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Deferir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to defer, delegate, yield”.
Below are all of the conjugations for deferir 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 defer, delegate, yield |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | deferir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está defiriendo) and past continuous (estaba defiriendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. defending).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he deferido and hubiera deferido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have defended).
| Gerundio / Gerund | defiriendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | deferido |
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 defend” or “they defend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | defiero |
| Tú | defieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defiere |
| Nosotros / as | deferimos |
| Vosotros / as | deferís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | defieren |
| Vos | deferís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I defended” or “she defended” 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 | deferí | I defended |
| Tú | deferiste | You defended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defirió | He / she / you defended |
| Nosotros / as | deferimos | We defended |
| Vosotros / as | deferisteis | You defended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | defirieron | They / you defended |
| Vos | deferiste | You defended |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was defending” or “she was defending” 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 | defería | I was defending |
| Tú | deferías | You were defending |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defería | He was / she was / you were defending |
| Nosotros / as | deferíamos | We were defending |
| Vosotros / as | deferíais | You were defending |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deferían | They / you were defending |
| Vos | deferías | You were defending |
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 defended” and “she has defended”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he deferido | I have defended |
| Tú | has deferido | You have defended |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha deferido | He has / she has / you have defended |
| Nosotros / as | hemos deferido | We have defended |
| Vosotros / as | habéis deferido | You have defended |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han deferido | They / you have defended |
| Vos | has deferido | You have defended |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would defend” or “she would defend”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | deferiría | I would defend |
| Tú | deferirías | You would defend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deferiría | He / she / you would defend |
| Nosotros / as | deferiríamos | We would defend |
| Vosotros / as | deferiríais | You would defend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deferirían | They / you would defend |
| Vos | deferirías | You would defend |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will defend” or “they will defend”.
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 deferir” means “They are going to defend”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | deferiré | I will defend |
| Tú | deferirás | You will defend |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deferirá | He / she / you will defend |
| Nosotros / as | deferiremos | We will defend |
| Vosotros / as | deferiréis | You will defend |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deferirán | They / you will defend |
| Vos | deferirás | You will defend |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | defiera |
| Tú | defieras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defiera |
| Nosotros / as | defiramos |
| Vosotros / as | defiráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | defieran |
| Vos | defieras |
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 | defiriera | defiriese |
| Tú | defirieras | defiriese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defiriera | defiriese |
| Nosotros / as | defiriéramos | defiriésemos |
| Vosotros / as | defirierais | defirieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | defirieran | defiriesen |
| Vos | defirieras | defiriese |
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 | defiriere |
| Tú | defirieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defiriera |
| Nosotros / as | defiriéremos |
| Vosotros / as | defiriereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | defirieren |
| Vos | defirieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “defend!” and “don’t defend!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | defiere | no defieras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | defiera | no defiera |
| Nosotros / as | defiramos | no defiramos |
| Vosotros / as | deferid | no defiráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | defieran | no defieran |
| Vos | deferí | no defieras |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya deferido |
| Tú | hayas deferido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya deferido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos deferido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis deferido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan deferido |
| Vos | hayas deferido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera deferido / hubiese deferido |
| Tú | hubieras deferido / hubieses deferido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera deferido / hubiese deferido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos deferido / hubiésemos deferido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais deferido / hubieseis deferido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran deferido / hubiesen deferido |
| Vos | hubieras deferido / hubieses deferido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere deferido |
| Tú | hubieres deferido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere deferido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos deferido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis deferido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren deferido |
| Vos | hubieres deferido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté defiriendo |
| Tú | estés defiriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté defiriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos defiriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis defiriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén defiriendo |
| Vos | estés defiriendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera defiriendo / estuviese defiriendo |
| Tú | estuvieras defiriendo / estuvieses defiriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera defiriendo / estuviese defiriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos defiriendo / estuviésamos defiriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais defiriendo / estuvieseis defiriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera defiriendo / estuviese defiriendo |
| Vos | estuvieras defiriendo / estuvieses defiriendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere defiriendo |
| Tú | estuvieres defiriendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere defiriendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos defiriendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis defiriendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere defiriendo |
| Vos | estuvieres defiriendo |
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 deferís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos deferiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos deferías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos deferirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos deferirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos defieras |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos defirieras / Vos defiriese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos deferí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no defieras |