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Detestar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to hate, detest, loathe”.
Below are all of the conjugations for detestar 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 hate, detest, loathe |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | detestar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está detestando) and past continuous (estaba detestando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. hating).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he detestado and hubiera detestado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have hated).
| Gerundio / Gerund | detestando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | detestado |
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 hate” or “they hate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | detesto |
| Tú | detestas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detesta |
| Nosotros / as | detestamos |
| Vosotros / as | detestáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestan |
| Vos | detestás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I hated” or “she hated” 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 | detesté | I hated |
| Tú | detestaste | You hated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detestó | He / she / you hated |
| Nosotros / as | detestamos | We hated |
| Vosotros / as | detestasteis | You hated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestaron | They / you hated |
| Vos | detestaste | You hated |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was hating” or “she was hating” 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 | detestaba | I was hating |
| Tú | detestabas | You were hating |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detestaba | He was / she was / you were hating |
| Nosotros / as | detestábamos | We were hating |
| Vosotros / as | detestabais | You were hating |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestaban | They / you were hating |
| Vos | detestabas | You were hating |
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 hated” and “she has hated”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he detestado | I have hated |
| Tú | has detestado | You have hated |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha detestado | He has / she has / you have hated |
| Nosotros / as | hemos detestado | We have hated |
| Vosotros / as | habéis detestado | You have hated |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han detestado | They / you have hated |
| Vos | has detestado | You have hated |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would hate” or “she would hate”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | detestaría | I would hate |
| Tú | detestarías | You would hate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detestaría | He / she / you would hate |
| Nosotros / as | detestaríamos | We would hate |
| Vosotros / as | detestaríais | You would hate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestarían | They / you would hate |
| Vos | detestarías | You would hate |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will hate” or “they will hate”.
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 detestar” means “They are going to hate”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | detestaré | I will hate |
| Tú | detestarás | You will hate |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detestará | He / she / you will hate |
| Nosotros / as | detestaremos | We will hate |
| Vosotros / as | detestaréis | You will hate |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestarán | They / you will hate |
| Vos | detestarás | You will hate |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | deteste |
| Tú | detestes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteste |
| Nosotros / as | detestemos |
| Vosotros / as | detestéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detesten |
| Vos | detestes |
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 | detestara | detestase |
| Tú | detestaras | detestase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detestara | detestase |
| Nosotros / as | detestáramos | detestásemos |
| Vosotros / as | detestarais | detestaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestaran | detestasen |
| Vos | detestaras | detestase |
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 | detestare |
| Tú | detestares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | detestare |
| Nosotros / as | detestáremos |
| Vosotros / as | detestareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detestaren |
| Vos | detestares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “hate!” and “don’t hate!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | detesta | no detestes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deteste | no deteste |
| Nosotros / as | detestemos | no detestemos |
| Vosotros / as | detestad | no detestéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | detesten | no detesten |
| Vos | detestá | no detestes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya detestado |
| Tú | hayas detestado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya detestado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos detestado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis detestado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan detestado |
| Vos | hayas detestado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera detestado / hubiese detestado |
| Tú | hubieras detestado / hubieses detestado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera detestado / hubiese detestado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos detestado / hubiésemos detestado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais detestado / hubieseis detestado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran detestado / hubiesen detestado |
| Vos | hubieras detestado / hubieses detestado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere detestado |
| Tú | hubieres detestado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere detestado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos detestado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis detestado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren detestado |
| Vos | hubieres detestado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté detestando |
| Tú | estés detestando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté detestando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos detestando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis detestando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén detestando |
| Vos | estés detestando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera detestando / estuviese detestando |
| Tú | estuvieras detestando / estuvieses detestando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera detestando / estuviese detestando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos detestando / estuviésamos detestando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais detestando / estuvieseis detestando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera detestando / estuviese detestando |
| Vos | estuvieras detestando / estuvieses detestando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere detestando |
| Tú | estuvieres detestando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere detestando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos detestando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis detestando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere detestando |
| Vos | estuvieres detestando |
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 detestás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos detestaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos detestabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos detestarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos detestarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos detestes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos detestaras / Vos detestase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos detestá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no detestes |