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Despreocuparse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to forget one’s cares or worries, neglect”.
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 despreocupo) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que despreocuparse).
Below are all of the conjugations for despreocuparse 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 forget one’s cares or worries, neglect |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | despreocuparse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está despreocupándose) and past continuous (estaba despreocupándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. neglecting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he despreocupado and hubiera despreocupado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have neglected).
| Gerundio / Gerund | despreocupándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | despreocupado |
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 neglect” or “they neglect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despreocupo |
| Tú | te despreocupas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupa |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocupamos |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocupáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocupan |
| Vos | te despreocupás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I neglected” or “she neglected” 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 despreocupé | I neglected |
| Tú | te despreocupaste | You neglected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupó | He / she / you neglected |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocupamos | We neglected |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocupasteis | You neglected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocuparon | They / you neglected |
| Vos | te despreocupaste | You neglected |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was neglecting” or “she was neglecting” 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 despreocupaba | I was neglecting |
| Tú | te despreocupabas | You were neglecting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupaba | He was / she was / you were neglecting |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocupábamos | We were neglecting |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocupabais | You were neglecting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocupaban | They / you were neglecting |
| Vos | te despreocupabas | You were neglecting |
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 neglected” and “she has neglected”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he despreocupado | I have neglected |
| Tú | te has despreocupado | You have neglected |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha despreocupado | He has / she has / you have neglected |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos despreocupado | We have neglected |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis despreocupado | You have neglected |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han despreocupado | They / you have neglected |
| Vos | te has despreocupado | You have neglected |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would neglect” or “she would neglect”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despreocuparía | I would neglect |
| Tú | te despreocuparías | You would neglect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocuparía | He / she / you would neglect |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocuparíamos | We would neglect |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocuparíais | You would neglect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocuparían | They / you would neglect |
| Vos | te despreocuparías | You would neglect |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will neglect” or “they will neglect”.
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 despreocuparse” means “They are going to neglect”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me despreocuparé | I will neglect |
| Tú | te despreocuparás | You will neglect |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupará | He / she / you will neglect |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocuparemos | We will neglect |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocuparéis | You will neglect |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocuparán | They / you will neglect |
| Vos | te despreocuparás | You will neglect |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me despreocupe |
| Tú | te despreocupes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupe |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocupemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocupéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocupen |
| Vos | te despreocupes |
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 despreocupara | me despreocupase |
| Tú | te despreocuparas | me despreocupase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupara | se despreocupase |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocupáramos | nos despreocupásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocuparais | os despreocupaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocuparan | se despreocupasen |
| Vos | te despreocuparas | me despreocupase |
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 despreocupare |
| Tú | te despreocupares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se despreocupare |
| Nosotros / as | nos despreocupáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os despreocupareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se despreocuparen |
| Vos | te despreocupares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “neglect!” and “don’t neglect!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | despreocúpate | no te despreocupes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | despreocúpese | no se despreocupe |
| Nosotros / as | despreocupémonos | no nos despreocupemos |
| Vosotros / as | despreocupaos | no os despreocupéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | despreocúpense | no se despreocupen |
| Vos | despreocupate | no te despreocupes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya despreocupado |
| Tú | hayas despreocupado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya despreocupado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos despreocupado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis despreocupado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan despreocupado |
| Vos | hayas despreocupado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera despreocupado / hubiese despreocupado |
| Tú | hubieras despreocupado / hubieses despreocupado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera despreocupado / hubiese despreocupado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos despreocupado / hubiésemos despreocupado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais despreocupado / hubieseis despreocupado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran despreocupado / hubiesen despreocupado |
| Vos | hubieras despreocupado / hubieses despreocupado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere despreocupado |
| Tú | hubieres despreocupado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere despreocupado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos despreocupado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis despreocupado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren despreocupado |
| Vos | hubieres despreocupado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté despreocupándose |
| Tú | estés despreocupándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté despreocupándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos despreocupándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis despreocupándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén despreocupándose |
| Vos | estés despreocupándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera despreocupándose / estuviese despreocupándose |
| Tú | estuvieras despreocupándose / estuvieses despreocupándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera despreocupándose / estuviese despreocupándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos despreocupándose / estuviésamos despreocupándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais despreocupándose / estuvieseis despreocupándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera despreocupándose / estuviese despreocupándose |
| Vos | estuvieras despreocupándose / estuvieses despreocupándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere despreocupándose |
| Tú | estuvieres despreocupándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere despreocupándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos despreocupándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis despreocupándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere despreocupándose |
| Vos | estuvieres despreocupándose |
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 despreocupás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te despreocupaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te despreocupabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te despreocuparías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te despreocuparás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te despreocupes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te despreocuparas / Vos me despreocupase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos despreocupate |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te despreocupes |