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4.5: Conditional Tense

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    164424
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    Condicional

    The conditional is an indicative tense used to express hypothetical situations or to make polite requests. In English, "would + verb" is used; in Spanish only one conjugated verb is needed. 

    Conjugaciones

    The conjugations in conditional tense use the full version of the infinitive verb, plus a new ending: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. Do not drop the infinitive endings. 

    Conditional Tense: Conjugation of Regular Verbs
    Infinitivo Yo Usted/él/ella Nosotros Vosotros Ustedes/ellos
    estar estaría estarías estaría estaríamos estaríais estarían
    ser sería serías sería seríamos seríais serían
    ir iría irías iría iríamos iríais irían

    The same verbs that are irregular in the future tense, are irregular in the conditional tense. All irregular verbs have a different stem that needs to be memorized, but the endings are the same used in regular conjugations.

    Conditional Tense Conjugations: Irregular Verbs
    Infinitivo Raíz irregular Yo Usted/él/ella Nosotros Vosotros Ustedes/ellos
    decir dir- diría dirías diría diríamos diríais dirían
    hacer har- haría harías haría haríamos haríais harían
    poder podr- podría podrías podría podríamos podríais podrían
    poner pondr- pondría pondrías pondría pondríamos pondríais pondrían
    querer querr- querría querrías querría querríamos querríais querrían
    saber sabr- sabría sabrías sabría sabríamos sabríais sabrían
    salir saldr- saldría saldrías saldría saldríamos saldríais saldrían
    tener tendr- tendría tendrías tendría tendríamos tendríais tendrían
    venir vendr- vendría vendrías vendría vendríamos vendríais vendrían

    The conditional tense of "hay" is also irrregular, "habría", which translates as "there would be". This conjugation is singular and plural:

    • Habría una clebración grande si tuviéramos más dinero. (There would be a big celebration if we had more money.)
    • Habría muchos invitados también. (There would be many guests as well.)

    Ejemplos

    • Me gustaría ser una estrella de cine. (I would like to be a movie star.)
    • Mis amigos y yo visitaríamos todos los museos de arte. (My friends and I would visit all art museums.)
    • ¿Podrías darme la pluma? (Could you give me the pen? - The conditional of "poder" is used in polite requests. "Podrías" translates as "could you".)

    Práctica 1


    4.5: Conditional Tense is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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