Spanish Conditional Tense: All 3 Types Explained With Examples
The Spanish conditional tense is one of the verb tenses that Spanish students prefer.
How so? Because it is really, really easy to learn!
Check out the following video from Spring Languages to learn more about it! By the way, Spring Spanish is a project I co-founded and we’re really proud of it:
Keep reading and master the full usage and conjugation of the Spanish conditional! But before we start, here’s an easy equation.
This is how you form the Spanish conditional tense:
Effortless Answers
Subject pronoun + infinitive verb + conditional ending = Spanish conditional tense
Examples:
• Yo + hablar + ía = Yo hablaría (I would speak)
• Tú + comer + ías = Tú comerías (You would eat)
• Nosotros + vivir + íamos = Nosotros viviríamos (We would live)
1. When to use the conditional tense in Spanish
According to the Real Academia Española (RAE), the adjective “condicional” means “including and carrying a condition or requirement”.
To simplify this: there are different use cases for the Spanish conditional tense depending on what is happening, what could’ve happened, but didn’t, and what could’ve happened in a hypothetical sense.
To help you clear your head from all of these complex explanations, here’s a simplified version in a table with uses, simple formulas and examples:
| USES | EXAMPLES |
|---|---|
| To refer to a future hypothetical situation that would or could occur if something else happened SI + imperfect subjunctive, conditional tense | Si tú estuvieras en tu casa mañana, yo iría (If you were at home tomorrow, I would go.) |
| To refer to a present hypothetical situation that is not real SI + imperfect subjunctive, conditional tense | Si estuviera en Argentina, hablaría mucho español. (If I were in Argentina, I would speak a lot of Spanish.) |
| To make polite requests and invitations. | ¿Me ayudarías con mi tarea de español, por favor? (Would you help me with my Spanish homework, please?) ¿Cenarías conmigo el sábado? (Would you have dinner with me on Saturday?) |
| To express a present wish. | Me gustaría mucho hablar español como un nativo. (I would really like to speak Spanish like a native speaker.) |
| To give advice, sometimes placing ourselves in the other’s shoes. | Deberías estudiar más si quieres aprobar el examen de español. (You should study more if you want to pass the Spanish exam.) Si (yo) fuera tú, (yo) estudiaría más para el examen. (If I were you, I would study more for the exam.) |
| To refer to a past hypothesis, usually with verbs of communication like decir (say) or contar (tell), or with cognitive verbs like pensar (think) or creer (believe). | Julia me dijo que estaría lista a las 10. (Julia told me that she would be ready by 10.) Creí que llegarías más temprano. (I thought that you would arrive earlier.) |
2. Regular Spanish verbs in the conditional tense
Learning how to form the conditional tense of regular verbs in Spanish is very easy if you already know how to conjugate Spanish regular verbs in simple future tense.
In both these tenses, we don’t need to drop the infinitive endings -ar, -er, and -ir, but we use the entire infinitive instead, and add the new endings to form the Spanish conditional tense:
- -ía
- -ías
- -ía
- -íamos
- -ían.
Look!
| estudi-ar (to study) | volv-er (to return) | sent-ir (to feel) |
|---|---|---|
| estudiaría | volvería | sentiría |
| estudiarías | volverías | sentirías |
| estudiaría | volvería | sentiría |
| estudiaríamos | volveríamos | sentiríamos |
| estudiaríais | volveríais | sentiríais |
| estudiarían | volverían | sentirían |
Now, let’s see how the conjugation of regular verbs in Spanish works in everyday life with some example sentences – to make things easier, we highlighted the Spanish conditional tense endings:
- Si tuviéramos más tiempo, estudiaríamos más. – If we had more time, we would study more.
- Si me invitaran otra vez, volvería. –If they invited me again, I would return.
- ¿Cómo te sentirías en mi lugar? – How would you feel if you were me?
- ¿Os gustaría venir a casa esta noche? – Would you like to come home tonight?
- Me dijeron que vendrían a cenar. – They told me that they would come for dinner.
3. Form the Spanish conditional tense: irregular verbs with stem changes
What about irregular verbs in Spanish in the conditional tense?
Well, there are only 12 irregular verbs in the Spanish conditional tense, and they are exactly the same as those in the simple future tense. So, it’s easier to remember!
Also, the irregularity falls on the root or base form of the verb, so we just need to remember the new base form and then add the conditional ending that we’ve just seen, taking into account the person.
You can check them out in the next table with more examples!
| Infinitive | Irregular base form | Spanish Conditional Tense Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Caber To fit | Cabr– | Creí que (yo) cabría en el coche. (I thought I’d fit in the car.) |
| Decir To say | Dir- | ¿Me dirías la hora? (Could you tell me the time?) |
| Haber There-be | Habr- | Dicen que él habría estado allí. (They say he would’ve been there.) |
| Hacer To do/make | Har- | Ella haría cualquier cosa por él. (She would do anything for him.) |
| Poder Can | Podr- | ¿Podría abrir la ventana, por favor? (Could you open the window, please?) |
| Poner To put | Pondr- | Pondríamos más dinero, si pudiéramos. (We’d put more money, if we could.) |
| Querer To want | Querr– | Nosotras querríamos ir también. (We’d like to go, too.) |
| Saber To know | Sabr- | No lo sabríais de no ser por mí. (You wouldn’t know it if it weren’t for me.) |
| Salir To go out | Saldr– | ¿Saldríais con nosotros esta noche? (Would you go out with us tonight?) |
| Tener To have | Tendr- | Tendrían que estudiar más. (You should study more.) |
| Valer To cost | Valdr– | Dijeron que estos valdrían menos que aquellos. (They said that these ones would cost less than those ones.) |
| Venir To come | Vendr- | Pensé que vendrían a cenar. (I thought they’d come for dinner.) |
From now on, whenever you’re planning a Spanish travel, be brave enough to engage in a conversation in Spanish! You have the knowledge for it, and if you pair them with Spanish travel phrases, you’re all set for a great time in any Spanish-speaking country. 😉
4. Different types of Spanish conditional tense
Now, there’s another thing that you have to look out for – but don’t worry, it doesn’t really complicate things at all! It’s just here so you know that it exists.
What’s it all about? Well…
In Spanish, there are 3 different types of Spanish conditional tenses. Let’s check all of them one-by-one!
Simple conditional (Condicional simple)
The simple conditional tense in Spanish is used for hypothetical actions in the present or the future.
We could also refer to it as a tense expressing “would”.
The formula of this Spanish conditional tense: Infinitive verb + conditional endings (ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían).
Like this:
- Yo viajaría a España (I would travel to Spain).
Conditional perfect (Condicional compuesto)
The Spanish conditional tense for perfect (condicional compuesto) is used when you want to describe hypothetical actions that would have happened but in the end, they didn’t.
The formula for this Spanish conditional tense looks like this: Haber (in conditional) + past participle.
You can see, that you only have to conjugate haber in the conditional form, and you’re all set:
- Yo habría viajado a España (I would have traveled to Spain).
Imperfect Subjunctive with Conditional (‘Sí Clause’)
This is actually probably even harder in English than in Spanish. Nothing to worry about here!
The imperfect subjunctive with conditional is used in ‘If-sentences’ to express something that is unlikely or literally impossible conditions.
The formula for this Spanish conditional tense: Si + imperfect subjunctive + conditional tense.
And the example that must come with it:
- Si yo tuviera dinero, viajaría a España (If I had money, I would travel to Spain).
5. Practice section – fill in the blanks for the correct form of Spanish conditional
I. Fill in the blanks with the correct conditional form of the verb in parentheses.
Example: Si yo fuera tú, no ___ (ir) al cine. (Answer: iría)
If you want to practice more grammar, make sure to check out our Full Practice Worksheet and figure out when the conditional is used yourself!
6. How to master the conditional tense in Spanish with Conversation Based Chunking
You can now use the conditional tense to express what would happen in different situations.
But there is more to learn about the sentences in Spanish and Spanish grammar!
That’s why we have a special course for you that uses Conversation Based Chunking, a method that’s both fun and effective! This method will help you learn the conditional tense and will help you master the Spanish language more naturally and easily with lexical chunks.
It’s all about learning the basic Spanish words and the grammar rules with immersion: we promise (!), you won’t have to learn all the grammar we just wrote about in this blog post. Instead, you focus on these natural building blocks that we have in the Spanish language. In no time, you’ll be able to use them effortlessly with the correct grammar – without constantly translating in your head, or remembering grammar definitions.
Enroll in our course today and become a pro to boost your vocabulary, memorize chunks and impress native Spanish-speaking friends!
