A2
The conditional
How the Spanish conditional is formed, its use in si clauses, and why requests take it.
Take the future stem — the whole infinitive, or its irregular form — and add the -ía endings from the imperfect.
| hablaría | I would speak |
| hablarías | |
| hablaría | |
| hablaríamos | |
| hablaríais | |
| hablarían |
The irregular stems are the same twelve: tendría, pondría, haría, diría, podría.
It is the polite form
¿Podría ayudarme?
could-you to-help-me
Could you help me?
Me gustaría un café.
to-me would-please a coffee
I’d like a coffee.
Me gustaría is the conditional of gustar and is the standard way to order or request anything.
Quiero un café is not wrong, and in a Spanish bar it is heard constantly. But with a stranger or in writing the conditional is the safer register, and me gustaría softer still.
si clauses
Imperfect subjunctive after si, conditional in the other half.
Si tuviera tiempo, iría.
if I-had time, I-would-go
If I had time, I’d go.
Si tendría tiempo, iría.
Si tuviera tiempo, iría.
Never a conditional after si. Spanish uses the imperfect subjunctive there, which is one of the clearest reasons that form has to be learnt.
The other pairing you already know: present after si, future in the other half — si tengo tiempo, iré.
Reported speech
A future inside a past sentence becomes conditional, exactly as English shifts will to would.
Dijo que vendría.
he-said that he-would-come
He said he would come.
And a guess about the past
As the future guesses about the present, the conditional guesses about the past.
Serían las tres.
they-would-be the three
It must have been about three.