencadená | no desencadenes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desencadenado |
| Tú | hayas desencadenado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desencadenado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desencadenado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desencadenado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desencadenado |
| Vos | hayas desencadenado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desencadenado / hubiese desencadenado |
| Tú | hubieras desencadenado / hubieses desencadenado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desencadenado / hubiese desencadenado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desencadenado / hubiésemos desencadenado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desencadenado / hubieseis desencadenado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desencadenado / hubiesen desencadenado |
| Vos | hubieras desencadenado / hubieses desencadenado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desencadenado |
| Tú | hubieres desencadenado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desencadenado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desencadenado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desencadenado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desencadenado |
| Vos | hubieres desencadenado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desencadenando |
| Tú | estés desencadenando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desencadenando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desencadenando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desencadenando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desencadenando |
| Vos | estés desencadenando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desencadenando / estuviese desencadenando |
| Tú | estuvieras desencadenando / estuvieses desencadenando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desencadenando / estuviese desencadenando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desencadenando / estuviésamos desencadenando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desencadenando / estuvieseis desencadenando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desencadenando / estuviese desencadenando |
| Vos | estuvieras desencadenando / estuvieses desencadenando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desencadenando |
| Tú | estuvieres desencadenando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desencadenando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desencadenando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desencadenando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desencadenando |
| Vos | estuvieres desencadenando |
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 desencadenás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desencadenaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desencadenabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desencadenarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desencadenarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desencadenes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desencadenaras / Vos desencadenase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desencadená |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desencadenes |