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Desear is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to desire, want”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desear 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 desire, want |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desear |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está deseando) and past continuous (estaba deseando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. desiring).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he deseado and hubiera deseado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have desired).
| Gerundio / Gerund | deseando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | deseado |
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 desire” or “they desire”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | deseo |
| Tú | deseas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desea |
| Nosotros / as | deseamos |
| Vosotros / as | deseáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desean |
| Vos | deseás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I desired” or “she desired” 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 | deseé | I desired |
| Tú | deseaste | You desired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deseó | He / she / you desired |
| Nosotros / as | deseamos | We desired |
| Vosotros / as | deseasteis | You desired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desearon | They / you desired |
| Vos | deseaste | You desired |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was desiring” or “she was desiring” 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 | deseaba | I was desiring |
| Tú | deseabas | You were desiring |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deseaba | He was / she was / you were desiring |
| Nosotros / as | deseábamos | We were desiring |
| Vosotros / as | deseabais | You were desiring |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deseaban | They / you were desiring |
| Vos | deseabas | You were desiring |
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 desired” and “she has desired”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he deseado | I have desired |
| Tú | has deseado | You have desired |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha deseado | He has / she has / you have desired |
| Nosotros / as | hemos deseado | We have desired |
| Vosotros / as | habéis deseado | You have desired |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han deseado | They / you have desired |
| Vos | has deseado | You have desired |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would desire” or “she would desire”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desearía | I would desire |
| Tú | desearías | You would desire |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desearía | He / she / you would desire |
| Nosotros / as | desearíamos | We would desire |
| Vosotros / as | desearíais | You would desire |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desearían | They / you would desire |
| Vos | desearías | You would desire |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will desire” or “they will desire”.
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 desear” means “They are going to desire”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desearé | I will desire |
| Tú | desearás | You will desire |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deseará | He / she / you will desire |
| Nosotros / as | desearemos | We will desire |
| Vosotros / as | desearéis | You will desire |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desearán | They / you will desire |
| Vos | desearás | You will desire |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desee |
| Tú | desees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desee |
| Nosotros / as | deseemos |
| Vosotros / as | deseéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deseen |
| Vos | desees |
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 | deseara | desease |
| Tú | desearas | desease |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deseara | desease |
| Nosotros / as | deseáramos | deseásemos |
| Vosotros / as | desearais | deseaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desearan | deseasen |
| Vos | desearas | desease |
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 | deseare |
| Tú | deseares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | deseare |
| Nosotros / as | deseáremos |
| Vosotros / as | deseareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desearen |
| Vos | deseares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “desire!” and “don’t desire!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desea | no desees |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desee | no desee |
| Nosotros / as | deseemos | no deseemos |
| Vosotros / as | desead | no deseéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | deseen | no deseen |
| Vos | deseá | no desees |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya deseado |
| Tú | hayas deseado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya deseado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos deseado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis deseado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan deseado |
| Vos | hayas deseado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera deseado / hubiese deseado |
| Tú | hubieras deseado / hubieses deseado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera deseado / hubiese deseado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos deseado / hubiésemos deseado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais deseado / hubieseis deseado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran deseado / hubiesen deseado |
| Vos | hubieras deseado / hubieses deseado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere deseado |
| Tú | hubieres deseado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere deseado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos deseado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis deseado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren deseado |
| Vos | hubieres deseado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté deseando |
| Tú | estés deseando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté deseando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos deseando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis deseando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén deseando |
| Vos | estés deseando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera deseando / estuviese deseando |
| Tú | estuvieras deseando / estuvieses deseando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera deseando / estuviese deseando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos deseando / estuviésamos deseando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais deseando / estuvieseis deseando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera deseando / estuviese deseando |
| Vos | estuvieras deseando / estuvieses deseando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere deseando |
| Tú | estuvieres deseando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere deseando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos deseando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis deseando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere deseando |
| Vos | estuvieres deseando |
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 deseás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos deseaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos deseabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desearías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desearás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desees |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desearas / Vos desease |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos deseá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desees |