🤔 El Condicional Simple 🤔
Master the Conditional - The Tense of "What If" and Imagination!
Your Quest: Welcome to the Condicional Simple! This enchanting tense grants you the power to express hypothetical situations, make polite requests, give advice, and dream about what WOULD happen. The great news? You already know the hard part! The Condicional uses the SAME 12 irregular stems as the Futuro Simple. You've learned them once, now use them twice! The endings are very easy to memorise, as you already know them from a previous tense...
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Why This Power Matters
The Condicional Simple is essential for expressing possibilities and imagination. Use it to talk about hypothetical situations, make polite requests, give advice, express desires about the future, and show probability in the past. It's the tense that allows you to explore "what if" scenarios!
⚡ GREAT NEWS: Same 12 irregular stems as Futuro Simple! All conjugations use the SAME regular endings!
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Futuro vs Condicional - Twins Separated by Certainty
Both tenses work the same way structurally, but express different levels of certainty:
Futuro Simple (Will)
Certainty: Iré a Madrid mañana.
(I will go to Madrid tomorrow.)
Condicional Simple (Would)
Hypothesis: Iría a Madrid si tuviera dinero.
(I would go to Madrid if I had money.)
The Condicional Simple works exactly like the Futuro Simple in terms of formation: you keep the entire infinitive and add the conditional endings. All three conjugations (-AR, -ER, -IR) use the SAME set of endings. The only difference from the future? The endings themselves!
✨ The Magic Formula:
FULL INFINITIVE (-ar, -er, -ir) + CONDITIONAL ENDING (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían) = Conditional tense!
Example: bailar + ía = bailaría (I would dance)
| Pronombre |
BAILAR (to dance) |
COMER (to eat) |
VIVIR (to live) |
| Yo |
bailaría |
comería |
viviría |
| Tú |
bailarías |
comerías |
vivirías |
| Él / Ella / Usted |
bailaría |
comería |
viviría |
| Nosotros/as |
bailaríamos |
comeríamos |
viviríamos |
| Vosotros/as |
bailaríais |
comeríais |
viviríais |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes |
bailarían |
comerían |
vivirían |
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Pattern Recognition:
Notice that ALL endings have accent marks on the í! The endings are: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. These are the same as the Imperfect Past endings for -ER/-IR verbs, but they work completely differently, so be careful! These are the SAME for ALL verbs (regular and irregular)!
Here's where the Condicional becomes incredibly easy if you've already learned the Futuro Simple! The Condicional uses the EXACT same 12 irregular stems. The only difference is you add the conditional endings (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían) instead of the future endings.
🔑 How Irregular Verbs Work:
IRREGULAR STEM (same as Future!) + CONDITIONAL ENDINGS
Example: tener → stem tendr- + ía = tendría (I would have)
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The Same 12 Irregular Verbs - You Already Know These!
Drop the -er/-ir → Add "dr"
TENER
tendr-
PONER
pondr-
VENIR
vendr-
SALIR
saldr-
VALER
valdr-
Drop the -er → Just add "r"
CABER
cabr-
HABER
habr-
PODER
podr-
QUERER
querr-
SABER
sabr-
Completely different stems
💡 You already learned these for Futuro Simple! Now just add the conditional endings instead!
📖 Example Conjugation - PODER (to be able to):
Yo: podría
Tú: podrías
Él/Ella: podría
Nosotros: podríamos
Vosotros: podríais
Ellos: podrían
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The Ultimate Shortcut:
If you can conjugate a verb in the Futuro Simple, you can conjugate it in the Condicional Simple! Just use the same stem and swap the future endings for conditional endings. It's that simple!
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When to Wield This Power
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1. Hypothetical Situations (What Would Happen)
Con suficiente dinero... yo viajaría por el mundo.
= With enough money... I would travel the world.
¿Qué harías en mi lugar?
= What would you do in my place?
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2. Polite Requests and Questions (Softer Than Direct Commands)
¿Podrías ayudarme con esto?
= Could you help me with this?
Me gustaría un café, por favor.
= I would like a coffee, please.
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3. Giving Advice (What Someone Should Do)
Yo que tú, estudiaría más.
= If I were you, I would study more.
Deberías descansar más.
= You should rest more.
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4. Expressing Probability in the Past (Speculation About What Happened)
Serían las tres cuando llegué.
= It was probably around 3 o'clock when I arrived.
¿Dónde estaría María ayer?
= Where could María have been yesterday?
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5. Expressing Desires About the Future (Softer Than Direct Statements)
Me encantaría vivir en España.
= I would love to live in Spain.
Me gustaría ser médico algún día.
= I would like to be a doctor someday.
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6. Reporting Information (Indirect Speech / Rumours)
Según las noticias, habría cien personas en el evento.
= According to the news, there would be (were reportedly) a hundred people at the event.
Dijeron que llegarían tarde.
= They said they would arrive late.
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Quick Comparison: Future vs Conditional
FUTURO SIMPLE
Certainty/Prediction:
Mañana comeré pizza.
(Tomorrow I will eat pizza.)
CONDICIONAL SIMPLE
Hypothesis/Possibility:
Comería pizza si tuviera hambre.
(I would eat pizza if I were hungry.)
Direct Statement:
Iré a Madrid.
(I will go to Madrid.)
Polite Request:
¿Podrías ayudarme?
(Could you help me?)
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Master Strategy - The "Would" Test:
If you can translate the English sentence using "would" (not "used to"), you probably need the Condicional Simple! Remember: "I would eat" = Conditional, but "I would go every day" (meaning "used to go") = Imperfect Past, NOT Conditional.
🌟 ¡El Poder de la Imaginación es Tuyo! 🌟
You've mastered the Condicional Simple! Now you can express hypothetical situations, make polite requests, give advice, and dream about possibilities. Since you already knew the 12 irregular stems from Futuro Simple, this was easy, right? ¡Hora de practicar el Condicional Simple!
