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Destruir is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to destroy, ruin”.
Below are all of the conjugations for destruir 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 destroy, ruin |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | destruir |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está destruyendo) and past continuous (estaba destruyendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. destroying).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he destruido and hubiera destruido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have destroyed).
| Gerundio / Gerund | destruyendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | destruido |
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 destroy” or “they destroy”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | destruyo |
| Tú | destruyes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruye |
| Nosotros / as | destruimos |
| Vosotros / as | destruís |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruyen |
| Vos | destruís |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I destroyed” or “she destroyed” 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 | destruí | I destroyed |
| Tú | destruiste | You destroyed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruyó | He / she / you destroyed |
| Nosotros / as | destruimos | We destroyed |
| Vosotros / as | destruisteis | You destroyed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruyeron | They / you destroyed |
| Vos | destruiste | You destroyed |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was destroying” or “she was destroying” 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 | destruía | I was destroying |
| Tú | destruías | You were destroying |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruía | He was / she was / you were destroying |
| Nosotros / as | destruíamos | We were destroying |
| Vosotros / as | destruíais | You were destroying |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruían | They / you were destroying |
| Vos | destruías | You were destroying |
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 destroyed” and “she has destroyed”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he destruido | I have destroyed |
| Tú | has destruido | You have destroyed |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha destruido | He has / she has / you have destroyed |
| Nosotros / as | hemos destruido | We have destroyed |
| Vosotros / as | habéis destruido | You have destroyed |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han destruido | They / you have destroyed |
| Vos | has destruido | You have destroyed |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would destroy” or “she would destroy”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | destruiría | I would destroy |
| Tú | destruirías | You would destroy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruiría | He / she / you would destroy |
| Nosotros / as | destruiríamos | We would destroy |
| Vosotros / as | destruiríais | You would destroy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruirían | They / you would destroy |
| Vos | destruirías | You would destroy |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will destroy” or “they will destroy”.
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 destruir” means “They are going to destroy”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | destruiré | I will destroy |
| Tú | destruirás | You will destroy |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruirá | He / she / you will destroy |
| Nosotros / as | destruiremos | We will destroy |
| Vosotros / as | destruiréis | You will destroy |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruirán | They / you will destroy |
| Vos | destruirás | You will destroy |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | destruya |
| Tú | destruyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruya |
| Nosotros / as | destruyamos |
| Vosotros / as | destruyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruyan |
| Vos | destruyas |
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 | destruyera | destruyese |
| Tú | destruyeras | destruyese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruyera | destruyese |
| Nosotros / as | destruyéramos | destruyésemos |
| Vosotros / as | destruyerais | destruyeseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruyeran | destruyesen |
| Vos | destruyeras | destruyese |
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 | destruyere |
| Tú | destruyeres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruyera |
| Nosotros / as | destruyéremos |
| Vosotros / as | destruyereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruyeren |
| Vos | destruyeres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “destroy!” and “don’t destroy!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | destruye | no destruyas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | destruya | no destruya |
| Nosotros / as | destruyamos | no destruyamos |
| Vosotros / as | destruid | no destruyáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | destruyan | no destruyan |
| Vos | destruí | no destruyas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya destruido |
| Tú | hayas destruido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya destruido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos destruido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis destruido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan destruido |
| Vos | hayas destruido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera destruido / hubiese destruido |
| Tú | hubieras destruido / hubieses destruido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera destruido / hubiese destruido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos destruido / hubiésemos destruido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais destruido / hubieseis destruido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran destruido / hubiesen destruido |
| Vos | hubieras destruido / hubieses destruido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere destruido |
| Tú | hubieres destruido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere destruido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos destruido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis destruido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren destruido |
| Vos | hubieres destruido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté destruyendo |
| Tú | estés destruyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté destruyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos destruyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis destruyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén destruyendo |
| Vos | estés destruyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera destruyendo / estuviese destruyendo |
| Tú | estuvieras destruyendo / estuvieses destruyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera destruyendo / estuviese destruyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos destruyendo / estuviésamos destruyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais destruyendo / estuvieseis destruyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera destruyendo / estuviese destruyendo |
| Vos | estuvieras destruyendo / estuvieses destruyendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere destruyendo |
| Tú | estuvieres destruyendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere destruyendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos destruyendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis destruyendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere destruyendo |
| Vos | estuvieres destruyendo |
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 destruís |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos destruiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos destruías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos destruirías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos destruirás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos destruyas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos destruyeras / Vos destruyese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos destruí |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no destruyas |