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Despeinarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to mess one’s hair up, ruffle”.
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 despeino) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que despeinarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for despeinarse 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 mess one’s hair up, ruffle |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despeinarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despeinándose) and past continuous (estaba despeinándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. ruffling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despeinado and hubiera despeinado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have ruffled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despeinándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despeinado |
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 ruffle” or “they ruffle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despeino |
| Tú | te despeinas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeina |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeinamos |
| Vosotros / as | os despeináis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinan |
| Vos | te despeinás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I ruffled” or “she ruffled” 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 despeiné | I ruffled |
| Tú | te despeinaste | You ruffled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeinó | He / she / you ruffled |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeinamos | We ruffled |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinasteis | You ruffled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinaron | They / you ruffled |
| Vos | te despeinaste | You ruffled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was ruffling” or “she was ruffling” 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 despeinaba | I was ruffling |
| Tú | te despeinabas | You were ruffling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeinaba | He was / she was / you were ruffling |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeinábamos | We were ruffling |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinabais | You were ruffling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinaban | They / you were ruffling |
| Vos | te despeinabas | You were ruffling |
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 ruffled” and “she has ruffled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he despeinado | I have ruffled |
| Tú | te has despeinado | You have ruffled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha despeinado | He has / she has / you have ruffled |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos despeinado | We have ruffled |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis despeinado | You have ruffled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han despeinado | They / you have ruffled |
| Vos | te has despeinado | You have ruffled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would ruffle” or “she would ruffle”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despeinaría | I would ruffle |
| Tú | te despeinarías | You would ruffle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeinaría | He / she / you would ruffle |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeinaríamos | We would ruffle |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinaríais | You would ruffle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinarían | They / you would ruffle |
| Vos | te despeinarías | You would ruffle |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will ruffle” or “they will ruffle”.
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 despeinarse” means “They are going to ruffle”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despeinaré | I will ruffle |
| Tú | te despeinarás | You will ruffle |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeinará | He / she / you will ruffle |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeinaremos | We will ruffle |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinaréis | You will ruffle |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinarán | They / you will ruffle |
| Vos | te despeinarás | You will ruffle |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despeine |
| Tú | te despeines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeine |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeinemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinen |
| Vos | te despeines |
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 despeinara | me despeinase |
| Tú | te despeinaras | me despeinase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeinara | se despeinase |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeináramos | nos despeinásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinarais | os despeinaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinaran | se despeinasen |
| Vos | te despeinaras | me despeinase |
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 despeinare |
| Tú | te despeinares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despeinare |
| Nosotros / as | nos despeináremos |
| Vosotros / as | os despeinareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despeinaren |
| Vos | te despeinares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “ruffle!” and “don’t ruffle!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | déspeinate | no te despeines |
| Él / Ella / Usted | déspeinese | no se despeine |
| Nosotros / as | despeinémonos | no nos despeinemos |
| Vosotros / as | despeinaos | no os despeinéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | déspeinense | no se despeinen |
| Vos | despeinate | no te despeines |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despeinado |
| Tú | hayas despeinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despeinado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despeinado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despeinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despeinado |
| Vos | hayas despeinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despeinado / hubiese despeinado |
| Tú | hubieras despeinado / hubieses despeinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despeinado / hubiese despeinado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despeinado / hubiésemos despeinado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despeinado / hubieseis despeinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despeinado / hubiesen despeinado |
| Vos | hubieras despeinado / hubieses despeinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despeinado |
| Tú | hubieres despeinado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despeinado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despeinado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despeinado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despeinado |
| Vos | hubieres despeinado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despeinándose |
| Tú | estés despeinándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despeinándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despeinándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despeinándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despeinándose |
| Vos | estés despeinándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despeinándose / estuviese despeinándose |
| Tú | estuvieras despeinándose / estuvieses despeinándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despeinándose / estuviese despeinándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despeinándose / estuviésamos despeinándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despeinándose / estuvieseis despeinándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despeinándose / estuviese despeinándose |
| Vos | estuvieras despeinándose / estuvieses despeinándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despeinándose |
| Tú | estuvieres despeinándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despeinándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despeinándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despeinándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despeinándose |
| Vos | estuvieres despeinándose |
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 te despeinás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te despeinaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te despeinabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te despeinarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te despeinarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te despeines |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te despeinaras / Vos me despeinase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despeinate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te despeines |