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.
