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Desenvolver is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to unroll, unwrap, develop”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desenvolver 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 unroll, unwrap, develop |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desenvolver |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desenvolviendo) and past continuous (estaba desenvolviendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. unrolling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desenvuelto and hubiera desenvuelto. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have unrolled).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desenvolviendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desenvuelto |
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 unroll” or “they unroll”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desenvuelvo |
| Tú | desenvuelves |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvuelve |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolvemos |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolvéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvuelven |
| Vos | desenvolvés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I unrolled” or “she unrolled” 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 | desenvolví | I unrolled |
| Tú | desenvolviste | You unrolled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvolvió | He / she / you unrolled |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolvimos | We unrolled |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolvisteis | You unrolled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvolvieron | They / you unrolled |
| Vos | desenvolviste | You unrolled |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was unrolling” or “she was unrolling” 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 | desenvolvía | I was unrolling |
| Tú | desenvolvías | You were unrolling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvolvía | He was / she was / you were unrolling |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolvíamos | We were unrolling |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolvíais | You were unrolling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvolvían | They / you were unrolling |
| Vos | desenvolvías | You were unrolling |
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 unrolled” and “she has unrolled”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desenvuelto | I have unrolled |
| Tú | has desenvuelto | You have unrolled |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desenvuelto | He has / she has / you have unrolled |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desenvuelto | We have unrolled |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desenvuelto | You have unrolled |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desenvuelto | They / you have unrolled |
| Vos | has desenvuelto | You have unrolled |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would unroll” or “she would unroll”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desenvolvería | I would unroll |
| Tú | desenvolverías | You would unroll |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvolvería | He / she / you would unroll |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolveríamos | We would unroll |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolveríais | You would unroll |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvolverían | They / you would unroll |
| Vos | desenvolverías | You would unroll |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will unroll” or “they will unroll”.
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 desenvolver” means “They are going to unroll”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desenvolveré | I will unroll |
| Tú | desenvolverás | You will unroll |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvolverá | He / she / you will unroll |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolveremos | We will unroll |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolveréis | You will unroll |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvolverán | They / you will unroll |
| Vos | desenvolverás | You will unroll |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desenvuelva |
| Tú | desenvuelvas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvuelva |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolvamos |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvuelvan |
| Vos | desenvuelvas |
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 | desenvolviera | desenvolviese |
| Tú | desenvolvieras | desenvolviese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvolviera | desenvolviese |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolviéramos | desenvolviésemos |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolvierais | desenvolvieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvolvieran | desenvolviesen |
| Vos | desenvolvieras | desenvolviese |
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 | desenvolviere |
| Tú | desenvolvieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvolviere |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolviéremos |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolviereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvolvieren |
| Vos | desenvolvieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “unroll!” and “don’t unroll!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desenvuelve | no desenvuelvas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desenvuelva | no desenvuelva |
| Nosotros / as | desenvolvamos | no desenvolvamos |
| Vosotros / as | desenvolved | no desenvolváis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desenvuelvan | no desenvuelvan |
| Vos | desenvolvé | no desenvuelvas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desenvuelto |
| Tú | hayas desenvuelto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desenvuelto |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desenvuelto |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desenvuelto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desenvuelto |
| Vos | hayas desenvuelto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desenvuelto / hubiese desenvuelto |
| Tú | hubieras desenvuelto / hubieses desenvuelto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desenvuelto / hubiese desenvuelto |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desenvuelto / hubiésemos desenvuelto |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desenvuelto / hubieseis desenvuelto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desenvuelto / hubiesen desenvuelto |
| Vos | hubieras desenvuelto / hubieses desenvuelto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desenvuelto |
| Tú | hubieres desenvuelto |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desenvuelto |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desenvuelto |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desenvuelto |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desenvuelto |
| Vos | hubieres desenvuelto |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desenvolviendo |
| Tú | estés desenvolviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desenvolviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desenvolviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desenvolviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desenvolviendo |
| Vos | estés desenvolviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desenvolviendo / estuviese desenvolviendo |
| Tú | estuvieras desenvolviendo / estuvieses desenvolviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desenvolviendo / estuviese desenvolviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desenvolviendo / estuviésamos desenvolviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desenvolviendo / estuvieseis desenvolviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desenvolviendo / estuviese desenvolviendo |
| Vos | estuvieras desenvolviendo / estuvieses desenvolviendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desenvolviendo |
| Tú | estuvieres desenvolviendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desenvolviendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desenvolviendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desenvolviendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desenvolviendo |
| Vos | estuvieres desenvolviendo |
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 desenvolvés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desenvolviste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desenvolvías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desenvolverías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desenvolverás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desenvuelvas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desenvolvieras / Vos desenvolviese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desenvolvé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desenvuelvas |