Condicional Simple
The conditional simple in Spanish is used exactly the same way as "would" in English. If you would say "would" in English, you use the conditional in Spanish. It's used to express what you would do under certain circumstances, make polite requests, express hypothetical situations, and talk about possibilities or suppositions.
Here's something fascinating: In English, "would" is a separate word you add before the verb ("I would eat"). But in Spanish, there's no separate word for "would", it's just an ending you add to the infinitive! This makes it simpler once you get used to it.
Great news! Just like the future tense, the conditional is easy to conjugate. You don't remove the infinitive ending; you add the conditional endings directly to the complete infinitive form. All three verb types (-AR, -ER, -IR) share the same endings!
| Pronoun | All Verbs (-AR, -ER, -IR) |
|---|---|
| Yo | -ía |
| Tú | -ías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | -ía |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | -íamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | -íais |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | -ían |
| Pronoun | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Yo | hablaría |
| Tú | hablarías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | hablaría |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | hablaríamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | hablaríais |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | hablarían |
| Pronoun | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Yo | comería |
| Tú | comerías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | comería |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | comeríamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | comeríais |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | comerían |
| Pronoun | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Yo | viviría |
| Tú | vivirías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | viviría |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | viviríamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | viviríais |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | vivirían |
Important: The conditional has the exact same 12 irregular verbs as the future tense! They use the exact same irregular stems, but with conditional endings (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían) instead of future endings. If you already learned the future tense irregulars, you already know the conditional irregulars! Only the endings change.
These are the exact same 7 verbs from the future tense. They drop letters from the infinitive to create a shorter stem, then add conditional endings:
| Yo | querría |
| Tú | querrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | querría |
| Nosotros | querríamos |
| Vosotros | querríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | querrían |
| Yo | haría |
| Tú | harías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | haría |
| Nosotros | haríamos |
| Vosotros | haríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | harían |
| Yo | diría |
| Tú | dirías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | diría |
| Nosotros | diríamos |
| Vosotros | diríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | dirían |
| Yo | sabría |
| Tú | sabrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | sabría |
| Nosotros | sabríamos |
| Vosotros | sabríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | sabrían |
| Yo | habría |
| Tú | habrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | habría |
| Nosotros | habríamos |
| Vosotros | habríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | habrían |
| Yo | podría |
| Tú | podrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | podría |
| Nosotros | podríamos |
| Vosotros | podríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | podrían |
| Yo | cabría |
| Tú | cabrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | cabría |
| Nosotros | cabríamos |
| Vosotros | cabríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | cabrían |
These are the exact same 5 verbs from the future tense. They replace the vowel in the infinitive ending with the letter "d", then add conditional endings:
| Yo | tendría |
| Tú | tendrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | tendría |
| Nosotros | tendríamos |
| Vosotros | tendríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | tendrían |
| Yo | pondría |
| Tú | pondrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | pondría |
| Nosotros | pondríamos |
| Vosotros | pondríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | pondrían |
| Yo | vendría |
| Tú | vendrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | vendría |
| Nosotros | vendríamos |
| Vosotros | vendríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | vendrían |
| Yo | saldría |
| Tú | saldrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | saldría |
| Nosotros | saldríamos |
| Vosotros | saldríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | saldrían |
| Yo | valdría |
| Tú | valdrías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | valdría |
| Nosotros | valdríamos |
| Vosotros | valdríais |
| Ellos/Ustedes | valdrían |
Remember how "would" isn't a word in Spanish, just an ending? Well, "could" and "should" ARE words in Spanish! This is interesting because in English, "could" and "should" are technically just "would + can" and "would + shall," but in Spanish they became separate words.
"Could" in English = "would be able to"
"Could" in Spanish = podría (poder in conditional)
Yo podría ayudarte. - I could help you.
¿Podrías venir? - Could you come?
"Should" in English = "would ought to"
"Should" in Spanish = debería (deber in conditional)
Yo debería estudiar más. - I should study more.
Deberías dormir temprano. - You should sleep early.
Learning Tip: In English, "could" = "would + can" and "should" = "would + shall" (or "would + owe/debe"). If you want to understand it deeply, remember that podríais literally poder (can) conjugated in conditional (would), and debería is deber (ought to) in conditional. But if you don't want to get too complicated, you can simply learn them as separate words: "could" = podría, "should" = debería. Both approaches work!
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