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Descalzar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to take off shoes”.
Below are all of the conjugations for descalzar 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 take off shoes |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | descalzar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está descalzando) and past continuous (estaba descalzando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. taking off shoes).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he descalzado and hubiera descalzado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have taken off shoes).
| Gerundio / Gerund | descalzando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | descalzado |
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 take off shoes” or “they take off shoes”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | descalzo |
| Tú | descalzas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalza |
| Nosotros / as | descalzamos |
| Vosotros / as | descalzáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzan |
| Vos | descalzás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I took off shoes” or “she took off shoes” 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 | descalcé | I took off shoes |
| Tú | descalzaste | You took off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalzó | He / she / you took off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | descalzamos | We took off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | descalzasteis | You took off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzaron | They / you took off shoes |
| Vos | descalzaste | You took off shoes |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was taking off shoes” or “she was taking off shoes” 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 | descalzaba | I was taking off shoes |
| Tú | descalzabas | You were taking off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalzaba | He was / she was / you were taking off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | descalzábamos | We were taking off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | descalzabais | You were taking off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzaban | They / you were taking off shoes |
| Vos | descalzabas | You were taking off shoes |
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 taken off shoes” and “she has taken off shoes”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he descalzado | I have taken off shoes |
| Tú | has descalzado | You have taken off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha descalzado | He has / she has / you have taken off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | hemos descalzado | We have taken off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | habéis descalzado | You have taken off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han descalzado | They / you have taken off shoes |
| Vos | has descalzado | You have taken off shoes |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would take off shoes” or “she would take off shoes”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | descalzaría | I would take off shoes |
| Tú | descalzarías | You would take off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalzaría | He / she / you would take off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | descalzaríamos | We would take off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | descalzaríais | You would take off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzarían | They / you would take off shoes |
| Vos | descalzarías | You would take off shoes |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will take off shoes” or “they will take off shoes”.
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 descalzar” means “They are going to take off shoes”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | descalzaré | I will take off shoes |
| Tú | descalzarás | You will take off shoes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalzará | He / she / you will take off shoes |
| Nosotros / as | descalzaremos | We will take off shoes |
| Vosotros / as | descalzaréis | You will take off shoes |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzarán | They / you will take off shoes |
| Vos | descalzarás | You will take off shoes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | descalce |
| Tú | descalces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalce |
| Nosotros / as | descalcemos |
| Vosotros / as | descalcéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalcen |
| Vos | descalces |
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 | descalzara | descalzase |
| Tú | descalzaras | descalzase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalzara | descalzase |
| Nosotros / as | descalzáramos | descalzásemos |
| Vosotros / as | descalzarais | descalzaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzaran | descalzasen |
| Vos | descalzaras | descalzase |
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 | descalzare |
| Tú | descalzares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalzare |
| Nosotros / as | descalzáremos |
| Vosotros / as | descalzareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalzaren |
| Vos | descalzares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “take off shoes!” and “don’t take off shoes!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | descalza | no descalces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descalce | no descalce |
| Nosotros / as | descalcemos | no descalcemos |
| Vosotros / as | descalzad | no descalcéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descalcen | no descalcen |
| Vos | descalzá | no descalces |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya descalzado |
| Tú | hayas descalzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya descalzado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos descalzado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis descalzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan descalzado |
| Vos | hayas descalzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera descalzado / hubiese descalzado |
| Tú | hubieras descalzado / hubieses descalzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera descalzado / hubiese descalzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos descalzado / hubiésemos descalzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais descalzado / hubieseis descalzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran descalzado / hubiesen descalzado |
| Vos | hubieras descalzado / hubieses descalzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere descalzado |
| Tú | hubieres descalzado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere descalzado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos descalzado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis descalzado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren descalzado |
| Vos | hubieres descalzado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté descalzando |
| Tú | estés descalzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté descalzando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos descalzando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis descalzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén descalzando |
| Vos | estés descalzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera descalzando / estuviese descalzando |
| Tú | estuvieras descalzando / estuvieses descalzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera descalzando / estuviese descalzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos descalzando / estuviésamos descalzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais descalzando / estuvieseis descalzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera descalzando / estuviese descalzando |
| Vos | estuvieras descalzando / estuvieses descalzando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere descalzando |
| Tú | estuvieres descalzando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere descalzando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos descalzando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis descalzando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere descalzando |
| Vos | estuvieres descalzando |
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 descalzás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos descalzaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos descalzabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos descalzarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos descalzarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos descalces |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos descalzaras / Vos descalzase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos descalzá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no descalces |