The simple indicative conditional has two main uses in Spanish. Let's learn more about them:

Spanish

English

¿Me podría decir la hora?

Could you tell me the time?

Hypothetical Situations

Rule 1. The first use we are going to review is hypothetical situations. The simple conditional is used to express dreams or desires.

Spanish

English

Me encantaría visitar Japón.

I would love to visit Japan.

Rule 2. Similarly, it can be used to talk about hypotheses or assumptions in the past or in the future.

  • Past Tense

Spanish

English

No pensamos que querrías venir, por eso no te invitamos.

We didn't think you would want to come, so we didn't invite you.

  • Future Tense

Spanish

English

Mariana dijo que llegaría directamente al evento más tarde en la noche.

Mariana said she would be arriving directly to the event later in the evening.

Hypothetical Situations - Form

Rule 3. The conditional is a fairly easy tense, because the following endings apply to all regular verbs no matter whether they end in -ar, -er, or -ir.

Subject PronounHablarComerVivir
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
Subject PronounHablarComerVivir
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

Spanish

English

Si pudiera elegir, comería chilaquiles todos los días.

If I could choose, I would eat chilaquiles every day.

Irregular verbs

Rule 4. Irregular verbs in the conditional use the same stem they use for the simple future.

For instance, tener in simple future would be (yo) tendré. This is the stem you will use. Other irregular verbs that fall in this category are hacer, poder, poner, salir, venir, and querer. Once you identify the stem, add the corresponding endings of the conditional tense.

Spanish

English

Saldría contigo, pero está lloviendo.

I would go out with you, but it's raining.

Common Phrases to Talk About Wishes

Rule 5. Since language is made up of sentences that speakers constantly recycle, we are going to show you a very common phrase that you can use to talk about desires without having to think about conjugations.

me encantaría + infinitive verb form

Spanish

English

Me encantaría vivir en México.

I would love to live in Mexico.

You can substitute me encantaría for te encantaría, le encantaría, nos encantaría, les encantaría, or os encantaría to talk about other people.

Spanish

English

A Susana le encantaría comer afuera diario.

Susana would love to eat out every day.

Conditional of Courtesy

Rule 6. The second main use of the conditional is to sound more polite. This is mainly used in customer service contexts, to make requests, to ask for recommendations, etc. Here are some common phrases you can use to convey this meaning.

Me podría + infinitive + complementary information

Spanish

English

¿Me podría indicar cómo llegar al museo?

Can you tell me how to get to the museum?

Me gustaría saber si + verb in present subjunctive

Spanish

English

Me gustaría saber si tienen menú para vegetarianos.

I would like to know if you have a vegetarian menu.

Quería saber + qué + (subject) + verb

Spanish

English

Quería saber qué paquetes ofrecen.

I would like to know what packages you offer.

Quiz

1/4

Tal vez ___ acompañarlos después de las 6:00 pm.

0

correct answers.