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Designar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to designate, assign”.
Below are all of the conjugations for designar 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 designate, assign |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | designar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está designando) and past continuous (estaba designando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. designating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he designado and hubiera designado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have designated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | designando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | designado |
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 designate” or “they designate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | designo |
| Tú | designas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designa |
| Nosotros / as | designamos |
| Vosotros / as | designáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designan |
| Vos | designás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I designated” or “she designated” 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 | designé | I designated |
| Tú | designaste | You designated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designó | He / she / you designated |
| Nosotros / as | designamos | We designated |
| Vosotros / as | designasteis | You designated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designaron | They / you designated |
| Vos | designaste | You designated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was designating” or “she was designating” 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 | designaba | I was designating |
| Tú | designabas | You were designating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designaba | He was / she was / you were designating |
| Nosotros / as | designábamos | We were designating |
| Vosotros / as | designabais | You were designating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designaban | They / you were designating |
| Vos | designabas | You were designating |
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 designated” and “she has designated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he designado | I have designated |
| Tú | has designado | You have designated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha designado | He has / she has / you have designated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos designado | We have designated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis designado | You have designated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han designado | They / you have designated |
| Vos | has designado | You have designated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would designate” or “she would designate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | designaría | I would designate |
| Tú | designarías | You would designate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designaría | He / she / you would designate |
| Nosotros / as | designaríamos | We would designate |
| Vosotros / as | designaríais | You would designate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designarían | They / you would designate |
| Vos | designarías | You would designate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will designate” or “they will designate”.
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 designar” means “They are going to designate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | designaré | I will designate |
| Tú | designarás | You will designate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designará | He / she / you will designate |
| Nosotros / as | designaremos | We will designate |
| Vosotros / as | designaréis | You will designate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designarán | They / you will designate |
| Vos | designarás | You will designate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | designe |
| Tú | designes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designe |
| Nosotros / as | designemos |
| Vosotros / as | designéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designen |
| Vos | designes |
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 | designara | designase |
| Tú | designaras | designase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designara | designase |
| Nosotros / as | designáramos | designásemos |
| Vosotros / as | designarais | designaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designaran | designasen |
| Vos | designaras | designase |
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 | designare |
| Tú | designares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designare |
| Nosotros / as | designáremos |
| Vosotros / as | designareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designaren |
| Vos | designares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “designate!” and “don’t designate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | designa | no designes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | designe | no designe |
| Nosotros / as | designemos | no designemos |
| Vosotros / as | designad | no designéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | designen | no designen |
| Vos | designá | no designes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya designado |
| Tú | hayas designado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya designado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos designado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis designado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan designado |
| Vos | hayas designado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera designado / hubiese designado |
| Tú | hubieras designado / hubieses designado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera designado / hubiese designado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos designado / hubiésemos designado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais designado / hubieseis designado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran designado / hubiesen designado |
| Vos | hubieras designado / hubieses designado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere designado |
| Tú | hubieres designado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere designado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos designado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis designado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren designado |
| Vos | hubieres designado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté designando |
| Tú | estés designando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté designando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos designando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis designando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén designando |
| Vos | estés designando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera designando / estuviese designando |
| Tú | estuvieras designando / estuvieses designando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera designando / estuviese designando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos designando / estuviésamos designando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais designando / estuvieseis designando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera designando / estuviese designando |
| Vos | estuvieras designando / estuvieses designando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere designando |
| Tú | estuvieres designando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere designando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos designando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis designando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere designando |
| Vos | estuvieres designando |
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 designás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos designaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos designabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos designarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos designarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos designes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos designaras / Vos designase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos designá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no designes |