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Desquitarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to win back, get even with”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me desquito) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que desquitarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for desquitarse 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 win back, get even with |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | desquitarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está desquitándose) and past continuous (estaba desquitándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. winning back).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he desquitado and hubiera desquitado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have won back).
| Gerundio / Gerund | desquitándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | desquitado |
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 win back” or “they win back”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desquito |
| Tú | te desquitas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquita |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitamos |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitan |
| Vos | desquitás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I won back” or “she won back” 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 | me desquité | I won back |
| Tú | te desquitaste | You won back |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquitó | He / she / you won back |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitamos | We won back |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitasteis | You won back |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitaron | They / you won back |
| Vos | te desquitaste | You won back |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was winning back” or “she was winning back” 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 | me desquitaba | I was winning back |
| Tú | te desquitabas | You were winning back |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquitaba | He was / she was / you were winning back |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitábamos | We were winning back |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitabais | You were winning back |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitaban | They / you were winning back |
| Vos | te desquitabas | You were winning back |
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 won back” and “she has won back”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he desquitado | I have won back |
| Tú | te has desquitado | You have won back |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha desquitado | He has / she has / you have won back |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos desquitado | We have won back |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis desquitado | You have won back |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han desquitado | They / you have won back |
| Vos | te has desquitado | You have won back |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would win back” or “she would win back”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desquitaría | I would win back |
| Tú | te desquitarías | You would win back |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquitaría | He / she / you would win back |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitaríamos | We would win back |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitaríais | You would win back |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitarían | They / you would win back |
| Vos | te desquitarías | You would win back |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will win back” or “they will win back”.
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 desquitarse” means “They are going to win back”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me desquitaré | I will win back |
| Tú | te desquitarás | You will win back |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquitará | He / she / you will win back |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitaremos | We will win back |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitaréis | You will win back |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitarán | They / you will win back |
| Vos | te desquitarás | You will win back |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me desquite |
| Tú | te desquites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquite |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquiten |
| Vos | te desquites |
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 | me desquitara | me desquitase |
| Tú | te desquitaras | me desquitase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquitara | se desquitase |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitáramos | nos desquitásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitarais | os desquitaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitaran | se desquitasen |
| Vos | te desquitaras | me desquitase |
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 | me desquitare |
| Tú | te desquitares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se desquitare |
| Nosotros / as | nos desquitáremos |
| Vosotros / as | os desquitareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se desquitaren |
| Vos | te desquitares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “win back!” and “don’t win back!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | desquítate | no te desquites |
| Él / Ella / Usted | desquítese | no se desquite |
| Nosotros / as | desquitémonos | no nos desquitemos |
| Vosotros / as | desquitaos | no os desquitéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | desquítense | no se desquiten |
| Vos | desquitá | no te desquites |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya desquitado |
| Tú | hayas desquitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya desquitado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos desquitado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis desquitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan desquitado |
| Vos | hayas desquitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera desquitado / hubiese desquitado |
| Tú | hubieras desquitado / hubieses desquitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera desquitado / hubiese desquitado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos desquitado / hubiésemos desquitado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais desquitado / hubieseis desquitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran desquitado / hubiesen desquitado |
| Vos | hubieras desquitado / hubieses desquitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere desquitado |
| Tú | hubieres desquitado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere desquitado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos desquitado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis desquitado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren desquitado |
| Vos | hubieres desquitado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté desquitándose |
| Tú | estés desquitándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté desquitándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos desquitándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis desquitándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén desquitándose |
| Vos | estés desquitándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera desquitándose / estuviese desquitándose |
| Tú | estuvieras desquitándose / estuvieses desquitándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera desquitándose / estuviese desquitándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos desquitándose / estuviésamos desquitándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais desquitándose / estuvieseis desquitándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera desquitándose / estuviese desquitándose |
| Vos | estuvieras desquitándose / estuvieses desquitándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere desquitándose |
| Tú | estuvieres desquitándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere desquitándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos desquitándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis desquitándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere desquitándose |
| Vos | estuvieres desquitándose |
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 desquitás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te desquitaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te desquitabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te desquitarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te desquitarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te desquites |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te desquitaras / Vos me desquitase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos desquitá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te desquites |