despegar Preterite Conjugation
despegar — to unstick
The preterite of despegar is regular except for the 'yo' form: despegué, despegaste, despegó, despegamos, despegasteis, despegaron.
despegar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to talk about a specific moment when something was unstuck or when a flight departed.
Notes on despegar in the Preterite
Only the 'yo' form is irregular (despegué) to maintain the hard 'g' sound. All other forms follow the standard -ar pattern.
Example Sentences
Despegué la cinta con mucho cuidado.
I unstuck the tape very carefully.
yo
El vuelo despegó a las seis en punto.
The flight took off at six o'clock sharp.
él/ella/usted
Ayer despegamos todas las fotos del álbum.
Yesterday we unstuck all the photos from the album.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'despege' for the 'yo' form.
Correct: despegué
Why: You need the 'u' and the accent mark to preserve the pronunciation and indicate the past tense.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: despego
Despegar is completely regular in the present tense: despego, despegas, despega, despegamos, despegáis, despegan.
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.