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ANTE TODO The conditional tense in Spanish expresses what you would do or what would happen under certain circumstances or conditions. The conditional is also commonly used to make polite requests or polite statements. Me gustaría ir contigo. I would like to go with you.
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ANTE TODO • The conditional tense in Spanish expresses what you would do or what would happen under certain circumstances or conditions. • The conditional is also commonly used to make polite requests or polite statements. • Me gustaría ir contigo. • I would like to go with you. • ¿Podríasabrir la ventana, por favor? • Would you open the window, please? • ¿Seríatan amable de venir a mi oficina? • Would you be so kind as to come to my office?
In Spanish, as in English, the conditional also expresses the future in relation to a past action or state of being. In other words, the future indicates what will happen whereas the conditional indicates what would happen. • Creo que mañana hará sol. • I think it will be sunny tomorrow. • Creíaque hoy haríasol. • I thought it would be sunny today. • imperfect condicional
In order to use the conditional after the word “si” (if), Spanish requires the use of the past subjunctive. Until we learn this, avoid using clauses that contain Si+past subjunctive + conditional. I will give you two that you can use: • Si fuera posible, + conditional (If it were possible…) • Si yo pudiera + conditional (If I could…)
Until you learn the past subjunctive, you can start conditional phrases with expressions such as: • Con + más/menos + noun (With more/less) • Sin + verb/noun (Without/ Without verbing) • Para + infinitive (In order to) • En vez de + infinitive (Instead of verbing) • Conditional + pero + verb = would but…
While in English the conditional is a compound verb form made up of the auxiliary verb would and a main verb, in Spanish it is a simple verb form that consists of one word. • Yo no haría trampas. • I would not cheat. • ¿Viviríanustedes en otro país? • Would you live in another country?
¡ATENCIÓN! • There is only one set of endings for all –ar,-er, and –ir verbs in the conditional. (ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían) • Note: The first person singular and the third person singular endings are the same. Context will distinguish the subject. • The ending are attached to either the infinitive or the irregular stem, just like the future tense. The conditional irregulars are the same as the future irregulars. • All forms of the conditional have an accent mark on the last í.
For irregular verbs add the conditional endings to the irregular stems. Notice that the irregular stems are the same as the irregular future stems. INFINITIVESTEMCONDITIONAL decir dir- diría, etc. hacer har- haría. etc. poder podr- podría, etc. poner pondr- pondría, etc. haber habr- habría, etc. querer querr- querría, etc. saber sabr- sabría, etc. salir saldr- saldría, etc. tener tendr- tendría, etc. venir vendr- vendría, etc.
The infinitive of hay is haber, so its conditional form is habría. It means “there would be.”
The English wouldis often used with a verb to express the conditional, but it can also mean used to, in the sense of past habitual action. • To express past habitual actions, Spanish uses the imperfect, not the conditional. • Íbamosal parque los sábados. • We would go (used to) to the park on Saturdays. • De adolescentes, comíamosmucho. • As teenagers, we would (used to) eat a lot.
COMPARE & CONTRAST • In Lección 16, you learned the future of probability. Spanish also has the conditional of probability, which expresses conjecture or probability about a past condition, event, or action. Compare these Spanish and English sentences. • Seríanlas once de la noche cuando Elvira me llamó. • It must have been (It was probably) 11 p.m. when Elvira called me. • Sonó el teléfono. ¿LlamaríaEmilio para cancelar nuestra cita? • The phone rang. I wondered if it was Emilio calling to cancel our date.
Note that English conveys conjecture or probability with phrases such as I wondered if, probably, and must have been. In contrast, Spanish gets these same ideas across with conditional forms.
¡INTÉNTALO!Indica la forma apropiada del condicional de los verbosqueestán entre paréntesis. • Yo ______ (escuchar, leer, vivir) escucharía leería viviría 2. Tú ______ (aprender, comprender, compartir) aprenderías comprenderías compartirías
3. Marcos ______ (poner, venir, querer) pondría vendría querría 4. Nosotras ______ (ser, saber, ir) seríamos sabríamos iríamos
5. Ustedes ______ (visitar, correr, preferir) visitarían correrían preferirían 6. Ella ______ (salir, poder, hacer) saldría podría haría
7. Yo ______ (tener, tocar, jugar) tendría tocaría jugaría 8. Tú ______ (decir, ver, querer) dirías verías querrías