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Desgastar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to wear away or out, weaken”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desgastar 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 wear away or out, weaken |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desgastar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desgastando) and past continuous (estaba desgastando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. wearing out).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desgastado and hubiera desgastado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have worn out).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desgastando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desgastado |
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 wear out” or “they wear out”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desgasto |
| Tú | desgastas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgasta |
| Nosotros / as | desgastamos |
| Vosotros / as | desgastáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastan |
| Vos | desgastás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I wore out” or “she wore out” 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 | desgasté | I wore out |
| Tú | desgastaste | You wore out |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgastó | He / she / you wore out |
| Nosotros / as | desgastamos | We wore out |
| Vosotros / as | desgastasteis | You wore out |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastaron | They / you wore out |
| Vos | desgastaste | You wore out |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was wearing out” or “she was wearing out” 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 | desgastaba | I was wearing out |
| Tú | desgastabas | You were wearing out |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgastaba | He was / she was / you were wearing out |
| Nosotros / as | desgastábamos | We were wearing out |
| Vosotros / as | desgastabais | You were wearing out |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastaban | They / you were wearing out |
| Vos | desgastabas | You were wearing out |
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 worn out” and “she has worn out”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desgastado | I have worn out |
| Tú | has desgastado | You have worn out |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desgastado | He has / she has / you have worn out |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desgastado | We have worn out |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desgastado | You have worn out |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desgastado | They / you have worn out |
| Vos | has desgastado | You have worn out |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would wear out” or “she would wear out”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desgastaría | I would wear out |
| Tú | desgastarías | You would wear out |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgastaría | He / she / you would wear out |
| Nosotros / as | desgastaríamos | We would wear out |
| Vosotros / as | desgastaríais | You would wear out |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastarían | They / you would wear out |
| Vos | desgastarías | You would wear out |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will wear out” or “they will wear out”.
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 desgastar” means “They are going to wear out”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desgastaré | I will wear out |
| Tú | desgastarás | You will wear out |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgastará | He / she / you will wear out |
| Nosotros / as | desgastaremos | We will wear out |
| Vosotros / as | desgastaréis | You will wear out |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastarán | They / you will wear out |
| Vos | desgastarás | You will wear out |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desgaste |
| Tú | desgastes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgaste |
| Nosotros / as | desgastemos |
| Vosotros / as | desgastéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgasten |
| Vos | desgastes |
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 | desgastara | desgastase |
| Tú | desgastaras | desgastase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgastara | desgastase |
| Nosotros / as | desgastáramos | desgastásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desgastarais | desgastaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastaran | desgastasen |
| Vos | desgastaras | desgastase |
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 | desgastare |
| Tú | desgastares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgastare |
| Nosotros / as | desgastáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desgastareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgastaren |
| Vos | desgastares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “wear out!” and “don’t wear out!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desgasta | no desgastes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desgaste | no desgaste |
| Nosotros / as | desgastemos | no desgastemos |
| Vosotros / as | desgastad | no desgastéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desgasten | no desgasten |
| Vos | desgastá | no desgastes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desgastado |
| Tú | hayas desgastado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desgastado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desgastado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desgastado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desgastado |
| Vos | hayas desgastado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desgastado / hubiese desgastado |
| Tú | hubieras desgastado / hubieses desgastado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desgastado / hubiese desgastado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desgastado / hubiésemos desgastado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desgastado / hubieseis desgastado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desgastado / hubiesen desgastado |
| Vos | hubieras desgastado / hubieses desgastado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desgastado |
| Tú | hubieres desgastado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desgastado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desgastado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desgastado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desgastado |
| Vos | hubieres desgastado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desgastando |
| Tú | estés desgastando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desgastando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desgastando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desgastando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desgastando |
| Vos | estés desgastando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desgastando / estuviese desgastando |
| Tú | estuvieras desgastando / estuvieses desgastando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desgastando / estuviese desgastando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desgastando / estuviésamos desgastando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desgastando / estuvieseis desgastando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desgastando / estuviese desgastando |
| Vos | estuvieras desgastando / estuvieses desgastando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desgastando |
| Tú | estuvieres desgastando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desgastando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desgastando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desgastando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desgastando |
| Vos | estuvieres desgastando |
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 desgastás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desgastaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desgastabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desgastarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desgastarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desgastes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desgastaras / Vos desgastase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desgastá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desgastes |