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Destapar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to uncover, uncork, open”.
Below are all of the conjugations for destapar 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 uncover, uncork, open |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | destapar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está destapando) and past continuous (estaba destapando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. uncovering).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he destapado and hubiera destapado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have uncovered).
| Gerundio / Gerund | destapando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | destapado |
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 uncover” or “they uncover”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | destapo |
| Tú | destapas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destapa |
| Nosotros / as | destapamos |
| Vosotros / as | destapáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destapan |
| Vos | destapás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I uncovered” or “she uncovered” 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 | destapé | I uncovered |
| Tú | destapaste | You uncovered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destapó | He / she / you uncovered |
| Nosotros / as | destapamos | We uncovered |
| Vosotros / as | destapasteis | You uncovered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destaparon | They / you uncovered |
| Vos | destapaste | You uncovered |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was uncovering” or “she was uncovering” 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 | destapaba | I was uncovering |
| Tú | destapabas | You were uncovering |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destapaba | He was / she was / you were uncovering |
| Nosotros / as | destapábamos | We were uncovering |
| Vosotros / as | destapabais | You were uncovering |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destapaban | They / you were uncovering |
| Vos | destapabas | You were uncovering |
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 uncovered” and “she has uncovered”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he destapado | I have uncovered |
| Tú | has destapado | You have uncovered |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha destapado | He has / she has / you have uncovered |
| Nosotros / as | hemos destapado | We have uncovered |
| Vosotros / as | habéis destapado | You have uncovered |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han destapado | They / you have uncovered |
| Vos | has destapado | You have uncovered |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would uncover” or “she would uncover”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | destaparía | I would uncover |
| Tú | destaparías | You would uncover |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destaparía | He / she / you would uncover |
| Nosotros / as | destaparíamos | We would uncover |
| Vosotros / as | destaparíais | You would uncover |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destaparían | They / you would uncover |
| Vos | destaparías | You would uncover |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will uncover” or “they will uncover”.
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 destapar” means “They are going to uncover”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | destaparé | I will uncover |
| Tú | destaparás | You will uncover |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destapará | He / she / you will uncover |
| Nosotros / as | destaparemos | We will uncover |
| Vosotros / as | destaparéis | You will uncover |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destaparán | They / you will uncover |
| Vos | destaparás | You will uncover |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | destape |
| Tú | destapes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destape |
| Nosotros / as | destapemos |
| Vosotros / as | destapéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destapen |
| Vos | destapes |
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 | destapara | destapase |
| Tú | destaparas | destapase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destapara | destapase |
| Nosotros / as | destapáramos | destapásemos |
| Vosotros / as | destaparais | destapaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destaparan | destapasen |
| Vos | destaparas | destapase |
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 | destapare |
| Tú | destapares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destapare |
| Nosotros / as | destapáremos |
| Vosotros / as | destapareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destaparen |
| Vos | destapares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “uncover!” and “don’t uncover!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | destapa | no destapes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destape | no destape |
| Nosotros / as | destapemos | no destapemos |
| Vosotros / as | destapad | no destapéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destapen | no destapen |
| Vos | destapá | no destapes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya destapado |
| Tú | hayas destapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya destapado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos destapado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis destapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan destapado |
| Vos | hayas destapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera destapado / hubiese destapado |
| Tú | hubieras destapado / hubieses destapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera destapado / hubiese destapado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos destapado / hubiésemos destapado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais destapado / hubieseis destapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran destapado / hubiesen destapado |
| Vos | hubieras destapado / hubieses destapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere destapado |
| Tú | hubieres destapado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere destapado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos destapado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis destapado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren destapado |
| Vos | hubieres destapado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté destapando |
| Tú | estés destapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté destapando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos destapando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis destapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén destapando |
| Vos | estés destapando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera destapando / estuviese destapando |
| Tú | estuvieras destapando / estuvieses destapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera destapando / estuviese destapando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos destapando / estuviésamos destapando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais destapando / estuvieseis destapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera destapando / estuviese destapando |
| Vos | estuvieras destapando / estuvieses destapando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere destapando |
| Tú | estuvieres destapando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere destapando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos destapando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis destapando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere destapando |
| Vos | estuvieres destapando |
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 destapás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos destapaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos destapabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos destaparías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos destaparás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos destapes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos destaparas / Vos destapase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos destapá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no destapes |