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Desconfiar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to distrust, doubt, suspect”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desconfiar 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 distrust, doubt, suspect |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desconfiar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desconfiando) and past continuous (estaba desconfiando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. distrusting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desconfiado and hubiera desconfiado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have distrusted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desconfiando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desconfiado |
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 distrust” or “they distrust”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desconfío |
| Tú | desconfías |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfía |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiamos |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfían |
| Vos | desconfiás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I distrusted” or “she distrusted” 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 | desconfié | I distrusted |
| Tú | desconfiaste | You distrusted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfió | He / she / you distrusted |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiamos | We distrusted |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiasteis | You distrusted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfiaron | They / you distrusted |
| Vos | desconfiaste | You distrusted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was distrusting” or “she was distrusting” 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 | desconfiaba | I was distrusting |
| Tú | desconfiabas | You were distrusting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfiaba | He was / she was / you were distrusting |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiábamos | We were distrusting |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiabais | You were distrusting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfiaban | They / you were distrusting |
| Vos | desconfiabas | You were distrusting |
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 distrusted” and “she has distrusted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desconfiado | I have distrusted |
| Tú | has desconfiado | You have distrusted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desconfiado | He has / she has / you have distrusted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desconfiado | We have distrusted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desconfiado | You have distrusted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desconfiado | They / you have distrusted |
| Vos | has desconfiado | You have distrusted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would distrust” or “she would distrust”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desconfiaría | I would distrust |
| Tú | desconfiarías | You would distrust |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfiaría | He / she / you would distrust |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiaríamos | We would distrust |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiaríais | You would distrust |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfiarían | They / you would distrust |
| Vos | desconfiarías | You would distrust |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will distrust” or “they will distrust”.
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 desconfiar” means “They are going to distrust”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desconfiaré | I will distrust |
| Tú | desconfiarás | You will distrust |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfiará | He / she / you will distrust |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiaremos | We will distrust |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiaréis | You will distrust |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfiarán | They / you will distrust |
| Vos | desconfiarás | You will distrust |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desconfíe |
| Tú | desconfíes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfíe |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiemos |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfíen |
| Vos | desconfíes |
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 | desconfiara | desconfiase |
| Tú | desconfiaras | desconfiase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfiara | desconfiase |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiáramos | desconfiásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiarais | desconfiaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfiaran | desconfiasen |
| Vos | desconfiaras | desconfiase |
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 | desconfiare |
| Tú | desconfiares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfiare |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfiaren |
| Vos | desconfiares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “distrust!” and “don’t distrust!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desconfía | no desconfíes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desconfíe | no desconfíe |
| Nosotros / as | desconfiemos | no desconfiemos |
| Vosotros / as | desconfiad | no desconfiéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desconfíen | no desconfíen |
| Vos | desconfiá | no desconfíes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desconfiado |
| Tú | hayas desconfiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desconfiado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desconfiado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desconfiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desconfiado |
| Vos | hayas desconfiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desconfiado / hubiese desconfiado |
| Tú | hubieras desconfiado / hubieses desconfiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desconfiado / hubiese desconfiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desconfiado / hubiésemos desconfiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desconfiado / hubieseis desconfiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desconfiado / hubiesen desconfiado |
| Vos | hubieras desconfiado / hubieses desconfiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desconfiado |
| Tú | hubieres desconfiado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desconfiado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desconfiado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desconfiado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desconfiado |
| Vos | hubieres desconfiado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desconfiando |
| Tú | estés desconfiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desconfiando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desconfiando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desconfiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desconfiando |
| Vos | estés desconfiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desconfiando / estuviese desconfiando |
| Tú | estuvieras desconfiando / estuvieses desconfiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desconfiando / estuviese desconfiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desconfiando / estuviésamos desconfiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desconfiando / estuvieseis desconfiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desconfiando / estuviese desconfiando |
| Vos | estuvieras desconfiando / estuvieses desconfiando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desconfiando |
| Tú | estuvieres desconfiando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desconfiando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desconfiando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desconfiando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desconfiando |
| Vos | estuvieres desconfiando |
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 desconfiás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desconfiaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desconfiabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desconfiarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desconfiarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desconfíes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desconfiaras / Vos desconfiase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desconfiá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desconfíes |