Definition of Conditional Tense

Definition of Conditional Tense Definition The verb tense that is used to indicate that an action or state of being is dependent on the occurrence of a condition. Also Known As This tense in Spanish is also known as the futuro hipotà ©tico, tiempo potencial or tiempo condicional in Spanish. Explanation In the sentence Si lo encuentro, serà ­a un milagro (If I find it, it would be a miracle), the first part of the sentence (Si lo encuentro or If I find it) is the condition. Serà ­a and would be are in the conditional tense because whether they refer to an actual occurrence depends on whether the condition is true. In both English and Spanish, the condition does not need to be explicitly stated. In the sentence Yo lo comerà ­a (I would eat it), the condition is not stated but is implied by the context. For example, the condition might be something like Si lo veo (If I see it) or Si lo cocinas (If you cook it). In English, the conditional tense is formed using the auxiliary verb would before the base verb, although would also has other uses. In Spanish, the conditional tense for regular verbs is formed by adding the following endings (in boldface) to the infinitive: yo comerà ­a (I would eat)tà º comerà ­as (you singular would eat)à ©l/ella comerà ­a (he/she/it would eat)nosotros/nosotras comerà ­amos (we would eat)vosotros/vosotras comerà ­ais (you plural would eat)ellos/ellas comerà ­an (they would eat) In Spanish, the conditional tense has historical ties to the future tense and is often known as the hypothetical future tense. The ties between the two tenses can be seen in their formation from the infinitive rather than the verb stem. Also, if the future tense of a verb is formed irregularly, the conditional is usually irregular in the same way. For example, I would want is querrà ­a in the conditional and querrà © in the future. The conditional perfect tense is formed by using the conditional of haber with a past participle. This compound tense is shown in the final two examples below. Examples of the Conditional Tense These sentences show how the conditional tense is used: Serà ­a una sorpresa. (It would be a surprise.)Si pudieras jugar,  ¿estarà ­as feliz? (If you were able to play, would you be happy?)Si fuera posible, me gustarà ­a verte. (If it were possible, Id like to see you.Llegamos a pensar que nunca volverà ­amos a grabar una nueva cancià ³n. (We concluded that we would never again record a new song. Note that the English translation here isnt a literal one.)Creo que te habrà ­an escuchado. (I believe they would have listened to you.)Si no te hubiera conocido, mi vida habrà ­a sido diferente. (If I had not met you, my life would have been different.)