bailasteis

Bailasteis is the second-person plural form of the verb bailar in the Spanish preterite tense. It corresponds to “you all danced” or “you danced” when the vosotros subject is used. This form is characteristic of Spain and of speech communities that retain the vosotros form; in most Latin American dialects, the corresponding form is not used, and ustedes would take the preterite bailaron.

Morphology and conjugation: bailar is a regular -ar verb. In the preterite, the endings are -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron. Therefore bailasteis is built from the stem bail- with the ending -asteis, signaling second-person plural in the past. The pronunciation stresses the syllable -tas- in most dialects: baí-las-teis.

Usage: The preterite expresses actions completed at a definite past time or sequence of past events. Bailasteis is used to describe a past dancing action by a group addressed as vosotros. In contemporary Latin American Spanish, where vos or ustedes is more common, the equivalent meaning is conveyed with bailaron (ustedes) or bailasteis is encountered mainly in teaching materials, literature, or Spain-specific conversation.

Examples: En la fiesta de anoche, vosotros bailasteis durante horas. (At last night’s party, you all danced for hours.) ¿Qué bailasteis en la competencia de baile? (What did you all dance in the dance competition?)

See also: bailar, preterite, vosotros, ustedes, Spanish grammar.