SPA212: The Conditional

The Conditional Tense expresses hypothetical situations There are 2 tenses: CONDITIONAL PRESENT and CONDITIONAL PERFECT: Present Conditional is formed by adding the following endings to the INFINITIVE of the –ar, -er, and –ir verbs. Yo … -ía … estaría Tu … -ías … estarías Ud./él/ella … -ía … estaría Nosotros … -íamos … estaríamos Vosotros … -íais … estaríais Uds./ellos/ellas … -ían … estarían Remember the few verbs that were irregular in the Future tense? I know you don’t, but anyway the few words that were irregular in the Future are the same verbs irregular in the Conditional: Here are verbs that drop the e from the infinitive before adding the conditional ending: Haber-to have habr- habría Poder-to be able podr- podría Querer-to want querr- querría Saber-to know sabr- sabría Here are verbs that change e or i in the infinitive to ‘d’ before adding the conditional ending: Poner-to put pondr- pondría Salir-to leave saldr- saldría Tener-to have tendr- tendría Venir-to come vendr- vendría Here are verbs that drop the c and the e from the infinitive before adding the conditional ending: Decir-to say dir- diría Hacer-to do/make har- haría USES of Present Conditional Used with the past subjunctive to speculate about the present in “if clauses” … Si tuviera más tiempo, estudiaría otros idiomas. If I had more time, I would study other languages. Expresses probability or conjecture with regards to the past, usually with the verbs estar, haber, ser, and tener El poeta tendría unos setenta años cuando murió. The poet must have been about 70yrs old when he died. Used in subordinate clauses after main verbs of communication, knowledge or belief (decir, saber, creer…) It expresses a future probability in relation to a time in the past… Creí que ganarías el premier lugar. I thought you would win first place. Used to soften requests or commands ¿Podrías traerme el libro? Would you bring me the book? ¿Me ayudarías a terminar? Would you help me finish? USES of the Perfect Conditional Used to express what would have occurred at a moment in the past. Formed with the verb haber in the conditional + the past participle of the verb. Habría, Habrías, Habría, Habríamos, Habríais, Habrían + past participle Used with the pluperfect subjunctive to speculate about the past Juan habría ido al concierto, si hubiera conseguido boletos. Juan would have gone to the concert, if he had gotten tickets. Used to refer to a future action in relation to the past Él dijo que para junio ya habría terminado sus estudios. He said that he would have finished school by June.