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Desmenuzar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to crumble, scrutinize”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desmenuzar 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 crumble, scrutinize |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desmenuzar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desmenuzando) and past continuous (estaba desmenuzando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. crumbling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desmenuzado and hubiera desmenuzado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have crumbled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desmenuzando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desmenuzado |
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 crumble” or “they crumble”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desmenuzo |
| Tú | desmenuzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuza |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzamos |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzan |
| Vos | desmenuzás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I crumbled” or “she crumbled” 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 | desmenucé | I crumbled |
| Tú | desmenuzaste | You crumbled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuzó | He / she / you crumbled |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzamos | We crumbled |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzasteis | You crumbled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzaron | They / you crumbled |
| Vos | desmenuzaste | You crumbled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was crumbling” or “she was crumbling” 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 | desmenuzaba | I was crumbling |
| Tú | desmenuzabas | You were crumbling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuzaba | He was / she was / you were crumbling |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzábamos | We were crumbling |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzabais | You were crumbling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzaban | They / you were crumbling |
| Vos | desmenuzabas | You were crumbling |
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 crumbled” and “she has crumbled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desmenuzado | I have crumbled |
| Tú | has desmenuzado | You have crumbled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desmenuzado | He has / she has / you have crumbled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desmenuzado | We have crumbled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desmenuzado | You have crumbled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desmenuzado | They / you have crumbled |
| Vos | has desmenuzado | You have crumbled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would crumble” or “she would crumble”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desmenuzaría | I would crumble |
| Tú | desmenuzarías | You would crumble |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuzaría | He / she / you would crumble |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzaríamos | We would crumble |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzaríais | You would crumble |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzarían | They / you would crumble |
| Vos | desmenuzarías | You would crumble |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will crumble” or “they will crumble”.
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 desmenuzar” means “They are going to crumble”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desmenuzaré | I will crumble |
| Tú | desmenuzarás | You will crumble |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuzará | He / she / you will crumble |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzaremos | We will crumble |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzaréis | You will crumble |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzarán | They / you will crumble |
| Vos | desmenuzarás | You will crumble |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desmenuce |
| Tú | desmenuces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuce |
| Nosotros / as | desmenucemos |
| Vosotros / as | desmenucéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenucen |
| Vos | desmenuces |
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 | desmenuzara | desmenuzase |
| Tú | desmenuzaras | desmenuzase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuzara | desmenuzase |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzáramos | desmenuzásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzarais | desmenuzaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzaran | desmenuzasen |
| Vos | desmenuzaras | desmenuzase |
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 | desmenuzare |
| Tú | desmenuzares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuzare |
| Nosotros / as | desmenuzáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenuzaren |
| Vos | desmenuzares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “crumble!” and “don’t crumble!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desmenuza | no desmenuces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desmenuce | no desmenuce |
| Nosotros / as | desmenucemos | no desmenucemos |
| Vosotros / as | desmenuzad | no desmenucéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desmenucen | no desmenucen |
| Vos | desmenuzá | no desmenuces |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desmenuzado |
| Tú | hayas desmenuzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desmenuzado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desmenuzado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desmenuzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desmenuzado |
| Vos | hayas desmenuzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desmenuzado / hubiese desmenuzado |
| Tú | hubieras desmenuzado / hubieses desmenuzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desmenuzado / hubiese desmenuzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desmenuzado / hubiésemos desmenuzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desmenuzado / hubieseis desmenuzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desmenuzado / hubiesen desmenuzado |
| Vos | hubieras desmenuzado / hubieses desmenuzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desmenuzado |
| Tú | hubieres desmenuzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desmenuzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desmenuzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desmenuzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desmenuzado |
| Vos | hubieres desmenuzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desmenuzando |
| Tú | estés desmenuzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desmenuzando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desmenuzando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desmenuzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desmenuzando |
| Vos | estés desmenuzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desmenuzando / estuviese desmenuzando |
| Tú | estuvieras desmenuzando / estuvieses desmenuzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desmenuzando / estuviese desmenuzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desmenuzando / estuviésamos desmenuzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desmenuzando / estuvieseis desmenuzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desmenuzando / estuviese desmenuzando |
| Vos | estuvieras desmenuzando / estuvieses desmenuzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desmenuzando |
| Tú | estuvieres desmenuzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desmenuzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desmenuzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desmenuzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desmenuzando |
| Vos | estuvieres desmenuzando |
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 desmenuzás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desmenuzaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desmenuzabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desmenuzarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desmenuzarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desmenuces |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desmenuzaras / Vos desmenuzase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desmenuzá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desmenuces |