An Overview of the Present Conditional:
The present conditional has two main functions: a) to increase the politeness of a statement or request, e.g.: Me gustaría venir ("I would like to come"); and b) to indicate a desired action that would happen under certain circumstances, e.g.: Lo haría si tuviera suficiente dinero ("I would do it if I had enough money"). As in the previous example, it is common to use the present conditional before or after a statement introducted by si. However, it does not immediately follow the word si (use the present, imperfect , or the imperfect subjunctive instead).
How to Form the Present Conditional
The present conditional is formed by attaching an ending to the end of the infinitive. This is illustrated in the following table:
| present conditional |
Translation |
(yo) hablaría
|
"I would speak" |
(tú) hablarías
|
"you would speak" |
| (el/ella/usted) hablaría |
"he, she, you would speak" |
(nosotros) hablaríamos
|
"we would speak" |
| (vosotros) hablaríais |
"you would speak" |
(ellos/elles/ustedes) hablarían
|
"they would speak" |
A number of highly frequent verbs use a different stem for the conditional (the same one used for the future). For example,
- salir, e.g.: (yo) saldría
- querer, e.g.: (yo) querría
- decir, e.g.: (yo) diría
- hacer, e.g.: (yo) haría
- valer, e.g.: (yo) valdría
- tener, e.g.: (yo) tendría
- caber, e.g.: (yo) cabría
- saber, e.g.: (yo) sabría
- poner, e.g.: (yo) pondría
- venir, e.g.: (yo) vendría
- poder, e.g.: (yo) saldría
- haber, e.g.: (yo) habría
Questions about the Conditional:
Q: Why is it Si yo tenía and NOT Si yo tendría?
While the word si does suggest a condition or the notion of "maybe", it is not followed by the conditional form of the verb, nor is it followed by the present subjunctive. Other verb forms can be used, depending on the intended meaning, e.g.: the present (si mi amigo viene), the imperfect (si mi amigo venía), the preterite (si mi amigo vino), the future (si mi amigo vendrá), or the imperfect subjunctive (si no fuera por eso).
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