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Deletrear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to spell, interpret”.
Below are all of the conjugations for deletrear 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 spell, interpret |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | deletrear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está deletreando) and past continuous (estaba deletreando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. spelling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he deletreado and hubiera deletreado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have spelled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | deletreando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | deletreado |
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 spell” or “they spell”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | deletreo |
| Tú | deletreas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletrea |
| Nosotros / as | deletreamos |
| Vosotros / as | deletreáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletrean |
| Vos | deletreás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I spelled” or “she spelled” 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 | deletreé | I spelled |
| Tú | deletreaste | You spelled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletreó | He / she / you spelled |
| Nosotros / as | deletreamos | We spelled |
| Vosotros / as | deletreasteis | You spelled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletrearon | They / you spelled |
| Vos | deletreaste | You spelled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was spelling” or “she was spelling” 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 | deletreaba | I was spelling |
| Tú | deletreabas | You were spelling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletreaba | He was / she was / you were spelling |
| Nosotros / as | deletreábamos | We were spelling |
| Vosotros / as | deletreabais | You were spelling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletreaban | They / you were spelling |
| Vos | deletreabas | You were spelling |
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 spelled” and “she has spelled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he deletreado | I have spelled |
| Tú | has deletreado | You have spelled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha deletreado | He has / she has / you have spelled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos deletreado | We have spelled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis deletreado | You have spelled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han deletreado | They / you have spelled |
| Vos | has deletreado | You have spelled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would spell” or “she would spell”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | deletrearía | I would spell |
| Tú | deletrearías | You would spell |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletrearía | He / she / you would spell |
| Nosotros / as | deletrearíamos | We would spell |
| Vosotros / as | deletrearíais | You would spell |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletrearían | They / you would spell |
| Vos | deletrearías | You would spell |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will spell” or “they will spell”.
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 deletrear” means “They are going to spell”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | deletrearé | I will spell |
| Tú | deletrearás | You will spell |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletreará | He / she / you will spell |
| Nosotros / as | deletrearemos | We will spell |
| Vosotros / as | deletrearéis | You will spell |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletrearán | They / you will spell |
| Vos | deletrearás | You will spell |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | deletree |
| Tú | deletrees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletree |
| Nosotros / as | deletreemos |
| Vosotros / as | deletreéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletreen |
| Vos | deletrees |
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 | deletreara | deletrease |
| Tú | deletrearas | deletrease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletreara | deletrease |
| Nosotros / as | deletreáramos | deletreásemos |
| Vosotros / as | deletrearais | deletreaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletrearan | deletreasen |
| Vos | deletrearas | deletrease |
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 | deletreare |
| Tú | deletreares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletreare |
| Nosotros / as | deletreáremos |
| Vosotros / as | deletreareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletrearen |
| Vos | deletreares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “spell!” and “don’t spell!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | deletrea | no deletrees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deletree | no deletree |
| Nosotros / as | deletreemos | no deletreemos |
| Vosotros / as | deletread | no deletreéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deletreen | no deletreen |
| Vos | deletreá | no deletrees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya deletreado |
| Tú | hayas deletreado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya deletreado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos deletreado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis deletreado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan deletreado |
| Vos | hayas deletreado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera deletreado / hubiese deletreado |
| Tú | hubieras deletreado / hubieses deletreado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera deletreado / hubiese deletreado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos deletreado / hubiésemos deletreado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais deletreado / hubieseis deletreado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran deletreado / hubiesen deletreado |
| Vos | hubieras deletreado / hubieses deletreado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere deletreado |
| Tú | hubieres deletreado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere deletreado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos deletreado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis deletreado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren deletreado |
| Vos | hubieres deletreado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté deletreando |
| Tú | estés deletreando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté deletreando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos deletreando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis deletreando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén deletreando |
| Vos | estés deletreando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera deletreando / estuviese deletreando |
| Tú | estuvieras deletreando / estuvieses deletreando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera deletreando / estuviese deletreando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos deletreando / estuviésamos deletreando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais deletreando / estuvieseis deletreando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera deletreando / estuviese deletreando |
| Vos | estuvieras deletreando / estuvieses deletreando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere deletreando |
| Tú | estuvieres deletreando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere deletreando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos deletreando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis deletreando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere deletreando |
| Vos | estuvieres deletreando |
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 deletreás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos deletreaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos deletreabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos deletrearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos deletrearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos deletrees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos deletrearas / Vos deletrease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos deletreá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no deletrees |