Spanish Conditional Spanish Verb Conjugation

Spanish mini-course

Now, we’ll learn how to use the conditional tense in Spanish. Like with other verbs, we also have a nickname for it. It is called the “would” tense. We call it that because it’s just like putting the word “would” in front of any verb. For example. “I would eat”, “She would run”, “He would talk” and so forth. This tense is very easy to learn. Like the future tense, it has the same verb endings for AR ER and IR verbs.

Let’s take a look at the endings now.

Yo ía nosotros íamos
ías vosotros
(Tú Plural)
(used only in Spain)
íais
Él ía
ía
ía
ellos ían
ían
ían
Ella ellas
usted ustedes (uds.)

Let’s review those again.

ía - ías - ía - íamos - íais - ían

Now, just like the future tense is that you don’t take off an ending, you just put it on right after the verb. You simply put this ending on after the AR, ER or IR verbs. Now, you may have noticed something familiar about these endings. They are exactly like the endings of the “Back” or “Imperfect” verbs. The only difference is that these endings always come after the “r” at the end of each verb. So, just like present tense, we’re going to add an “r” to our conjugation chart to help you remember that the endings always come after the “r”.

Yo ría nosotros ríamos
rías vosotros
(Tú Plural)
(used only in Spain)
ríais
Él ría ellos rían
Ella ellas
usted ustedes (uds.)

Let’s see how it works starting with “yo”:

I would speak is “Hablaría”
I would eat is “Comería”
I would live is “Viviría”

If we use María or “tú”:

You would speak is “Hablarías”
You would eat is “Comerías”
You would live is “Vivirías”

Now let’s practice the future tense for he, she or you formal (remember, this is if you’d use a title with someone like “Dr.” or “Mrs.”):

He would speak is “Hablaría”
She would eat is “Comería”
Mrs. Garcia, you would live is “Viviría”

Next we’ll look at the future tense for nosotros:

We would speak is “Hablaríamos”
We would eat is “Comeríamos”
We would live is “Viviríamos”

Now we’ll jump to the future tense for “they” (ellos, ellas) and “you plural” or Uds.:

They would speak is “Hablarían”
They would eat is “Comerían”
All of you would live is “Vivirían”

Now take a look at the “Conditional” or “Would” endings one more time.

ría - rías - ría - ríamos - ríais - rían

Now let’s try these using the chart on the screen and the verb “llevar” which means “to carry”.

I would carry / (yo llevar) Llevaría
You would carry / (tú llevar) Llevarías
He would carry / (él llevar) Llevaría
She would carry / (ella llevar) Llevaría
You would carry / (Ud. llevar) Llevaría
We would carry / (Nosotros llevar) Llevaríamos
Now the vosotros form Llevaríais
They would carry / (ellos llevar) Llevarían
They would carry / (ellas llevar) Llevarían

Now, since repetition is so important, let’s repeat the endings again.

ría - rías - ría - ríamos - ríais - rían

Now we’ll practice with a few different verbs. Are you ready?

I would sell… (Yo) vendería
You would live – using “tú” (Tú) vivirías
He would promise (Él) prometería
She would run (Ella) correría
You would decide… (Ud.) decidiría
We would open it… (Nosotros) lo abriríamos
They would learn (Ellos) aprenderían
If all of you would eat Si (Uds.) comerían

Review

I would look miraría
(Marta) You would search for buscarías
He would love amaría
She would need necesitaría
(Sra. Benites) You would paint pintaría
We would pay pagaríamos
They would plan planearían
All of you would practice practicarían
I would prepare prepararía
(Martín) You would rest descansarías
He would return regresaría
She would send mandaría
(Sr. Mendes) You would touch tocaría
We would sing cantaríamos
They would speak hablarían
All of you would spend gastarían
I would study estudiaría
(Marta) You would swim nadarías
He would take out sacaría
She would take tomaría
(Sra. Perez) You would teach enseñaría
We would play (instrument) tocaríamos
They would travel viajarían
All of you would try (to...) tratarían (de...)
I would use usaría
We would visit visitaríamos
We would hope esperaríamos
We would walk caminaríamos
(Pablo) You would earn ganarías
(Paola) You would work trabajarías