destruyes

Destruyes is the second-person singular form of the Spanish verb destruir in the present indicative. It means “you destroy” and is used when addressing someone in the informal tú form. The verb describes the act of causing complete or partial ruin, damage, or demolition of something.

Etymology and usage notes: Destruir comes from Latin destruirе, from de- (reverse) and trudere or struere elements related to building or piling up. In modern Spanish, destruir is a transitive verb and often appears in phrases that convey physical destruction, damage to objects, or figurative ruin of ideas or plans. The present tense forms follow a stem-change pattern typical of many -ir verbs ending in -uir: in the tú form the letter y appears before the ending, giving destruyes. The regular present forms are yo destruyo, tú destruyes, él/ella destruye, nosotros destruimos, vosotros destruís, ellos destruyen. The preterite forms also involve a y: destruí, destruíste, destruyó, destruimos, destruisteis, destruyeron.

Conjugation and examples: In continuous conversation, you would say “Tú destruyes” to mean you destroy. For formal address, the usted form is “destruye,” and for plural you would use “destruyen” (ustedes). Examples: “Tú destruyes una maqueta para mostrar su fragilidad” and “Si no sigues las reglas, destruyes todo el progreso.” In figurative use, one can say “destruyes una idea al ridiculizarla” to indicate undermining or spoiling a plan.

See also: destruir, destrucción, conjugación de destruir.