The Conditional Tense

I. Intro

“Would,” “could,” and “should” are words that come to mind when we think about conditionals. Main ideas expressed by the conditional tense are: a future possibility from the perspective from the past (what would happen), or probability (what could happen). It’s also used to express advice (what you would do, what you think someone should do), desires (what you wish you do do), and politeness (what you would like).

Forming it is pretty straightforward and simple, and its uses closely resemble those of English. Make sure you’ve brushed up on the future tense before starting this lesson - it will come in handy!

II. Form

Like the future tense, the conditional is formed by adding the following endings onto the infinitive:

Conditional verb endings

-ía	-íamos
-ías
-ía	-ían

Unlike the future tense, all 6 conditional verb endings have an accent.