LingoflyEl condicional: 'I would do it'
To say 'I would', Spanish has a tense of its own, el condicional. The endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían hook onto the whole infinitive: trabajar → trabajaría, comer → comería. For example: “¿Podría explicarme las condiciones del contrato?” — Could you explain the terms of the contract to me? A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
To say 'I would', Spanish has a tense of its own, el condicional. The endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían hook onto the whole infinitive: trabajar → trabajaría, comer → comería.
The irregular stems are the ones from the future: from tendré comes tendría. Poder → podría, hacer → haría, decir → diría, salir → saldría.
Table
| person | trabajar | tener (irregular) | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | trabajaría | tendría | I would work / there would be |
| tú | trabajarías | tendrías | you would work |
| él, ella, usted | trabajaría | tendría | he would work |
| nosotros | trabajaríamos | tendríamos | we would work |
| vosotros | trabajaríais | tendríais | you would work |
| ellos, ustedes | trabajarían | tendrían | they would work |
By example
- ¿Podría explicarme las condiciones del contrato?Could you explain the terms of the contract to me?
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
El condicional: how does it work in Spanish?
To say 'I would', Spanish has a tense of its own, el condicional. The endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían hook onto the whole infinitive: trabajar → trabajaría, comer → comería.
What does it look like in a Spanish example sentence?
“¿Podría explicarme las condiciones del contrato?” — Could you explain the terms of the contract to me? A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.