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Desdeñar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to disdain, scorn”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desdeñar 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 disdain, scorn |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desdeñar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desdeñando) and past continuous (estaba desdeñando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. disdaining).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desdeñado and hubiera desdeñado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have disdained).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desdeñando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desdeñado |
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 disdain” or “they disdain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desdeño |
| Tú | desdeñas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeña |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñamos |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñan |
| Vos | desdeñás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I disdained” or “she disdained” 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 | desdeñé | I disdained |
| Tú | desdeñaste | You disdained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñó | He / she / you disdained |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñamos | We disdained |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñasteis | You disdained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñaron | They / you disdained |
| Vos | desdeñaste | You disdained |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was disdaining” or “she was disdaining” 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 | desdeñaba | I was disdaining |
| Tú | desdeñabas | You were disdaining |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñaba | He was / she was / you were disdaining |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñábamos | We were disdaining |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñabais | You were disdaining |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñaban | They / you were disdaining |
| Vos | desdeñabas | You were disdaining |
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 disdained” and “she has disdained”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desdeñado | I have disdained |
| Tú | has desdeñado | You have disdained |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desdeñado | He has / she has / you have disdained |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desdeñado | We have disdained |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desdeñado | You have disdained |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desdeñado | They / you have disdained |
| Vos | has desdeñado | You have disdained |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would disdain” or “she would disdain”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desdeñaría | I would disdain |
| Tú | desdeñarías | You would disdain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñaría | He / she / you would disdain |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñaríamos | We would disdain |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñaríais | You would disdain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñarían | They / you would disdain |
| Vos | desdeñarías | You would disdain |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will disdain” or “they will disdain”.
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 desdeñar” means “They are going to disdain”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desdeñaré | I will disdain |
| Tú | desdeñarás | You will disdain |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñará | He / she / you will disdain |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñaremos | We will disdain |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñaréis | You will disdain |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñarán | They / you will disdain |
| Vos | desdeñarás | You will disdain |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desdeñe |
| Tú | desdeñes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñe |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñemos |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñen |
| Vos | desdeñes |
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 | desdeñara | desdeñase |
| Tú | desdeñaras | desdeñase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñara | desdeñase |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñáramos | desdeñásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñarais | desdeñaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñaran | desdeñasen |
| Vos | desdeñaras | desdeñase |
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 | desdeñare |
| Tú | desdeñares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñare |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñáremos |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñaren |
| Vos | desdeñares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “disdain!” and “don’t disdain!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desdeña | no desdeñes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desdeñe | no desdeñe |
| Nosotros / as | desdeñemos | no desdeñemos |
| Vosotros / as | desdeñad | no desdeñéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desdeñen | no desdeñen |
| Vos | desdeñá | no desdeñes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desdeñado |
| Tú | hayas desdeñado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desdeñado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desdeñado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desdeñado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desdeñado |
| Vos | hayas desdeñado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desdeñado / hubiese desdeñado |
| Tú | hubieras desdeñado / hubieses desdeñado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desdeñado / hubiese desdeñado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desdeñado / hubiésemos desdeñado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desdeñado / hubieseis desdeñado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desdeñado / hubiesen desdeñado |
| Vos | hubieras desdeñado / hubieses desdeñado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desdeñado |
| Tú | hubieres desdeñado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desdeñado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desdeñado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desdeñado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desdeñado |
| Vos | hubieres desdeñado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desdeñando |
| Tú | estés desdeñando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desdeñando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desdeñando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desdeñando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desdeñando |
| Vos | estés desdeñando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desdeñando / estuviese desdeñando |
| Tú | estuvieras desdeñando / estuvieses desdeñando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desdeñando / estuviese desdeñando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desdeñando / estuviésamos desdeñando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desdeñando / estuvieseis desdeñando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desdeñando / estuviese desdeñando |
| Vos | estuvieras desdeñando / estuvieses desdeñando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desdeñando |
| Tú | estuvieres desdeñando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desdeñando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desdeñando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desdeñando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desdeñando |
| Vos | estuvieres desdeñando |
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 desdeñás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desdeñaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desdeñabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desdeñarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desdeñarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desdeñes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desdeñaras / Vos desdeñase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desdeñá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desdeñes |