Future and Conditional

Usage

Basically, the usage of the future form corresponds to when we say 'will' in English (as in 'I will buy a house when I have the money'), and the conditional form corresponds to when we use the word 'would' (as in 'I would buy a house if I had the money. Summarized:

Spanish future endings = will
Spanish conditional endings = would

Both of these tenses are frequently found in what are known as conditional sentences. The first conditional consists of a verb in the present tense in one clause (frequently preceded by the word if), and a verb in the future in the other clause, both in Spanish and English. Examples:

First Conditional

If we leave now, we will arrive early.
Si salimos ahora, llegaremos temprano.

They will eat with us if they have time.
Ellos comerán con nosotros si tienen tiempo.

The second conditional in English uses the combination of the conditional in one clause, and the simple past in the other clause. Notice that in Spanish, the past subjunctive replaces the English simple past:

Second Conditional

If we left now, we would arrive early.
Si fuéramos ahora, llegaríamos temprano.

They would eat with us if they had time.
Ellos comerían con nosotros si tuvieran tiempo.

The future and conditional tenses of course are not found exclusively in conditional sentences. These examples are offered because you will find frequent examples of both tenses here. In general, when you can use will in English, you can use the future endings in Spanish, and the same for would and the conditional endings. However, one important exception to this rule are polite requests. Notice in the following examples the English uses future or conditional, and Spanish uses the simple present:

Will you open the door, please?
Abres la puerta, ¿por favor?

Would you give me a Pepsi, please?
Me da un Pepsi, ¿por favor?

There is one special use of both the future and the conditional which is very common in Spanish and doesn't have any direct translation into English. It is known as the Future/Conditional of Supposition 'Supposition' being derived from the verb 'to suppose'. It is used in situations when the speaker is not quite sure of the information offered, and it's translation can depend varying upon the context in which it is said. The Future is used in present time situations; the Conditional is used in referring to the past. Examples:

Spanish
A: ¿Dónde está Pepe?
B: No sé. Estará en su casa.

English
A: Where is Pepe?
B: I don't know... He must be at home (or) He could be at home (or) He might be at home

The English translation would then depend on the degree of certainty that the speaker held at the time.

The same question now, but referring to the past, uses the conditional:

Spanish
A: ¿Dónde estuvo Pepe ayer?
B: No sé. Estaría en su casa.

English
A: Where was Pepe yesterday?
B: I don't know.... He must have been at home (or) He could have been at home (or) He might have been at home.

Form

Future Endings (for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs)

-é       -emos
-ás      -éis
-á       -án

Example--Future

comeré       comeremos
comerás      comeréis
comerá       comerán

Conditional Endings (for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs)

-ía     -íamos
-ías    -íais
-ía     -ían

Example--Conditional

comería      comeríamos
comerías     comeríais
comería      comerían

Irregulars---Both tenses

There are a number of irregular verbs (yes, the same ones as always) that luckily, when they are irregular in the Future, they are irregular in the same way in the Conditional, and vice versa. Therefore the trick to learn them rapidly is to try to learn the irregular stems which are in the following list:

tener       tendr-
venir       vendr-
poner       pondr-
salir       saldr-
saber       sabr-
poder       podr-
haber       habr-
caber       cabr-
decir       dir-
hacer       har-
querer      querr-

So, to these stems, you add the endings listed above to any of these verbs. Just to give you the idea, we'll show you the verbs 'tener' and 'hacer' in both Future and Conditional:

tener--Future

tendré       tendremos
tendrás      tendréis
tendrá       tendrán

tener--Conditional

tendría      tendríamos
tendrías     tendríais
tendría      tendrían

hacer--Future

haré         haremos
harás        haréis
hará         harán

hacer--Conditional

haría        haríamos
harías       haríais
haría        harían

Related topics:

General Considerations about Verbs
Contents
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