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Deteriorar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to deteriorate, be damaged, worn out”.
Below are all of the conjugations for deteriorar 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 deteriorate, be damaged, worn out |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | deteriorar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está deteriorando) and past continuous (estaba deteriorando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. deteriorating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he deteriorado and hubiera deteriorado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have deteriorated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | deteriorando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | deteriorado |
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 deteriorate” or “they deteriorate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | deterioro |
| Tú | deterioras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteriora |
| Nosotros / as | deterioramos |
| Vosotros / as | deterioráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioran |
| Vos | deteriorás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I deteriorated” or “she deteriorated” 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 | deterioré | I deteriorated |
| Tú | deterioraste | You deteriorated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deterioró | He / she / you deteriorated |
| Nosotros / as | deterioramos | We deteriorated |
| Vosotros / as | deteriorasteis | You deteriorated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioraron | They / you deteriorated |
| Vos | deterioraste | You deteriorated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was deteriorating” or “she was deteriorating” 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 | deterioraba | I was deteriorating |
| Tú | deteriorabas | You were deteriorating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deterioraba | He was / she was / you were deteriorating |
| Nosotros / as | deteriorábamos | We were deteriorating |
| Vosotros / as | deteriorabais | You were deteriorating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioraban | They / you were deteriorating |
| Vos | deteriorabas | You were deteriorating |
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 deteriorated” and “she has deteriorated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he deteriorado | I have deteriorated |
| Tú | has deteriorado | You have deteriorated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha deteriorado | He has / she has / you have deteriorated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos deteriorado | We have deteriorated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis deteriorado | You have deteriorated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han deteriorado | They / you have deteriorated |
| Vos | has deteriorado | You have deteriorated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would deteriorate” or “she would deteriorate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | deterioraría | I would deteriorate |
| Tú | deteriorarías | You would deteriorate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deterioraría | He / she / you would deteriorate |
| Nosotros / as | deterioraríamos | We would deteriorate |
| Vosotros / as | deterioraríais | You would deteriorate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deteriorarían | They / you would deteriorate |
| Vos | deteriorarías | You would deteriorate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will deteriorate” or “they will deteriorate”.
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 deteriorar” means “They are going to deteriorate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | deterioraré | I will deteriorate |
| Tú | deteriorarás | You will deteriorate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteriorará | He / she / you will deteriorate |
| Nosotros / as | deterioraremos | We will deteriorate |
| Vosotros / as | deterioraréis | You will deteriorate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deteriorarán | They / you will deteriorate |
| Vos | deteriorarás | You will deteriorate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | deteriore |
| Tú | deteriores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteriore |
| Nosotros / as | deterioremos |
| Vosotros / as | deterioréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioren |
| Vos | deteriores |
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 | deteriorara | deteriorase |
| Tú | deterioraras | deteriorase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteriorara | deteriorase |
| Nosotros / as | deterioráramos | deteriorásemos |
| Vosotros / as | deteriorarais | deterioraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioraran | deteriorasen |
| Vos | deterioraras | deteriorase |
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 | deteriorare |
| Tú | deteriorares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteriorare |
| Nosotros / as | deterioráremos |
| Vosotros / as | deteriorareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioraren |
| Vos | deteriorares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “deteriorate!” and “don’t deteriorate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | deteriora | no deteriores |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteriore | no deteriore |
| Nosotros / as | deterioremos | no deterioremos |
| Vosotros / as | deteriorad | no deterioréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deterioren | no deterioren |
| Vos | deteriorá | no deteriores |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya deteriorado |
| Tú | hayas deteriorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya deteriorado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos deteriorado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis deteriorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan deteriorado |
| Vos | hayas deteriorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera deteriorado / hubiese deteriorado |
| Tú | hubieras deteriorado / hubieses deteriorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera deteriorado / hubiese deteriorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos deteriorado / hubiésemos deteriorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais deteriorado / hubieseis deteriorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran deteriorado / hubiesen deteriorado |
| Vos | hubieras deteriorado / hubieses deteriorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere deteriorado |
| Tú | hubieres deteriorado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere deteriorado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos deteriorado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis deteriorado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren deteriorado |
| Vos | hubieres deteriorado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté deteriorando |
| Tú | estés deteriorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté deteriorando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos deteriorando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis deteriorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén deteriorando |
| Vos | estés deteriorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera deteriorando / estuviese deteriorando |
| Tú | estuvieras deteriorando / estuvieses deteriorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera deteriorando / estuviese deteriorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos deteriorando / estuviésamos deteriorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais deteriorando / estuvieseis deteriorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera deteriorando / estuviese deteriorando |
| Vos | estuvieras deteriorando / estuvieses deteriorando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere deteriorando |
| Tú | estuvieres deteriorando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere deteriorando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos deteriorando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis deteriorando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere deteriorando |
| Vos | estuvieres deteriorando |
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 deteriorás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos deterioraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos deteriorabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos deteriorarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos deteriorarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos deteriores |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos deterioraras / Vos deteriorase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos deteriorá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no deteriores |