Mesoclise in the Conditional

This page drills mesoclise in the simple conditional (condicional, sometimes futuro do pretérito in older grammars). The structure is identical to the future version: stem + clitic + ending, with two hyphens. The endings are the conditional endings -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, -iam, and they carry their characteristic acute on the first-person plural form: dar-te-íamos.

Mesoclise in the conditional is, if anything, even more formal than in the future, because the conditional itself is already a somewhat elevated tense in modern European Portuguese — everyday speech prefers the imperfect indicative for polite requests and hypotheticals, and it reaches for the conditional only in writing, in more careful speech, or when emphasising politeness. Add mesoclise on top, and you have a form firmly rooted in the page: legal, literary, courteous, reflective.

The formation recipe

Take the simple conditional form, split it between the stem and the ending, insert the clitic with two hyphens.

As in the future, the stem is the infinitive for every verb except the three with contracted stems — dizer → dir-, fazer → far-, trazer → trar-. The endings are invariant: -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, -iam.

Paradigm 1: dar + te ("I would give you")

Dar is the classic teaching example. The conditional is daria / darias / daria / daríamos / dariam.

Notice the acute accent on the nós form: dar-te-íamos. This is the only conditional form that carries a written accent, and it survives mesoclise without change. The rhythm of the word is dar-te-ÍAmos, with primary stress on the í. Leaving the accent off is a spelling error.

Paradigm 2: dizer + me ("he/she would tell me")

Dizer has the contracted stem dir-. The conditional is diria / dirias / diria / diríamos / diriam.

The form dir-me-ia is the textbook polite inquiry. In a formal letter, a courteous visitor at a reception desk, or a scripted film scene set in the past, it sounds perfectly at home. In a casual café exchange, it would land as comically elevated — a Portuguese speaker would say podia dizer-me... or dizia-me... or simply diz-me.

Paradigm 3: fazer + se ("it would be done")

Fazer with the impersonal or reflexive se is one of the signature mesoclitic constructions in formal Portuguese. The conditional is faria / farias / faria / faríamos / fariam.

Far-se-ia is a construction you will see in newspaper editorials, political commentary, and academic writing. Its English equivalent is the passive "would be done" or the impersonal "one would do" — both rather formal in English as well.

Paradigm 4: trazer + lhe ("I would bring him/her")

Paradigm 5: pôr + se (reflexive)

Pôr is regular in the conditional: poria / porias / poria / poríamos / poriam. Reflexive pôr-se ("to place oneself, to set about, to become") is extremely common in elevated Portuguese.

The uses of the conditional that invite mesoclise

Not every conditional sentence benefits equally from mesoclise. The construction is at home in specific discourse contexts.

Polite requests

In very formal speech and writing — the tone of a lawyer, a diplomat, or an elaborately courteous letter — mesoclise can soften a request beyond what the plain conditional does.

In everyday speech, speakers would far more likely say Podia dizer-me..., Importam-se de..., Dá-me licença — all simpler, all polite, all without mesoclise. The mesoclitic version is the ceremonial register.

Hypothetical consequences

A conditional in a se-clause sentence can take mesoclise only in the main clause — the se clause itself is always proclitic (se is a trigger).

Note how the se-clause (se tivesse fome a sério, se achasse, se tivessem sido convidados) uses the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive with no mesoclise. The mesoclise sits only in the consequence clause, where the conditional lives.

Literary and reflective writing

Novelists, essayists, and serious columnists use mesoclise to mark a thought as carefully composed. Compared with the plain imperfect-for-conditional paraphrase, a mesoclitic conditional reads as deliberate and considered.

Softened opinions and hedged claims

The conditional softens a claim — "I would say...", "one would think..." — and mesoclise can reinforce the hedging. In academic prose and in formal commentary, this is a beautiful effect.

The formula dir-se-ia que... is especially common in essayistic Portuguese. It is the register equivalent of English one would say that... or it could be argued that..., and it is a trademark of educated commentary.

Past probability and conjecture

The conditional can convey a hedged guess about the past — seriam umas dez da noite, "it must have been about ten p.m." — and mesoclise can adorn this use when a clitic is present.

Reflexive verbs in the conditional: the full pattern

Reflexive verbs form a particularly rich gallery of mesoclitic conditionals, because every person carries its own reflexive clitic.

Paradigm: lembrar-se ("to remember")

More reflexive examples

A gallery of examples by verb class

-ar verbs

-er verbs

-ir verbs

Common Mistakes

The 1pl conditional ending is -íamos as a single piece, with its acute accent on the í. In mesoclise, it still appears as -íamos after the clitic: dar-te-íamos, far-lhe-íamos, dir-nos-íamos. Omitting the acute is a spelling error.

As always, a proclisis trigger (negation, subordinator, certain adverb, etc.) blocks mesoclise. With não the pronoun must move before the verb and the conditional returns to its unsplit form.

Only the main clause (the consequence) can host mesoclise; the se clause uses the imperfect subjunctive, and any clitic inside it goes proclitic — never mesoclitic.

The standard European alternative to dir-te-ia is not eu te diria (Brazilian) and not diria-te (non-standard EP). It is either mesoclise (dir-te-ia, formal) or a reformulation with the imperfect indicative (dizia-te) or a proclisis trigger (que te diria a verdade, in a subordinate clause).

Always mark the acute on the -íamos ending. It is obligatory and it is what distinguishes the 1pl from a misstressed form.

Be careful with ethical-dative me on verbs of consumption. Comer-me-ia o bolo is technically grammatical in a self-referential ethical-dative reading but sounds archaic. Most speakers would simply say Comeria o bolo or, if emphasising the object, Comê-lo-ia (with the -lo spelling change — see Mesoclise with Different Pronouns).

Key takeaways

• The mesoclitic conditional is stem + clitic + conditional ending with two hyphens: dar-te-ia, dir-me-ia, far-se-ia, trar-lhe-ia.
• The stem is the infinitive, except for the three contracted stems dir-, far-, trar-.
• The 1pl ending -íamos carries an obligatory acute accent even in mesoclise: dar-te-íamos, far-lhe-íamos.
• Mesoclise is at home in polite requests, hypothetical consequences, literary narration, softened opinions, and past-probability hedges — always in writing or formal speech.
• Any proclisis trigger (não, nunca, que, se, quando, já, também, só, etc.) cancels mesoclise; the clitic moves before the verb and the conditional stays whole.
• The conditional overview lays out the five uses of the tense; future mesoclise drills the parallel paradigm in the future; with different pronouns covers direct-object clitics and combined forms.