How to form and use the conditional tense in Spanish.
Definition: the conditional tense is in the future. It translates in English as … I would … You would … He/She would … We would … You would (pl) … They would …
To start with, you need an infinitive, i.e. vivir, comer, escuchar.. etc Then, you need to add on the endings to the infinitive. The endings are … -ía -ías -ía -íamos -íais -ían These endings work for -er, -ir and also -ar verbs, like the future tense.
As with any tense, there are some irregulars, unfortunately. And these are … Decir – dir… Hacer – har… Poder – podr… Poner – pondr… Querer – querr… Saber – sabr… Salir – saldr… Tener – tendr… Venir – vendr… Haber – habr… Caber – cabr… You just add the endings onto these stems, instead of the infinitive.
And, as you should all notice, these are the same verbs that are irregular for the future tense as well, as they all have the same irregular future stem, i.e., the bit you add the ending onto. So, now for some exercises to help everyone understand how to properly form the tense.
Just to remember them for the exercises … -ía -ías -ía -ían -íais -íamos
How do you say … ? I would speakHablaría You would listen These are all regular verbs. Escucharías She would eatComería We would startComenzaríamos You (pl) would goIríais They would drinkBeberían
This is the same exercise but with the irregular verbs. We would sayDiríamos I would fitCabría They would knowSabrían You would wantQuerrías He would be able toPodría You (pl) would go outSaldríais
1.You start with an infinitive of the verb. 2.You then add on the appropriate ending onto the infinitive. 3.When the verb is irregular, use the future verb stem and then add on the same appropriate ending. -ía-ías-ía -íamos-íais-ían
Hacer – har… Caber – cabr… Querer – querr… Saber – sabr… Decir – dir… Venir – vendr… Poner – pondr… Tener – tendr… Salir – saldr… Haber – habr… Poder – podr…