despegar Imperfect Conjugation
despegar — to unstick
The imperfect of despegar is regular: despegaba, despegabas, despegaba, despegábamos, despegabais, despegaban.
despegar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe a plane that was in the process of taking off or a repeated action of unsticking things in the past.
Notes on despegar in the Imperfect
Despegar is fully regular in the imperfect. It follows the standard -aba pattern for -ar verbs.
Example Sentences
El avión despegaba cuando empezó la tormenta.
The plane was taking off when the storm started.
él/ella/usted
De niño, yo siempre despegaba las costras de mis rodillas.
As a child, I always used to pick (unstick) the scabs from my knees.
yo
Nosotros despegábamos los sellos para coleccionarlos.
We used to unstick the stamps to collect them.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Confusing 'despegaba' with 'despegué'.
Correct: despegaba
Why: Use 'despegaba' for ongoing or habitual actions; 'despegué' is for a single, completed event.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: despego
Despegar is completely regular in the present tense: despego, despegas, despega, despegamos, despegáis, despegan.
Preterite
yo: despegué
The preterite of despegar is regular except for the 'yo' form: despegué, despegaste, despegó, despegamos, despegasteis, despegaron.
Future
yo: despegaré
The future of despegar is regular: despegaré, despegarás, despegará, despegaremos, despegaréis, despegarán.
Conditional
yo: despegaría
The conditional of despegar is regular: despegaría, despegarías, despegaría, despegaríamos, despegaríais, despegarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: despegue
The present subjunctive of despegar features a 'gu' spelling change to keep the hard 'g' sound: despegue, despegues, despegue, despeguemos, despeguéis, despeguen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: despegara
The imperfect subjunctive is formed from the third-person plural preterite: despegara, despegaras, despegara, despegáramos, despegarais, despegaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: despega
The imperative uses 'despega' for informal commands and 'despegue(n)' for formal ones.
Negative Imperative
yo: no despegues
The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive forms: no despegues, no despegue, no despeguemos, no despeguéis, no despeguen.