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Descansar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to rest”.
Below are all of the conjugations for descansar 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 rest |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | descansar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está descansando) and past continuous (estaba descansando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. resting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he descansado and hubiera descansado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have rested).
| Gerundio / Gerund | descansando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | descansado |
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 rest” or “they rest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | descanso |
| Tú | descansas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansa |
| Nosotros / as | descansamos |
| Vosotros / as | descansáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansan |
| Vos | descansás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I rested” or “she rested” 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 | descansé | I rested |
| Tú | descansaste | You rested |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansó | He / she / you rested |
| Nosotros / as | descansamos | We rested |
| Vosotros / as | descansasteis | You rested |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansaron | They / you rested |
| Vos | descansaste | You rested |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was resting” or “she was resting” 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 | descansaba | I was resting |
| Tú | descansabas | You were resting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansaba | He was / she was / you were resting |
| Nosotros / as | descansábamos | We were resting |
| Vosotros / as | descansabais | You were resting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansaban | They / you were resting |
| Vos | descansabas | You were resting |
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 rested” and “she has rested”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he descansado | I have rested |
| Tú | has descansado | You have rested |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha descansado | He has / she has / you have rested |
| Nosotros / as | hemos descansado | We have rested |
| Vosotros / as | habéis descansado | You have rested |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han descansado | They / you have rested |
| Vos | has descansado | You have rested |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would rest” or “she would rest”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | descansaría | I would rest |
| Tú | descansarías | You would rest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansaría | He / she / you would rest |
| Nosotros / as | descansaríamos | We would rest |
| Vosotros / as | descansaríais | You would rest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansarían | They / you would rest |
| Vos | descansarías | You would rest |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will rest” or “they will rest”.
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 descansar” means “They are going to rest”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | descansaré | I will rest |
| Tú | descansarás | You will rest |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansará | He / she / you will rest |
| Nosotros / as | descansaremos | We will rest |
| Vosotros / as | descansaréis | You will rest |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansarán | They / you will rest |
| Vos | descansarás | You will rest |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | descanse |
| Tú | descanses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descanse |
| Nosotros / as | descansemos |
| Vosotros / as | descanséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansen |
| Vos | descanses |
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 | descansara | descansase |
| Tú | descansaras | descansase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansara | descansase |
| Nosotros / as | descansáramos | descansásemos |
| Vosotros / as | descansarais | descansaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansaran | descansasen |
| Vos | descansaras | descansase |
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 | descansare |
| Tú | descansares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descansare |
| Nosotros / as | descansáremos |
| Vosotros / as | descansareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansaren |
| Vos | descansares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “rest!” and “don’t rest!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | descansa | no descanses |
| Él / Ella / Usted | descanse | no descanse |
| Nosotros / as | descansemos | no descansemos |
| Vosotros / as | descansad | no descanséis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | descansen | no descansen |
| Vos | descansá | no descanses |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya descansado |
| Tú | hayas descansado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya descansado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos descansado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis descansado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan descansado |
| Vos | hayas descansado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera descansado / hubiese descansado |
| Tú | hubieras descansado / hubieses descansado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera descansado / hubiese descansado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos descansado / hubiésemos descansado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais descansado / hubieseis descansado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran descansado / hubiesen descansado |
| Vos | hubieras descansado / hubieses descansado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere descansado |
| Tú | hubieres descansado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere descansado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos descansado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis descansado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren descansado |
| Vos | hubieres descansado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté descansando |
| Tú | estés descansando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté descansando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos descansando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis descansando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén descansando |
| Vos | estés descansando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera descansando / estuviese descansando |
| Tú | estuvieras descansando / estuvieses descansando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera descansando / estuviese descansando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos descansando / estuviésamos descansando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais descansando / estuvieseis descansando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera descansando / estuviese descansando |
| Vos | estuvieras descansando / estuvieses descansando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere descansando |
| Tú | estuvieres descansando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere descansando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos descansando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis descansando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere descansando |
| Vos | estuvieres descansando |
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 descansás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos descansaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos descansabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos descansarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos descansarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos descanses |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos descansaras / Vos descansase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos descansá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no descanses |