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Everything you need to improve your Spanish
Desmayarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to faint, swoon”.
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 desmayo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que desmayarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for desmayarse 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 faint, swoon |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desmayarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desmayándose) and past continuous (estaba desmayándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. fainting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desmayado and hubiera desmayado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have fainted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desmayándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desmayado |
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 faint” or “they faint”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desmayo |
| Tú | te desmayas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmaya |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayamos |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayan |
| Vos | desmayás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I fainted” or “she fainted” 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 desmayé | I fainted |
| Tú | te desmayaste | You fainted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmayó | He / she / you fainted |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayamos | We fainted |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayasteis | You fainted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayaron | They / you fainted |
| Vos | te desmayaste | You fainted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was fainting” or “she was fainting” 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 desmayaba | I was fainting |
| Tú | te desmayabas | You were fainting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmayaba | He was / she was / you were fainting |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayábamos | We were fainting |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayabais | You were fainting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayaban | They / you were fainting |
| Vos | te desmayabas | You were fainting |
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 fainted” and “she has fainted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he desmayado | I have fainted |
| Tú | te has desmayado | You have fainted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha desmayado | He has / she has / you have fainted |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos desmayado | We have fainted |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis desmayado | You have fainted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han desmayado | They / you have fainted |
| Vos | te has desmayado | You have fainted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would faint” or “she would faint”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desmayaría | I would faint |
| Tú | te desmayarías | You would faint |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmayaría | He / she / you would faint |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayaríamos | We would faint |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayaríais | You would faint |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayarían | They / you would faint |
| Vos | te desmayarías | You would faint |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will faint” or “they will faint”.
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 desmayarse” means “They are going to faint”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desmayaré | I will faint |
| Tú | te desmayarás | You will faint |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmayará | He / she / you will faint |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayaremos | We will faint |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayaréis | You will faint |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayarán | They / you will faint |
| Vos | te desmayarás | You will faint |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desmaye |
| Tú | te desmayes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmaye |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayen |
| Vos | te desmayes |
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 desmayara | me desmayase |
| Tú | te desmayaras | me desmayase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmayara | se desmayase |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayáramos | nos desmayásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayarais | os desmayaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayaran | se desmayasen |
| Vos | te desmayaras | me desmayase |
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 desmayare |
| Tú | te desmayares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desmayare |
| Nosotros / as | nos desmayáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os desmayareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desmayaren |
| Vos | te desmayares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “faint!” and “don’t faint!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desmáyate | no te desmayes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmáyese | no se desmaye |
| Nosotros / as | desmayémonos | no nos desmayemos |
| Vosotros / as | desmayaos | no os desmayéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmáyense | no se desmayen |
| Vos | desmayá | no te desmayes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desmayado |
| Tú | hayas desmayado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desmayado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desmayado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desmayado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desmayado |
| Vos | hayas desmayado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desmayado / hubiese desmayado |
| Tú | hubieras desmayado / hubieses desmayado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desmayado / hubiese desmayado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desmayado / hubiésemos desmayado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desmayado / hubieseis desmayado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desmayado / hubiesen desmayado |
| Vos | hubieras desmayado / hubieses desmayado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desmayado |
| Tú | hubieres desmayado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desmayado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desmayado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desmayado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desmayado |
| Vos | hubieres desmayado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desmayándose |
| Tú | estés desmayándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desmayándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desmayándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desmayándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desmayándose |
| Vos | estés desmayándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desmayándose / estuviese desmayándose |
| Tú | estuvieras desmayándose / estuvieses desmayándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desmayándose / estuviese desmayándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desmayándose / estuviésamos desmayándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desmayándose / estuvieseis desmayándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desmayándose / estuviese desmayándose |
| Vos | estuvieras desmayándose / estuvieses desmayándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desmayándose |
| Tú | estuvieres desmayándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desmayándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desmayándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desmayándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desmayándose |
| Vos | estuvieres desmayándose |
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 desmayás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te desmayaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te desmayabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te desmayarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te desmayarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te desmayes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te desmayaras / Vos me desmayase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desmayá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te desmayes |