Conditional — hypotheticals and HL tact: Relax — the condicional for hypotheticals, advice and politeness is the same skill SL builds, so you've landed correctly.
What changes at HL
- At HL it earns its keep.
- Weighing what would happen sharpens argument in a 450–600-word response.
- A polite, tentative tone reads beautifully when you discuss your set texts.
- Get these -ía endings fluent and your Spanish instantly sounds more sophisticated.
The conditional: The conditional (el condicional) is how Spanish says would. The good news: it's built almost exactly like the future, with one set of endings for all three verb families.
What you use it for
- Hypothetical situations: yo viajaría más
- Being polite: me gustaría un café, ¿podrías ayudarme?
- The future seen from the past: dijo que vendría
- Guessing about the past: serían las tres
- el condicional
- the conditional tense (would + verb)
- el infinitivo
- the infinitive — the whole, unchanged verb; the conditional is built on it
- la terminación
- the ending — for the conditional it is added to the WHOLE infinitive
- la raíz irregular
- the irregular stem — the same short list as the future (tener → tendr-)
- hipotético
- hypothetical — describing something imagined or unreal
- la cortesía
- politeness — softening a request (me gustaría…)
When you reach for it: If you want to say would, be polite (me gustaría, ¿podría…?), or describe what you'd do if something were true — it's the conditional. It's the tense that makes your speaking and writing sound mature and courteous.
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Whole infinitive + the -ía endings: To form the conditional of a regular verb, keep the whole infinitive and add the ending -ía / -ías / -ía / -íamos / -íais / -ían.
Two things to notice
- The same endings work for -ar, -er and -ir, so hablaría, comería, viviría all match.
- Every ending carries an accent on the í.
| Persona | -ar (hablar) | -er (comer) | -ir (vivir) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablaría | comería | viviría |
| tú | hablarías | comerías | vivirías |
| él / ella / usted | hablaría | comería | viviría |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablaríamos | comeríamos | viviríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | hablaríais | comeríais | viviríais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | hablarían | comerían | vivirían |
| Infinitivo | Raíz irregular | Ejemplo (yo) |
|---|---|---|
| tener | tendr- | tendría |
| hacer | har- | haría |
| decir | dir- | diría |
| poder | podr- | podría |
| salir | saldr- | saldría |
| venir | vendr- | vendría |
| querer | querr- | querría |
| saber | sabr- | sabría |
| poner | pondr- | pondría |
Same irregular stems as the future: If you learnt the future, you already know the conditional: it uses the exact same nine irregular stems (tener → tendr-, hacer → har-), just with the -ía endings instead of -é. So tendré (I will have) becomes tendría (I would have).
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Four everyday jobs: The conditional does several jobs. Here are the four you meet most in the exam — each with a Spanish example. The first two (hypothesis and politeness) are by far the most useful for your speaking and writing.
Usos del condicional
- Hypothetical would — En tu lugar, yo estudiaría más para el examen. (In your place, I would study more for the exam.)
- Politeness — Me gustaría reservar una mesa, por favor. ¿Podrías ayudarme? (I would like to book a table, please. Could you help me?)
- Future seen from the past — Me dijo que llegaría a las ocho. (She told me she would arrive at eight.)
- Conjecture about the past — Serían las once cuando volvieron a casa. (It must have been about eleven when they got home.)
The polite phrases worth memorising: Two conditional phrases earn easy marks for tone: me gustaría + infinitivo (I would like to…) and ¿podrías / podría + infinitivo? (could you…?). They turn a blunt quiero into a courteous request — exactly the register the examiners reward.
What I would do, sentence by sentence: Here's a short paragraph about an imagined life, built one sentence at a time.
How to read it
- Every verb is in the conditional.
- Watch for the irregular stem in tendría and the polite me encantaría.
- Read it once for the meaning, then tap Ver traducción for the English or the audio button to hear it.
El condicional en acción
Lo que yo haría, frase a frase
- Si tuviera más tiempo libre, aprendería a tocar el piano.
- Viajaría por toda Sudamérica y conocería culturas diferentes.
- Me encantaría vivir cerca del mar, así que buscaría una casa en la costa.
- Mis amigos y yo crearíamos un pequeño negocio y trabajaríamos juntos.
- Por supuesto, tendría que ahorrar mucho dinero, pero valdría la pena.
Steal this for ¿Qué harías?: Notice the pattern: Si tuviera… (an unreal if) + a string of conditional verbs (aprendería, viajaría, buscaría). Swap in your own dreams and you have a ready-made answer for ¿Qué harías si…? Keep the -ía accent on every verb.
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The slips to watch for: The big trap is confusing the conditional with the imperfect. The other slip is dropping the accent.
Conditional
- Keeps the whole infinitive
- comería = I would eat
Imperfect (-er/-ir)
- Also ends in -ía, but drops the infinitive ending
- comía = I used to eat
Correcto
- Yo comería más verdura.
- Me gustaría viajar a Perú.
- Ellos tendrían que esperar.
Error común
- Yo comía más verdura. (= I used to eat)
- Me gustaria viajar a Perú.
- Ellos tenerían que esperar.
Keep the whole infinitive and the accent: For would, the verb keeps its whole infinitive before -ía: comería (would eat), not comía (used to eat). And the same irregular stems as the future apply: tendría, not tenería. Always keep the accent on the í.