How to form and use the conditional tense in Spanish.

Conditional Tense Uses. Definition: the conditional tense is in the future. It translates in English as … We would … I would … You would … You guys would (pl) … He/She would … They would …

Conditional Tense Formation. To start with, you need an infinitive, i.e. vivir, comer, escuchar .. etc -ía -ías -ían -íamos Then, you need to add on the endings to the infinitive. The endings are … These endings work for -er, -ir and also -ar verbs.

You just add the endings onto these stems, instead of the infinitive. Formation, ctd. As with any tense, there are some irregulars, unfortunately. And these are … Querer – querr… Hacer – har… Decir – dir… Poner – pondr… Venir – vendr… Poder – podr… Saber – sabr… Tener – tendr… Salir – saldr… Haber – habr… You just add the endings onto these stems, instead of the infinitive.

Irregulars ... Hacer – har… Querer – querr… Saber – sabr… Decir – dir… Venir – vendr… Poner – pondr… Tener – tendr… Salir – saldr… Haber – habr… Poder – podr…

And, as you should all notice, these are the same verbs that are irregular for the future tense as well, as they all have the same irregular future stem, i.e., the bit you add the ending onto. So, now for some exercises to help everyone understand how to properly form the tense.

-ía -ías -ía -ían -íamos Endings ... again Just to remember them for the exercises … -ía -ías -ía -ían -íamos

Exercise 1. How do you say … ? These are all regular verbs. I would speak Hablaría You would listen Escucharías She would eat Comería They would drink Beberían We would start Empezaríamos

Exercise 2. This is the same exercise but with the irregular verbs. We would say Diríamos I would leave Saldría They would know Sabrían You would want Querrías He would be able to Podría

To form the conditional tense ... So, to sum up ... To form the conditional tense ... You start with an infinitive of the verb. You then add on the appropriate ending onto the infinitive. When the verb is irregular, use the future verb stem and then add on the same appropriate ending. Endings ... -ía -ías -ía -íamos -ían

Examples.. I would talk if you would listen. They would play if we would watch. He would like to eat pizza. Yo hablaría si escucharías. Ellos jugarían si miraríamos. Le gustaría comer pizza.