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Despegar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to take off (airplane), unstick, detach”.
Below are all of the conjugations for despegar 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 take off (airplane), unstick, detach |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despegar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despegando) and past continuous (estaba despegando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. taking off shoes).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despegado and hubiera despegado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have taken off shoes).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despegando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despegado |
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 take off shoes” or “they take off shoes”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despego |
| Tú | despegas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despega |
| Nosotros / as | despegamos |
| Vosotros / as | despegáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegan |
| Vos | despegás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I took off shoes” or “she took off shoes” 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 | despegué | I took off shoes |
| Tú | despegaste | You took off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegó | He / she / you took off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | despegamos | We took off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | despegasteis | You took off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegaron | They / you took off shoes |
| Vos | despegaste | You took off shoes |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was taking off shoes” or “she was taking off shoes” 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 | despegaba | I was taking off shoes |
| Tú | despegabas | You were taking off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegaba | He was / she was / you were taking off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | despegábamos | We were taking off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | despegabais | You were taking off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegaban | They / you were taking off shoes |
| Vos | despegabas | You were taking off shoes |
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 taken off shoes” and “she has taken off shoes”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he despegado | I have taken off shoes |
| Tú | has despegado | You have taken off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha despegado | He has / she has / you have taken off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | hemos despegado | We have taken off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | habéis despegado | You have taken off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han despegado | They / you have taken off shoes |
| Vos | has despegado | You have taken off shoes |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would take off shoes” or “she would take off shoes”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despegaría | I would take off shoes |
| Tú | despegarías | You would take off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegaría | He / she / you would take off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | despegaríamos | We would take off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | despegaríais | You would take off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegarían | They / you would take off shoes |
| Vos | despegarías | You would take off shoes |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will take off shoes” or “they will take off shoes”.
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 despegar” means “They are going to take off shoes”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despegaré | I will take off shoes |
| Tú | despegarás | You will take off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegará | He / she / you will take off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | despegaremos | We will take off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | despegaréis | You will take off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegarán | They / you will take off shoes |
| Vos | despegarás | You will take off shoes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despegue |
| Tú | despegues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegue |
| Nosotros / as | despeguemos |
| Vosotros / as | despeguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despeguen |
| Vos | despegues |
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 | despegara | despegase |
| Tú | despegaras | despegase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegara | despegase |
| Nosotros / as | despegáramos | despegásemos |
| Vosotros / as | despegarais | despegaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegaran | despegasen |
| Vos | despegaras | despegase |
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 | despegare |
| Tú | despegares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegare |
| Nosotros / as | despegáremos |
| Vosotros / as | despegareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despegaren |
| Vos | despegares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “take off shoes!” and “don’t take off shoes!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despega | no despegues |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despegue | no despegue |
| Nosotros / as | despeguemos | no despeguemos |
| Vosotros / as | despegad | no despeguéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despeguen | no despeguen |
| Vos | despegá | no despegues |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despegado |
| Tú | hayas despegado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despegado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despegado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despegado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despegado |
| Vos | hayas despegado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despegado / hubiese despegado |
| Tú | hubieras despegado / hubieses despegado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despegado / hubiese despegado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despegado / hubiésemos despegado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despegado / hubieseis despegado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despegado / hubiesen despegado |
| Vos | hubieras despegado / hubieses despegado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despegado |
| Tú | hubieres despegado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despegado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despegado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despegado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despegado |
| Vos | hubieres despegado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despegando |
| Tú | estés despegando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despegando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despegando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despegando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despegando |
| Vos | estés despegando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despegando / estuviese despegando |
| Tú | estuvieras despegando / estuvieses despegando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despegando / estuviese despegando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despegando / estuviésamos despegando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despegando / estuvieseis despegando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despegando / estuviese despegando |
| Vos | estuvieras despegando / estuvieses despegando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despegando |
| Tú | estuvieres despegando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despegando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despegando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despegando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despegando |
| Vos | estuvieres despegando |
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 despegás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos despegaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos despegabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos despegarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos despegarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos despegues |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos despegaras / Vos despegase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despegá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no despegues |