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Desistir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to desist, stop, give up”.
Below are all of the conjugations for desistir 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 desist, stop, give up |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desistir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desistiendo) and past continuous (estaba desistiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. desisting).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desistido and hubiera desistido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have desisted).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desistiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desistido |
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 desist” or “they desist”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desisto |
| Tú | desistes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desiste |
| Nosotros / as | desistimos |
| Vosotros / as | desistís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desisten |
| Vos | desistís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I desisted” or “she desisted” 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 | desistí | I desisted |
| Tú | desististe | You desisted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desistió | He / she / you desisted |
| Nosotros / as | desistimos | We desisted |
| Vosotros / as | desististeis | You desisted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistieron | They / you desisted |
| Vos | desististe | You desisted |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was desisting” or “she was desisting” 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 | desistía | I was desisting |
| Tú | desistías | You were desisting |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desistía | He was / she was / you were desisting |
| Nosotros / as | desistíamos | We were desisting |
| Vosotros / as | desistíais | You were desisting |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistían | They / you were desisting |
| Vos | desistías | You were desisting |
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 desisted” and “she has desisted”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he desistido | I have desisted |
| Tú | has desistido | You have desisted |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha desistido | He has / she has / you have desisted |
| Nosotros / as | hemos desistido | We have desisted |
| Vosotros / as | habéis desistido | You have desisted |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han desistido | They / you have desisted |
| Vos | has desistido | You have desisted |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would desist” or “she would desist”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desistiría | I would desist |
| Tú | desistirías | You would desist |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desistiría | He / she / you would desist |
| Nosotros / as | desistiríamos | We would desist |
| Vosotros / as | desistiríais | You would desist |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistirían | They / you would desist |
| Vos | desistirías | You would desist |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will desist” or “they will desist”.
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 desistir” means “They are going to desist”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | desistiré | I will desist |
| Tú | desistirás | You will desist |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desistirá | He / she / you will desist |
| Nosotros / as | desistiremos | We will desist |
| Vosotros / as | desistiréis | You will desist |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistirán | They / you will desist |
| Vos | desistirás | You will desist |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | desista |
| Tú | desistas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desista |
| Nosotros / as | desistamos |
| Vosotros / as | desistáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistan |
| Vos | desistas |
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 | desistiera | desistiese |
| Tú | desistieras | desistiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desistiera | desistiese |
| Nosotros / as | desistiéramos | desistiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | desistierais | desistieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistieran | desistiesen |
| Vos | desistieras | desistiese |
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 | desistiere |
| Tú | desistieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desistiera |
| Nosotros / as | desistiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | desistiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistieren |
| Vos | desistieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “desist!” and “don’t desist!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desiste | no desistas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desista | no desista |
| Nosotros / as | desistamos | no desistamos |
| Vosotros / as | desistid | no desistáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desistan | no desistan |
| Vos | desistí | no desistas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desistido |
| Tú | hayas desistido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desistido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desistido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desistido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desistido |
| Vos | hayas desistido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desistido / hubiese desistido |
| Tú | hubieras desistido / hubieses desistido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desistido / hubiese desistido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desistido / hubiésemos desistido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desistido / hubieseis desistido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desistido / hubiesen desistido |
| Vos | hubieras desistido / hubieses desistido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desistido |
| Tú | hubieres desistido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desistido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desistido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desistido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desistido |
| Vos | hubieres desistido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desistiendo |
| Tú | estés desistiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desistiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desistiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desistiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desistiendo |
| Vos | estés desistiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desistiendo / estuviese desistiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras desistiendo / estuvieses desistiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desistiendo / estuviese desistiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desistiendo / estuviésamos desistiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desistiendo / estuvieseis desistiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desistiendo / estuviese desistiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras desistiendo / estuvieses desistiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desistiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres desistiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desistiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desistiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desistiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desistiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres desistiendo |
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 desistís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos desististe |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos desistías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos desistirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos desistirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos desistas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos desistieras / Vos desistiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desistí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no desistas |