Spanish Conditional Tense 101: Conjugations, Usages and Past

What Is the Spanish Conditional Tense?

Spanish conditionals are used to speak about hypothetical issues—issues that might be, might have been or would have occurred.

Consider the complete conditional tense because the English equal of “might’ve, ought to’ve, would’ve.” For instance:

If I had a distant job, I would journey the world

You shouldn’t go out tonight 

In Spanish, there are two conditional tenses, easy conditional and conditional good.

The easy conditional is what most individuals imply once they say the “conditional” tense. It sometimes applies to issues that might occur now or sooner or later. For instance:

Viajaría a Japón. (I’d journey to Japan.)

¿Podrías ayudarme? (Might you assist me?)

Then now we have the conditional good, which is used to say “would have.” Listed below are some examples of the conditional good:

Habría llegado en Chile a las 8 si mi vuelo no retrasó. (I’d have arrived in Chile at 8 if my flight wasn’t delayed.)

Ellos habrían venido con nosotros, pero su mamá no los permitió. (They’d have include us, however their mother wouldn’t allow them to.)

How To Conjugate the Spanish Conditional

There are simply two issues for you to keep in mind when conjugating the conditional tense: All three verb varieties (-ar, -er and -ir) have the identical endings, and also you simply add the endings to the infinitive type of the verb.

All common verbs within the easy conditional tense are conjugated like this:

To type the conditional good, we use the system:

Easy conditional of haber + previous participle of the principle verb

Right here’s the irregular verb haber (to have) absolutely conjugated within the easy conditional:

Irregular verbs within the conditional tense

The record of irregular verbs could be very quick, they usually’re verbs we use every single day.

So the most effective resolution is to be taught their irregularities by coronary heart.

It’s simply the stem that barely adjustments, so reasonably than utilizing the infinitive, you’ll use the bolded stems listed beneath and add the identical endings that you simply add to the common verbs:

Makes use of of the Spanish Conditional Tense

1. To precise the long run prior to now

Me dijo que se casaría conmigo.
(He informed me he would marry me).

Le dije que eso me haría muy feliz.
(I informed him that will make me very completely happy).

2. To take a position in regards to the previous

Se casarían a las 4 de la tarde.
(They should have gotten married at 4 p.m.)

Esa sería la razón por la que se enamoró de ella.
(That should have been the rationale he fell in love together with her.)

3. To make well mannered requests or ideas

Me gustaría hacer un pedido.
(I’d like to position an order.)

Me encantaría pasar un fin de semana romántico en Barcelona.
(I’d like to spend a romantic weekend in Barcelona.)

4. To make hypothetical statements

Me casaría contigo, pero antes debo ahorrar.
(I’d marry you, however I’ve to avoid wasting cash first.)

Viajaríamos a París, pero no podemos.
(We might journey to Paris however we will’t.)

5. To speak about occasions which may or may not happen

Sería romántico casarse en Madrid.
(It could be romantic to get married in Madrid.)

Ser tu esposa sería maravilloso.
(Being your spouse could be fantastic.)

6. To ask for recommendation

¿Qué harías si te dejara?
(What would you do if he left you?)

¿Qué vestido comprarías para la boda?
(Which costume would you purchase for the marriage?)

7. To speak about what could be carried out in a scenario

¿Te casarías con él?
(Would you marry him?)

¿Le dirías la verdad sobre tu pasado?
(Would you inform him the reality about your previous?)

8. To speak about issues that most likely gained’t occur

We use the straightforward conditional together with the imperfect subjunctive to type the second conditional, which we are going to focus on later on this submit.

Si me lo pidiera, me casaría con él.
(If he requested me, I’d marry him.)

Si pudiera, le diría la verdad sobre mi pasado.
(If I might, I’d inform him the reality about my previous.)

As you possibly can see, the straightforward conditional tense has many makes use of—maybe much more than another tenses! To get aware of them, you must use them with native audio system and devour pure Spanish content material.

9. To precise the likelihood of a scenario that has already occurred

This case requires the conditional good tense.

Habría estado muy nervioso cuando le pidió matrimonio.
(He should have been very nervous when he requested her to marry him.)

Seguramente habrían perdido el avión a París.
(They’d most likely missed the aircraft to Paris.)

10. To speak about actions that will have occurred however didn’t

This case additionally makes use of the conditional good tense. Usually, this use is immediately associated to the third conditional, which will probably be lined extra later.

Si hubiéramos tenido dinero, nos habríamos casado el año pasado.
(If we had had cash, we might have gotten married final yr.)

Si no te hubiera querido, no me habría casado contigo.
(If I hadn’t liked you, I wouldn’t have married you).

The 4 Sorts of Spanish Conditionals

There are two clauses—or, components—in a conditional sentence: the if clause and the principal clause.

For instance:

Si tuviera mucho tiempo, aprendería los verbos condicionales en español perfectamente.
(If I had loads of time, I’d be taught Spanish conditionals completely.)

4 various kinds of conditional sentences are primarily based on this construction—and notice that we don’t really need the conditional tense for all of those conditional varieties!

Si sabes el presente, sabes el condicional cero.
(If you understand the current tense, you understand the zero conditional.)