despegar Present Conjugation
despegar — to unstick
Despegar is completely regular in the present tense: despego, despegas, despega, despegamos, despegáis, despegan.
despegar Present Forms
When to Use the Present
Use the present to describe current actions, habits, or general facts about unsticking things or planes taking off.
Notes on despegar in the Present
This verb is entirely regular in the present indicative. No spelling changes are needed here because the endings start with 'o' or 'a'.
Example Sentences
Siempre despego las etiquetas antes de lavar los platos.
I always unstick the labels before washing the dishes.
yo
El avión despega cada media hora.
The plane takes off every half hour.
él/ella/usted
Ellos despegan los carteles viejos de la pared.
They are unsticking the old posters from the wall.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Adding a 'u' unnecessarily: 'despuega'.
Correct: despega
Why: Despegar does not have a stem change (e to ie); it is a regular -ar verb in the present tense.
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Related Tenses
Preterite
yo: despegué
The preterite of despegar is regular except for the 'yo' form: despegué, despegaste, despegó, despegamos, despegasteis, despegaron.
Imperfect
yo: despegaba
The imperfect of despegar is regular: despegaba, despegabas, despegaba, despegábamos, despegabais, despegaban.
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.