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Despedir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to throw, dismiss, fire”.
Below are all of the conjugations for despedir 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 throw, dismiss, fire |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despedir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despidiendo) and past continuous (estaba despidiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. throwing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despedido and hubiera despedido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have thrown).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despidiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despedido |
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 throw” or “they throw”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despido |
| Tú | despides |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despide |
| Nosotros / as | despedimos |
| Vosotros / as | despedís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despiden |
| Vos | despedís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I threw” or “she threw” 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 | despedí | I threw |
| Tú | despediste | You threw |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despidió | He / she / you threw |
| Nosotros / as | despedimos | We threw |
| Vosotros / as | despedisteis | You threw |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despidieron | They / you threw |
| Vos | despediste | You threw |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was throwing” or “she was throwing” 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 | despedía | I was throwing |
| Tú | despedías | You were throwing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despedía | He was / she was / you were throwing |
| Nosotros / as | despedíamos | We were throwing |
| Vosotros / as | despedíais | You were throwing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despedían | They / you were throwing |
| Vos | despedías | You were throwing |
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 thrown” and “she has thrown”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he despedido | I have thrown |
| Tú | has despedido | You have thrown |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha despedido | He has / she has / you have thrown |
| Nosotros / as | hemos despedido | We have thrown |
| Vosotros / as | habéis despedido | You have thrown |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han despedido | They / you have thrown |
| Vos | has despedido | You have thrown |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would throw” or “she would throw”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despediría | I would throw |
| Tú | despedirías | You would throw |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despediría | He / she / you would throw |
| Nosotros / as | despediríamos | We would throw |
| Vosotros / as | despediríais | You would throw |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despedirían | They / you would throw |
| Vos | despedirías | You would throw |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will throw” or “they will throw”.
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 despedir” means “They are going to throw”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despediré | I will throw |
| Tú | despedirás | You will throw |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despedirá | He / she / you will throw |
| Nosotros / as | despediremos | We will throw |
| Vosotros / as | despediréis | You will throw |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despedirán | They / you will throw |
| Vos | despedirás | You will throw |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despida |
| Tú | despidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despida |
| Nosotros / as | despidamos |
| Vosotros / as | despidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despidan |
| Vos | despidas |
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 | despidiera | despidiese |
| Tú | despidieras | despidiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despidiera | despidiese |
| Nosotros / as | despidiéramos | despidiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | despidierais | despidieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despidieran | despidiesen |
| Vos | despidieras | despidiese |
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 | despidiere |
| Tú | despidieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despidiera |
| Nosotros / as | despidiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | despidiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despidieren |
| Vos | despidieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “throw!” and “don’t throw!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despide | no despidas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despida | no despida |
| Nosotros / as | despidamos | no despidamos |
| Vosotros / as | despedid | no despidáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despidan | no despidan |
| Vos | despedí | no despidas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despedido |
| Tú | hayas despedido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despedido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despedido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despedido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despedido |
| Vos | hayas despedido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despedido / hubiese despedido |
| Tú | hubieras despedido / hubieses despedido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despedido / hubiese despedido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despedido / hubiésemos despedido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despedido / hubieseis despedido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despedido / hubiesen despedido |
| Vos | hubieras despedido / hubieses despedido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despedido |
| Tú | hubieres despedido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despedido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despedido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despedido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despedido |
| Vos | hubieres despedido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despidiendo |
| Tú | estés despidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despidiendo |
| Vos | estés despidiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despidiendo / estuviese despidiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras despidiendo / estuvieses despidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despidiendo / estuviese despidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despidiendo / estuviésamos despidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despidiendo / estuvieseis despidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despidiendo / estuviese despidiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras despidiendo / estuvieses despidiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despidiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres despidiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despidiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despidiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despidiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despidiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres despidiendo |
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 despedís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos despediste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos despedías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos despedirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos despedirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos despidas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos despidieras / Vos despidiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despedí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no despidas |