When we report what someone said, we often have to shift the tense of the original statement backward in time. English does this automatically: "I will come" becomes "He said he would come." Spanish works the same way — the future tense shifts to the conditional inside reported speech.
The basic shift
Imagine someone originally says: "Vendré mañana." ("I will come tomorrow.") When we later report this, we move the reporting verb into the past and pull the future back to the conditional.
Dijo que vendría mañana.
He said (that) he would come tomorrow.
Me aseguró que lo haría hoy mismo.
She assured me (that) she would do it today.
Before and after
| Original (future) | Reported (conditional) |
|---|---|
| Vendré mañana. | Dijo que vendría mañana. |
| Te llamaré por la noche. | Me dijo que me llamaría por la noche. |
| Estaremos allí a las ocho. | Prometieron que estarían allí a las ocho. |
| Haré lo que pueda. | Dijo que haría lo que pudiera. |
| No saldrán sin ti. | Me aseguraron que no saldrían sin mí. |
Each row shows exactly the same content, first as a direct quote in the future and then as indirect speech in the past. The que is optional in English but almost always stated in Spanish.
Common reporting verbs
Many verbs besides decir can trigger this shift. Any past-tense verb that reports, predicts, or communicates a thought will do.
Pensábamos que el tren llegaría a tiempo.
We thought the train would arrive on time.
Yo creía que todo saldría bien.
I thought everything would work out.
Los científicos predijeron que el volcán entraría en erupción.
The scientists predicted that the volcano would erupt.
Sabía que terminaríamos tarde.
I knew we would finish late.
Notice that verbs like pensar, creer, and saber fit naturally with the conditional in this construction — we are essentially reporting our own past expectations.
Not really a "conditional"
In this use, the Spanish conditional does not express anything hypothetical. It is simply the past counterpart of the future. Grammarians sometimes call this the future of the past, which is a more accurate name for what is happening — we are talking about something that, from a point in the past, still lay ahead.
En 1985 mi abuelo decía que algún día todos tendríamos computadoras en el bolsillo.
In 1985 my grandfather used to say that someday we would all have computers in our pockets.
Don't confuse it with the imperfect
English "would" is ambiguous: it can mean "future in the past" (conditional) or "used to" (imperfect). Only the first one maps to the Spanish conditional.
| English | Meaning | Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| He said he would come. | future in the past | Dijo que vendría. |
| When I was a kid, I would come here every summer. | used to (habit) | Cuando era niño, venía aquí cada verano. |
| I promised I would help. | future in the past | Prometí que ayudaría. |
| On Sundays she would make paella. | used to (habit) | Los domingos hacía paella. |
Related Topics
- Usage: Hypothetical SituationsB1 — Use the conditional to talk about what would happen in imagined or unreal situations.
- Conditional of ProbabilityB2 — The conditional can express probability or speculation about a past event.
- Regular FormationB1 — Form the Spanish conditional by adding -ía endings to the full infinitive of any regular verb.