The Subjunctive Mood of Despedir is used to express wishes, desires, or uncertainty about dismissing or firing someone, for example: Espero que no te despidan. (I hope they don’t fire you.)

Despedir is an e to i stem-changing verb, meaning the e in the verb stem changes to i in certain conjugations of the present subjunctive.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Despedir (to say goodbye) in the Subjunctive Mood tense (Castilian Spanish):

Despedir generally means to dismiss or fire someone, but has several different meanings in the Subjunctive Mood, some of which might surprise you.

To dismiss or fire: for example, Espero que no te despidan por llegar tarde (I hope they don’t fire you for being late).

To say goodbye: for example, Es importante que te despidas de tus amigos antes de irte (It’s important that you say goodbye to your friends before leaving).

To get rid of: for example, Sería bueno que despidieras esas malas costumbres (It would be good if you got rid of those bad habits).

To emit or give off (colloquial): for example, ¡Qué peste despidas cuando no te bañas! (You really stink when you don’t shower!).

To insult or diss (slang): for example, No me despidas así delante de mis amigos (Don’t diss me like that in front of my friends).

Examples

Examples of Despedir in the Subjunctive Mood

Es importante que el jefe despida a los empleados de manera respetuosa. (It’s important that the boss fires the employees respectfully.)

Ojalá que la empresa no despida a más trabajadores. (Hopefully the company doesn’t fire more workers.)

El gerente sugirió que despidiéramos al empleado por su mal desempeño. (The manager suggested that we fire the employee for poor performance.)

A menos que despidas a esa persona tóxica, tu vida no mejorará. (Unless you fire that toxic person, your life won’t improve.)

Aunque el negocio vaya mal, no creo que despidan a nadie. (Even though business is going poorly, I don’t think they’ll fire anyone.)

Para que la compañía sea más eficiente, es necesario que despidan al personal innecesario. (For the company to be more efficient, it’s necessary that they fire the unnecessary staff.)

Dudo que la empresa despida a tantos trabajadores de una vez. (I doubt the company will fire so many workers at once.)

Tal vez sería mejor que despidieras a ese empleado conflictivo antes de que cause más problemas. (Maybe it would be better if you fired that troublesome employee before they cause more issues.)

Me preocupa que mi jefe despida a todos los empleados mayores para ahorrar dinero. (I’m worried that my boss will fire all the older employees to save money.)

Aunque el negocio no vaya bien, espero que no despidamos a nadie por ahora. (Even though business isn’t going well, I hope we don’t fire anyone for now.)

Si la empresa sigue perdiendo dinero, temo que despidan a más gente. (If the company keeps losing money, I fear they’ll fire more people.)

Quizás deberías considerar despedir a ese empleado después de su cuarta falta injustificada. (Perhaps you should consider firing that employee after their fourth unexcused absence.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Despedir (to say goodbye) in the Subjunctive Mood tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Castilian Spanish. For Latin American Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Subjunctive mood is also known as the Simple Subjunctive, Subjunctive Present, or Present Subjunctive Mood in English, and as Presente de Subjuntivo, Subjuntivo Presente, Presente del Modo Subjuntivo, or Tiempo Presente del Subjuntivo in Spanish.