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El condicional.

The conditional is your "would" tense — what you would do, what would happen, polite suggestions and aspirations. Pedagogically generous: it uses the same twelve irregular stems as the simple future, but the endings look identical to the imperfect of -ER and -IR verbs. Two tenses for the price of one. Below: when to use it, how to form it, time markers, model sentences, common mistakes, and a 60-second drill.

When to use it

"Would" — wishes, advice, hypotheticals

The conditional shows up everywhere examiners reward range: aspirations (me gustaría ser médico), polite requests (¿podrías ayudarme?), advice (deberías estudiar) and hypotheticals (si tuviera dinero, viajaría).

Three high-frequency starters do an enormous amount of GCSE work: me gustaría (I would like), podría (I could / would be able to) and debería (I should / would have to). Memorise those and you have an instant top-tier sentence opener for any topic.

Model sentence

Me gustaría visitar Argentina algún día.

I would like to visit Argentina one day.

How to form it

Conditional endings — one set for all verbs

Same stems as the future. Same endings as the imperfect. If you know the future and the imperfect, you almost know this tense already. The stem (regular or one of the twelve irregulars) is the future stem. The endings (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían) are the -ER / -IR imperfect endings.

-AR verbs

e.g. hablar — to speak

yohablaría
túhablarías
él / ellahablaría
nosotroshablaríamos
vosotroshablaríais
elloshablarían

-ER verbs

e.g. comer — to eat

yocomería
túcomerías
él / ellacomería
nosotroscomeríamos
vosotroscomeríais
elloscomerían

-IR verbs

e.g. vivir — to live

yoviviría
túvivirías
él / ellaviviría
nosotrosviviríamos
vosotrosviviríais
ellosvivirían

Every form takes an accent on the í of -ía / -ías / -íamos / -íais / -ían. yo and él/ella are identical (hablaría) — you'll need context or a pronoun to tell them apart.

Irregular stems (identical to the future)

Same twelve stems as the simple future, with the conditional endings glued on.

tener to have tendr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
salir to leave saldr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
poner to put pondr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
venir to come vendr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
valer to be worth valdr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
poder to be able podr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
saber to know sabr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
haber to have (aux) habr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
caber to fit cabr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
querer to want querr- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
decir to say dir- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían
hacer to do / make har- · ía · ías · ía · íamos · íais · ían

Signal phrases

Triggers — phrases that pull in the conditional

The conditional doesn't have classic "time" markers like other tenses — instead, it's triggered by certain phrases of hypothesis, advice or politeness.

me gustaría…I would like…
me encantaría…I would love…
preferiría…I would prefer…
¿podrías…?could you…?
¿podría…?could I / he…?
deberías…you should…
debería…I / s/he should…
si tuviera…if I had…
en tu lugar…in your place…
si pudiera…if I could…
si fuera rico/a…if I were rich…
seríait would be

Model sentences

In real GCSE topics

Aspirations Me gustaría visitar Argentina algún día. I would like to visit Argentina one day.
Polite request ¿Podrías ayudarme con los deberes, por favor? Could you help me with my homework, please?
Advice Deberías estudiar más si quieres aprobar el examen. You should study more if you want to pass the exam.
Hypothetical Si tuviera dinero, compraría un coche eléctrico. If I had money, I would buy an electric car.
Career Me encantaría ser médico y trabajaría en un hospital. I would love to be a doctor and I would work in a hospital.
Speculation in the past Pensaba que llegaría a tiempo, pero había mucho tráfico. I thought he would arrive on time, but there was a lot of traffic.

Where pupils slip up

Common mistakes

Future vs conditional

Same stem, different endings. Hablaré = "I will speak". Hablaría = "I would speak". One letter, completely different meaning. Don't mix them up in writing.

Conditional vs imperfect

hablaba = imperfect ("I used to speak"). hablaría = conditional ("I would speak"). Both have -ía-style endings but the conditional sits on the whole infinitive, the imperfect on the stem.

Don't strip the infinitive

For regular verbs, endings glue onto the whole infinitive. Hablaía → hablaría.

Same twelve irregulars

Memorise once, use twice. tendr-, saldr-, pondr-, vendr-, valdr-, podr-, sabr-, habr-, cabr-, querr-, dir-, har-. Tenería → tendría.

Accent on every form

Unlike the future, the conditional accents every form. Hablariamos → hablaríamos.

Should ≠ "would"

"You should study" is deberías estudiar, not estudiarías. Deber in the conditional gives you the moral force of "should".

Drill · 60-second sprint

Conjugate the conditional

Conditional Sprint

You have 60 seconds. A pronoun + verb appears — pick the correct conditional form from four options. Regulars and the twelve irregular stems are mixed. Streak resets on a miss.

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Conjugate in the conditional

yo—

¡Tiempo!

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