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Desfilar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to parade”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desfilar 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 parade |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desfilar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desfilando) and past continuous (estaba desfilando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. parading).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desfilado and hubiera desfilado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have paraded).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desfilando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desfilado |
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 parade” or “they parade”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desfilo |
| Tú | desfilas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfila |
| Nosotros / as | desfilamos |
| Vosotros / as | desfiláis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilan |
| Vos | desfilás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I paraded” or “she paraded” 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 | desfilé | I paraded |
| Tú | desfilaste | You paraded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfiló | He / she / you paraded |
| Nosotros / as | desfilamos | We paraded |
| Vosotros / as | desfilasteis | You paraded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilaron | They / you paraded |
| Vos | desfilaste | You paraded |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was parading” or “she was parading” 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 | desfilaba | I was parading |
| Tú | desfilabas | You were parading |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfilaba | He was / she was / you were parading |
| Nosotros / as | desfilábamos | We were parading |
| Vosotros / as | desfilabais | You were parading |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilaban | They / you were parading |
| Vos | desfilabas | You were parading |
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 paraded” and “she has paraded”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desfilado | I have paraded |
| Tú | has desfilado | You have paraded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desfilado | He has / she has / you have paraded |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desfilado | We have paraded |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desfilado | You have paraded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desfilado | They / you have paraded |
| Vos | has desfilado | You have paraded |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would parade” or “she would parade”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desfilaría | I would parade |
| Tú | desfilarías | You would parade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfilaría | He / she / you would parade |
| Nosotros / as | desfilaríamos | We would parade |
| Vosotros / as | desfilaríais | You would parade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilarían | They / you would parade |
| Vos | desfilarías | You would parade |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will parade” or “they will parade”.
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 desfilar” means “They are going to parade”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desfilaré | I will parade |
| Tú | desfilarás | You will parade |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfilará | He / she / you will parade |
| Nosotros / as | desfilaremos | We will parade |
| Vosotros / as | desfilaréis | You will parade |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilarán | They / you will parade |
| Vos | desfilarás | You will parade |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desfile |
| Tú | desfiles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfile |
| Nosotros / as | desfilemos |
| Vosotros / as | desfiléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilen |
| Vos | desfiles |
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 | desfilara | desfilase |
| Tú | desfilaras | desfilase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfilara | desfilase |
| Nosotros / as | desfiláramos | desfilásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desfilarais | desfilaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilaran | desfilasen |
| Vos | desfilaras | desfilase |
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 | desfilare |
| Tú | desfilares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfilare |
| Nosotros / as | desfiláremos |
| Vosotros / as | desfilareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilaren |
| Vos | desfilares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “parade!” and “don’t parade!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desfila | no desfiles |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desfile | no desfile |
| Nosotros / as | desfilemos | no desfilemos |
| Vosotros / as | desfilad | no desfiléis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desfilen | no desfilen |
| Vos | desfilá | no desfiles |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desfilado |
| Tú | hayas desfilado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desfilado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desfilado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desfilado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desfilado |
| Vos | hayas desfilado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desfilado / hubiese desfilado |
| Tú | hubieras desfilado / hubieses desfilado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desfilado / hubiese desfilado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desfilado / hubiésemos desfilado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desfilado / hubieseis desfilado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desfilado / hubiesen desfilado |
| Vos | hubieras desfilado / hubieses desfilado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desfilado |
| Tú | hubieres desfilado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desfilado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desfilado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desfilado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desfilado |
| Vos | hubieres desfilado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desfilando |
| Tú | estés desfilando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desfilando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desfilando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desfilando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desfilando |
| Vos | estés desfilando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desfilando / estuviese desfilando |
| Tú | estuvieras desfilando / estuvieses desfilando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desfilando / estuviese desfilando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desfilando / estuviésamos desfilando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desfilando / estuvieseis desfilando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desfilando / estuviese desfilando |
| Vos | estuvieras desfilando / estuvieses desfilando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desfilando |
| Tú | estuvieres desfilando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desfilando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desfilando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desfilando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desfilando |
| Vos | estuvieres desfilando |
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 desfilás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desfilaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desfilabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desfilarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desfilarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desfiles |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desfilaras / Vos desfilase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desfilá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desfiles |