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Despistar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to lead astray, mislead”.
Below are all of the conjugations for despistar 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 lead astray, mislead |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despistar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despistando) and past continuous (estaba despistando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. leading astray).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despistado and hubiera despistado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have led astray).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despistando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despistado |
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 lead astray” or “they lead astray”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despisto |
| Tú | despistas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despista |
| Nosotros / as | despistamos |
| Vosotros / as | despistáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistan |
| Vos | despistás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I led astray” or “she led astray” 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 | despisté | I led astray |
| Tú | despistaste | You led astray |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despistó | He / she / you led astray |
| Nosotros / as | despistamos | We led astray |
| Vosotros / as | despistasteis | You led astray |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistaron | They / you led astray |
| Vos | despistaste | You led astray |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was leading astray” or “she was leading astray” 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 | despistaba | I was leading astray |
| Tú | despistabas | You were leading astray |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despistaba | He was / she was / you were leading astray |
| Nosotros / as | despistábamos | We were leading astray |
| Vosotros / as | despistabais | You were leading astray |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistaban | They / you were leading astray |
| Vos | despistabas | You were leading astray |
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 led astray” and “she has led astray”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he despistado | I have led astray |
| Tú | has despistado | You have led astray |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha despistado | He has / she has / you have led astray |
| Nosotros / as | hemos despistado | We have led astray |
| Vosotros / as | habéis despistado | You have led astray |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han despistado | They / you have led astray |
| Vos | has despistado | You have led astray |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would lead astray” or “she would lead astray”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despistaría | I would lead astray |
| Tú | despistarías | You would lead astray |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despistaría | He / she / you would lead astray |
| Nosotros / as | despistaríamos | We would lead astray |
| Vosotros / as | despistaríais | You would lead astray |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistarían | They / you would lead astray |
| Vos | despistarías | You would lead astray |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will lead astray” or “they will lead astray”.
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 despistar” means “They are going to lead astray”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | despistaré | I will lead astray |
| Tú | despistarás | You will lead astray |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despistará | He / she / you will lead astray |
| Nosotros / as | despistaremos | We will lead astray |
| Vosotros / as | despistaréis | You will lead astray |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistarán | They / you will lead astray |
| Vos | despistarás | You will lead astray |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | despiste |
| Tú | despistes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despiste |
| Nosotros / as | despistemos |
| Vosotros / as | despistéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despisten |
| Vos | despistes |
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 | despistara | despistase |
| Tú | despistaras | despistase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despistara | despistase |
| Nosotros / as | despistáramos | despistásemos |
| Vosotros / as | despistarais | despistaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistaran | despistasen |
| Vos | despistaras | despistase |
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 | despistare |
| Tú | despistares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despistare |
| Nosotros / as | despistáremos |
| Vosotros / as | despistareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despistaren |
| Vos | despistares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “lead astray!” and “don’t lead astray!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despista | no despistes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despiste | no despiste |
| Nosotros / as | despistemos | no despistemos |
| Vosotros / as | despistad | no despistéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despisten | no despisten |
| Vos | despistá | no despistes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despistado |
| Tú | hayas despistado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despistado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despistado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despistado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despistado |
| Vos | hayas despistado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despistado / hubiese despistado |
| Tú | hubieras despistado / hubieses despistado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despistado / hubiese despistado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despistado / hubiésemos despistado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despistado / hubieseis despistado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despistado / hubiesen despistado |
| Vos | hubieras despistado / hubieses despistado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despistado |
| Tú | hubieres despistado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despistado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despistado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despistado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despistado |
| Vos | hubieres despistado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despistando |
| Tú | estés despistando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despistando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despistando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despistando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despistando |
| Vos | estés despistando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despistando / estuviese despistando |
| Tú | estuvieras despistando / estuvieses despistando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despistando / estuviese despistando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despistando / estuviésamos despistando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despistando / estuvieseis despistando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despistando / estuviese despistando |
| Vos | estuvieras despistando / estuvieses despistando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despistando |
| Tú | estuvieres despistando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despistando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despistando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despistando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despistando |
| Vos | estuvieres despistando |
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 despistás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos despistaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos despistabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos despistarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos despistarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos despistes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos despistaras / Vos despistase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despistá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no despistes |