The Spanish el condicional (the conditional) or el futuro hipotético (the hypothetical future) tense helps express actions that have not necessarily happened or are happening. The actions that conditional verbs express are thus hypothetical in nature. Most uses of the conditional are equivalent to the English “would + verb” construction. In this role, the conditional tense can be used to describe an act that depends on a condition, as part of a dependent clause to describe an event that might have happened in the main clause, and to politely state a request or desire. Occasionally, the conditional has other meanings besides “would.” For example, you wouldn’t translate a conditional as “would” when it is used to speculate about the past or refer to a past repeated action.

 

Conjugating the Conditional

The conditional tense of a regular verb is constructed by adding the appropriate ending to the entire infinitive. Regular –ar, –er and –ir verbs all use the same endings. A handful of irregular verbs attach the conditional ending to a modified version of the stem rather than the infinitive. These particular verbs are also irregular in the future tense in exactly the same way. The chart below covers the regular conditional endings and provides three examples of each:

 

Pronoun	Ending	Ayudar (to help)	Ser (to be)	Vivir (to live)
yo – I	-ía	ayudaría	sería	viviría
tú – you (familiar)	-ías	ayudarías	serías	vivirías
él, ella – he, she usted – you (formal)	-ía	ayudaría	sería	viviría
nosotros, nosotras – we	-íamos	ayudaríamos	seríamos	viviríamos
vosotros, vosotras – you (plural familiar)	-íais	ayudaríais	seríais	viviríais
ellos, ellas – they ustedes – you (plural formal)	-ían	ayudarían	serían	vivirían