Conditional I
The conditional tense is used to express probability or an idea which is dependent on a condition. Its primary use is to refer to hypothetical events. In Spanish, the conditional is known as “el condicional”. It is most frequently corresponds to English “would”, while other translations are also possible depending on the uses. In English, for the same purpose mostly
Conjugation
Regular verbs
The conditional conjugation is the same for all “-ar”, “-er” and “-ir” verbs. Add the following endings to the infinitive:
(yo) -ía
(tú) -ías
(él/ella, usted) -ía
(nosotros/-as) -íamos
(vosotros/-as) -íais
(ellos/-as, ustedes) -ían
for hablar
(yo) hablaría I would speak
(tú) hablarías you would speak
(él/ella, usted) hablaría he/she/you would speak
(nosotros/-as) hablaríamos we would speak
(vosotros/-as) hablaríais you would speak
(ellos/-as, ustedes) hablarían they/you would speak
for comer
(yo) comería I would eat
(tú) comerías you would eat
(él/ella, usted) comería he/she/you would eat
(nosotros/-as) comeríamos we would eat
(vosotros/-as) comeríais you would eat
(ellos/-as, ustedes) comerían they would eat
for vivir
(yo) viviría I would live
(tú) vivirías you would live
(él/ella, usted) viviría he/she live
(nosotros/-as) viviríamos we would live
(vosotros/-as) viviríais you would live
(ellos/-as, ustedes) vivirían they would live
Irregular verbs
The verbs which have irregular conditionals are given in the vocabulary section below.
Uses
For probabilities:
Pablo dijo que escribiría (Pablo said he would write)
¿Qué hora sería? (What time could it have been?)
¿Qué hora será? (What time can it be?)
Serán las tres (It could be three o’clock)
For events which can be realized or not:
Sería interesante viajar por latinamerica (It would be interesting to travel to Latin America)
For being more polite:
Por favor, ¿podría decirme a qué hora abre la tienda? (Could you please tell me what time the shop opens?)
For reported speech:
Carlos dijo que terminaría la tarea. (Carlos said that he would finish the homework)
Conditional Progressive
This tense corresponds to the English would + ing, as you may expect. As in other progressive tenses, it is formed by using the verb estar conjugated in an appropriate way and the present participle (gerund). In this case, estar needs to be conjugated in the conditional tense:
(yo) estaría
(tú) estarías
(él/ella, usted) estaría
(nosotros/-as) estaríamos
(vosotros/-as) estaríais
(ellos/-as, ustedes) estarían
Si Carlos estuviera aquí, estarías trabajando (If carlos were here, you be working)
Vocabulary
There are a few verbs which are irregular in the conditional tense. Note that these are the same verbs which are irregular in the future indicative. Although they are irregular, their endings are the same as the regular verbs. Thus, you only need to know how the stem looks like in the conditional tense. Otherwise you will conjugate them as explained above. Also note that the irregular stem are the same as in the case of the future tense.
caber: to fit cabría / cabrías / cabría / cabríamos / cabríais / cabrían
decir: to say diría / dirías / diría / diríamos / diríais / dirían
haber: to have habría / habrías / habría /habríamos / habríais / habrían
hacer: to make, do haría / harías / haría / haríamos / haríais / harían
poder: to be able podría / podrías / podría / podríamos / podríais / podrían
poner: to put pondría / pondrías / pondría / pondríamos / pondríais / pondrían
querer: to want querría / querrías / querría / querríamos / querríais / querrían
saber: to know sabría / sabrías / sabría / sabríamos / sabríais / sabrían
salir: to leave saldría / saldrías / saldría / saldríamos / saldríais / saldrían
tener: to have tendría / tendías / tendría / tendríamos / tendríais / tendían
valer: to be worth valdría / valdrías / valdría / valdremos / valdríais / valdrían
venir: to come vendría / vendrías / vendría / vendremos / vendríais / vendrían