Future and Conditional Tenses

1. Future and Conditional Tenses

2. Before learning to form the future and conditional, let�s look at them in English: Future: I will speak. The future tense in English ALWAYS has the word �will� (or �shall�). It can be abbeviated ��ll� (�I�ll speak,� �she�ll speak,� etc.). As its name indicates, it shows actions that have not yet taken place but that will do so in the future.

3. Conditional is a little trickier, because we don�t have a conditional tense in English. We don�t call it a tense, at any rate. But the equivalent is �would� + verb: I would speak. Now, don�t get this mixed up with the imperfect: I would play outside every day when I was little. (imperfect) I would play outside today if I could. (conditional) With the conditional, there�s usually a stated or implied �if�: I wouldn�t eat that chocolate (if I were you). I would buy that car (if I had enough money).

4. The conditional is also the future of the past. Huh? Consider: �I will go with you,� Juan said yesterday. Juan said that he would go with me. What moment in time are we looking at? �Juan said� � that�s our moment. The action of Juan�s going with me? That hasn�t happened yet at the moment of �Juan said,� but the whole sentence is in the past. So �would� is the future of �Juan said,� but the whole sentence is in the past, so �would� is the future of the past. Get it?

5. The long and short of it is that �would� is ALWAYS part of the conditional translation.

6. The stem for both the future and the conditional is the infinitive: hablar- comer- vivir- trabajar- leer- escribir- mirar- volver- abrir- Following are the endings for the future (-ar, -er, and �ir verbs): -� -emos -�s -�is -� -�n hablar� hablaremos comer� comeremos vivir� viviremos hablar�s hablar�is comer�s comer�is vivir�s vivir�is hablar� hablar�n comer� comer�n vivir� vivir�n

7. Note: the future endings, with the exception of the �vosotros� ending, are the same as the present perfect helping verb minus the �h�: -� -emos -�s -�is -� -�n he hemos has hab�is ha han

8. Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.

9. Irregular Verbs No verbs stem change in the future or conditional, and there are no spell changes. However, there are several irregular stems: verbs where a d verbs where the e verbs where two replaces the i or e disappears letters disappear salir saldr- poder podr- decir dir- venir vendr- querer querr- hacer har- poner pondr- saber sabr- tener tendr- haber habr-

10. Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.

11. Conditional Like the future, the conditional uses the infinitive as its stem. All the stems that are irregular in the future (poner � pondr-, hacer � har-, etc.) are also irregular in the conditional. Here are the endings for the conditional: hablar�a hablar�amos hablar�as hablar�ais hablar�a hablar�an Note that these endings are exactly the same as the �er/-ir endings for the imperfect: com�a (imperfect) comer�a (conditional)

12. Summary The future and conditional use the infinitive as the stem (no dropping of the �ar, -er, -ir) and have the same irregular stems. The future translates with �will,� and the conditional translates with �would.� future endings conditional endings -� -emos -�a �amos -�s -�is -�as �ais -� -�n -�a �an

13. Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.