Simple Conditional

B1ImportantLatin American Spanish

Kurz erklärt

The simple conditional describes what would happen under a certain condition. It is also common in polite requests and wishes, and when reporting a future event from a past point of view. In Spanish, the same endings are used for all three verb groups.

Bildung

infinitive + -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -ían. The endings are added to the complete infinitive: hablaría, comeríamos, vivirían. Some common verbs use an irregular stem, for example tendría, podría, haría, diría, saldría, querría, sabría and vendría.

Verwendung

To describe a hypothetical result: Con más tiempo, viajaría más.
To make polite requests or express wishes: ¿Podrías ayudarme? Me gustaría un café.
To report a future event viewed from the past: Dijo que llegaría tarde.

Beispiele

Con más dinero, compraríamos una casa. — With more money, we would buy a house.
¿Podrías cerrar la ventana? — Could you close the window?
Me gustaría probar ese plato. — I would like to try that dish.
Ana dijo que vendría mañana. — Ana said that she would come tomorrow.

Typischer Fehler

❌ Yo gustaría un café.

✅ Me gustaría un café.

Unlike English “I would like,” gustar expresses that something is pleasing to someone. Use the indirect object pronoun me, not the subject pronoun yo.

Merke

Keep the infinitive and add the conditional ending. The endings always carry a written accent on í.