Conditional Mood in Spanish Grammar

When to use the conditional in Spanish grammar

The conditional is used in the following ways in Spanish grammar:

• to extend polite invitations
  

  Example:

  ¿Querríais venir a las diez y media a cenar?.Would you like to come over tonight at 10:30 for dinner?

• to make polite requests
  

  Example:

  ¿Podrías hacer una tarta para el postre?Could you bake a pie for dessert?

• to express wishes
  

  Example:

  ¡Me encantaría!I’d be happy to!

• to make suggestions
  

  Example:

  Aunque entonces deberías ir ahora a comprar los ingredientes, ¿no?But then you should go and buy the ingredients now, shouldn’t you?

• to make a supposition or hypothesis
  

  Example:

  Sí, claro. Pero a lo mejor llegaríamos un poco tarde.Of course! But we might come a bit later.

• to express doubt or uncertainty in the past
  

  Example:

  Pensé que no estarías aún en casa.I didn’t think you would be home yet.

• for future actions seen from a past standpoint
  

  Example:

  Sandra dijo que llegaría sobre las diez de la noche de trabajar.Sandra said that she would be home from work at about 10 pm.

Verb Conjugation in Spanish Conditional Mood

To conjugate verbs in the simple conditional mood, we add the following endings to the infinitive:

Reflexive Verbs

If we use a reflexive verb in the conditional tense, we always place the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os, se) before the verb.

Example:

yo me mudaría

tú te mudarías

él se mudaría

nosotros nos mudaríamos

vosotros os mudaríais

ellos se mudarían

Irregular Verbs

The verbs that change their stem in the conditional also change their stem in the future tense. We simply add the conditional endings to the irregular stems.

Verbs that add a -d-

The verbs ponerput, salirgo out, tenerhave, valercost/be worth and venircome replace the final vowel of their infinitive endings with a -d before adding the conditional endings.

Verbs that lose a vowel

The verbs caberfit, haberhave, poderbe able to and saberknow lose the final -e of the infinitive ending before adding the conditional endings.

*We only use the 3rd person singular of haber in the conditional to make impersonal sentences. The other forms are used in the conditional compuesto.

Verbs with an irregular stem

The verbs decirsay/tell and hacermake/do change their stems completely before adding the conditional endings. The new stem is the same in all forms.