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Desesperarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to become or get desperate, lose hope”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me desespero) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que desesperarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for desesperarse 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 become or get desperate, lose hope |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desesperarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desesperándose) and past continuous (estaba desesperándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. becoming desperate).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desesperado and hubiera desesperado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have become desperate).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desesperándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desesperado |
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 become desperate” or “they become desperate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desespero |
| Tú | te desesperas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desespera |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperamos |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperan |
| Vos | desesperás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I became desperate” or “she became desperate” 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 | me desesperé | I became desperate |
| Tú | te desesperaste | You became desperate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desesperó | He / she / you became desperate |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperamos | We became desperate |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperasteis | You became desperate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperaron | They / you became desperate |
| Vos | te desesperaste | You became desperate |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was becoming desperate” or “she was becoming desperate” 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 | me desesperaba | I was becoming desperate |
| Tú | te desesperabas | You were becoming desperate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desesperaba | He was / she was / you were becoming desperate |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperábamos | We were becoming desperate |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperabais | You were becoming desperate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperaban | They / you were becoming desperate |
| Vos | te desesperabas | You were becoming desperate |
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 become desperate” and “she has become desperate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he desesperado | I have become desperate |
| Tú | te has desesperado | You have become desperate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha desesperado | He has / she has / you have become desperate |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos desesperado | We have become desperate |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis desesperado | You have become desperate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han desesperado | They / you have become desperate |
| Vos | te has desesperado | You have become desperate |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would become desperate” or “she would become desperate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desesperaría | I would become desperate |
| Tú | te desesperarías | You would become desperate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desesperaría | He / she / you would become desperate |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperaríamos | We would become desperate |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperaríais | You would become desperate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperarían | They / you would become desperate |
| Vos | te desesperarías | You would become desperate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will become desperate” or “they will become desperate”.
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 desesperarse” means “They are going to become desperate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desesperaré | I will become desperate |
| Tú | te desesperarás | You will become desperate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desesperará | He / she / you will become desperate |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperaremos | We will become desperate |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperaréis | You will become desperate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperarán | They / you will become desperate |
| Vos | te desesperarás | You will become desperate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desespere |
| Tú | te desesperes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desespere |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperen |
| Vos | te desesperes |
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 | me desesperara | me desesperase |
| Tú | te desesperaras | me desesperase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desesperara | se desesperase |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperáramos | nos desesperásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperarais | os desesperaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperaran | se desesperasen |
| Vos | te desesperaras | me desesperase |
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 | me desesperare |
| Tú | te desesperares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desesperare |
| Nosotros / as | nos desesperáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os desesperareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desesperaren |
| Vos | te desesperares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “become desperate!” and “don’t become desperate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desespérate | no te desesperes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desespérese | no se desespere |
| Nosotros / as | desesperémonos | no nos desesperemos |
| Vosotros / as | desesperaos | no os desesperéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desespérense | no se desesperen |
| Vos | desesperá | no te desesperes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desesperado |
| Tú | hayas desesperado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desesperado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desesperado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desesperado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desesperado |
| Vos | hayas desesperado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desesperado / hubiese desesperado |
| Tú | hubieras desesperado / hubieses desesperado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desesperado / hubiese desesperado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desesperado / hubiésemos desesperado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desesperado / hubieseis desesperado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desesperado / hubiesen desesperado |
| Vos | hubieras desesperado / hubieses desesperado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desesperado |
| Tú | hubieres desesperado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desesperado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desesperado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desesperado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desesperado |
| Vos | hubieres desesperado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desesperándose |
| Tú | estés desesperándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desesperándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desesperándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desesperándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desesperándose |
| Vos | estés desesperándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desesperándose / estuviese desesperándose |
| Tú | estuvieras desesperándose / estuvieses desesperándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desesperándose / estuviese desesperándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desesperándose / estuviésamos desesperándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desesperándose / estuvieseis desesperándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desesperándose / estuviese desesperándose |
| Vos | estuvieras desesperándose / estuvieses desesperándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desesperándose |
| Tú | estuvieres desesperándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desesperándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desesperándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desesperándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desesperándose |
| Vos | estuvieres desesperándose |
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 desesperás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te desesperaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te desesperabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te desesperarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te desesperarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te desesperes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te desesperaras / Vos me desesperase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desesperá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te desesperes |