3.10 - The Conditional and Excuses  



Hoy, aprenderás el conditional y las excusas, como


Cuando quieres hablar de una possibilidad o una situation hipotética en español.  Se usa un tenso especial, el condicional.

También, el condicional es perfecto para las excusas.  Mira unos ejemplos y busca las semejanzas al futuro que aprendiste en la última lección.  El condicional y el futuro tenen mucho en común.  Presta attención a raíz de los verbos.


Profesora, haría el examen, pero estoy enferma.
Professor, I would take this exam, but I am sick.

Lavarías los platos, pero tus amigos vinieron.
You would wash the plates, but your friends came over.

Correría en una carrera, pero no le gusta hacer ejercicio.
She would run in a race, but she doesn′t like exercises.

Estudiaríamos más para el examen, pero tenemos sueño.
We would study more for the exam, but we are sleepy.

Iríais a la feria, pero no tenéis dinero.
You would go to the fair, but you don′t have any money.

Saldrían ahora, pero está lloviendo.
They would leave now, but it is rainning.

Lo veis, .. vemos estos verbos de condicional a lado de los mismos verbos en el futuro.


What do each of these pairs have in common?  They all have the same stem.

The conditional uses the infinitive for the stem for regular verbs just like the future.

It also has exact irregular verbs, and their stems like the future.

hacer     har-
salir       saldr-
(tendr- & querr- 只顯示於提示卡中，講解中未提及)
tener      tendr-  
querer    querr-

So, if you know your future irregulars, you know your conditional irregulars, all you have to do is learn the endings.  But there is a secret --- you already know the endings.  Let's take away the verb stems from all the conditional verbs, and you tell me, if you recognize anything.

condicional stem        conditional ending
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
har                                 ía         
lavar                               ías              
correr                             ía           
estudiar                          íamos     
ir                                    íais            
saldr                               ían             

Look familiar?  They are the exact same endings as the indicative (陳述法) imperfect tense for ER and IR verbs.

condicional stem     conditional ending   imperfect endings
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, to form the conditional, take Future stem, which is infinitive and add endings for what tense? ... The imperfect (-ER, -IR ending verbs).

Conditional = Future stem (infinitive) + imperfect endings

Now, I know it′s been a while since we talked about ER and IR  imperfect endings.  So, are you ready for a mini quiz?  Very basic.  I′ll ask you the ending for a specific person and you just give me the ending.  I′ll show you what the verb will look like in both tenses, the imperfect and conditional.  So, you can see what the difference the verb stem makes in meaning.  Listo?


comías-         You used to eat
comerías-       You would eat

Remember, the conditional is used to express what would happen in the future.  It is a possibility or a hypothetical situation.  It′s not the same as when we use Would in English to talk about the past.  In Spanish, talk about what you would do or used to do in the past, you use the imperfect.  So, while the translation can be the same.

comías - you would eat
comerías - you would eat

The first one (comías) means you used to eat in the past.  And the 2nd (comerías) uses Would in a hypothetical situation nto talk about what you could or might eat.

Ok, next questions.

Cuál es el terminación para nosotros.


corríamos- we used to run
correríamos- we would run

¿Y para yo?


bebía -   I used to drink
bebería -  I would drink


¿El, ella y usted?

podía -    he/she/you used to be able
podría-   he/she/you would be able


¿vosotros?

hacías -  you used to make
harías -  you would make


¿Y ellos, ellas y ustedes?

tenían -  they used to have
tendrían - they would have

Super fácil.  ¿No?  Just use the infinitive plus the imperfect ending to creat a whole new tense used specifically to talk about hypothetical situations and possibilities.

So, you already know everything.  I think it′s time to practice in context.  I′ll give you verb and it′s in infinitive form.  So all you have to do is add the correct conditional ending, which is the same as the Imperfect ending.  On the end, to make it conditional, unless it′s irregular verb, then you have to make few changes to the stem before you add the endings.  Hagamos unos juntos.

Normalmente (yo) (tener) sueño, pero dormí bien anoche.
                      tendría
Normally, I would be sleepy but I slept well last night.

Bien!  ¿Estas listo para hacer uno solo?

(Nosotras) (bilar), pero tenemos miedo.
   Bilaríamos
We would dance, but we′re scared.

(Tú) (llevar) los comestibles, pero te rompiste el brazo.
Llevarías
You would carry those groceries but you broke your arm.

(Nosotros) (casarnos), pero no tenemos suficiente dinero.
Nos casaríamos
We would get married, but you don′t have enough money.

That was a tricky one, right?  With reflexive pronoun.
Remember, reciprocal verbs like to get married, include the plural form other than reflexive pronoun.  And reflexive pronouns are attached to infinitive and affirmative commands, but go in front of all other verbs.

Vale, es todo para el condicional basico.  Pero hay unas situaciones más en que puede usarlo.

Primero, to express speculation, or probability about the past, you can also use the Conditional.  But the translation would be a little different than just Would.

Después de ir de excurción, encenderían lumbre.
After hiking, they probably lit the fire.

Ayer, correría más de 10 millas.
Yesterday, I must have run for than 10 miles.

You can also use the Conditional to express the future from the perspective of the past.  I know, that sounds a little odd, but the examples make some more snese, and you′ll see what I mean.

Sabía que llegarían a la hora en punto.
I knew they would arrive on time.

Dijo que ganaría.
He said that I would win.

Y finalmente, puedes usar el condicional para peticiones corteses, or polite requests.  You have seen this on the lesson ordering food in the restaurant.

¿Podrías pasar la sal?
Would you pass the salt?

---

 Remarks  

1. underline portion stands for NOT SURE, same as ....... portion.
2. in the exercises (Not cited in this blog), WRITE, the answer to Question 4 was WRONG, instead of queríamos, it should be querríamos.




Ayuntamiento de Cádiz, Cádiz, Andalucía, España        by Frank 2006.1.13