Breakdown of Si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos, deberías revisar tu presupuesto.
Questions & Answers about Si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos, deberías revisar tu presupuesto.
In Spanish conditional sentences, the tense in the si-clause depends on how real or hypothetical the situation is:
- Real / likely condition (Type 1):
- Si + present indicative, main clause in present / future / imperative / conditional
- Example: Si llueve, me quedo en casa. – If it rains, I stay at home.
Your sentence:
- Si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos, deberías revisar tu presupuesto.
expresses a real or possible situation: “if (as a fact) your expenses are higher...”. Because it’s treated as a realistic condition, Spanish uses present indicative (son), not subjunctive.
If you used the imperfect subjunctive:
- Si tus gastos fueran mayores que tus ingresos, deberías revisar tu presupuesto.
that would sound more hypothetical or contrary to fact, like “If your expenses were higher than your income (but they aren’t)…”—a different nuance.
So son is correct here because the speaker is talking about a generally possible or actual situation, not a purely hypothetical one.
Spanish usually uses ser (not estar) when:
- Describing inherent characteristics or classifications
- Talking about price, size, length, quantity, or measurable amounts
Here, gastos (expenses) and ingresos (income) are being compared in terms of amount, a sort of “size” in money:
- Tus gastos son mayores = Your expenses are higher / larger (in amount).
Using estar (están mayores) would be incorrect here. Estar is used more for temporary states or locations, not for quantities in a comparison.
Compare:
- El alquiler es caro. – The rent is expensive. (general characteristic)
- Mis gastos son 500 euros al mes. – My expenses are 500 euros a month.
So for “are higher than” in the sense of amount, use ser: son mayores que…
Spanish has two different words:
si (without accent) = if
- Si llueve, no salgo. – If it rains, I don’t go out.
- Si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos… – If your expenses are higher than your income…
sí (with accent) = yes or a reflexive/emphatic pronoun
- Sí, quiero. – Yes, I want to.
- Lo hizo él mismo, él sí pudo. – He did it himself; he was able to.
In your sentence we need “if”, so it must be si with no accent.
Here mayores is the comparative form of grande, but:
- In contexts of age, quantity, importance, amount, Spanish strongly prefers mayor(es) over más grande(s).
- más grande tends to suggest physical size, which doesn’t fit well with gastos (expenses).
So:
- Tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos.
= Your expenses are higher / larger in amount than your income. ✔️ Natural - Tus gastos son más grandes que tus ingresos.
Sounds odd, as if expenses had a physical size. ✖️ - Tus gastos son más que tus ingresos.
This is grammatically possible but unusual and a bit vague in this context; it sounds more natural to add an adjective:- Tus gastos son más altos que tus ingresos. ✔️
- Gastas más de lo que ingresas. ✔️ (very idiomatic)
So mayores que is the standard, natural way in Spanish to say that one amount is greater than another.
- Who is the subject of “deberías”?
Spanish usually drops subject pronouns, and the subject is shown by the verb ending:
- debo – I must / I should (yo)
- debes – you must (informal singular, tú)
- deberías – you should (informal singular, tú, conditional)
- debe – he/she/it must; you must (formal usted)
So deberías has the conditional ending -rías, which for deber corresponds to tú (you, singular, informal):
- (Tú) deberías revisar tu presupuesto. – You should review your budget.
- Difference between “deberías” and “debes”
debes = you must / you have to
Stronger, more like an obligation:- Debes pagar el alquiler a tiempo. – You must pay the rent on time.
deberías = you should / you ought to
Softer, more like advice or recommendation:- Deberías revisar tu presupuesto. – You should review your budget (it’s advisable).
In your sentence, deberías makes the tone polite and advisory, not bossy.
Yes, absolutely. In Spanish:
- Si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos, deberías revisar tu presupuesto.
- Deberías revisar tu presupuesto si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos.
Both are correct and mean the same thing.
A few notes:
- When the si-clause comes first, it’s normal to use a comma:
- Si… , deberías…
- When the si-clause comes second, the comma is usually omitted:
- Deberías… si…
So your alternative order is completely natural Spanish.
- Agreement of “tu/tus”
- tu = your (singular noun)
- tu presupuesto – your budget
- tus = your (plural noun)
- tus gastos – your expenses
- tus ingresos – your income (often treated as plural “incomes”)
They must agree in number with the noun they modify.
- Why use the possessive here?
The sentence is talking specifically about your personal finances, so Spanish naturally uses tu/tus to make that explicit.
- Can we use articles instead?
Yes, but the meaning shifts:
Si los gastos son mayores que los ingresos, deberías revisar tu presupuesto.
– If expenses are higher than income, you should review your budget.
This sounds more general or impersonal, as a rule about finances.Si tus gastos son mayores que tus ingresos…
– Specifically about your situation.
You usually wouldn’t say:
- Si los gastos son mayores que tus ingresos… (mixing general “los gastos” with personal “tus ingresos”)
unless context clearly supports such contrast.
So tus / tu here is natural because the sentence is addressing you personally and your own numbers.
These are standard financial terms in Spanish:
gastos
- Literally: expenses / spending / outgoings
- Examples: rent, food, transport, subscriptions.
ingresos
- Literally: income / earnings / revenue
- Includes salary, freelance earnings, interest, etc.
presupuesto
- In this context: budget – a plan of how you will allocate your money.
- Also used for a quote/estimate (e.g. from a mechanic or builder), but here it clearly means personal budget.
So the sentence means: if the total money going out (gastos) is greater than the total money coming in (ingresos), you should review your budget (presupuesto).
In this context, revisar tu presupuesto means:
- to go through / check / review your budget, probably to find problems or adjust it.
Nuances of the alternatives (Spain):
revisar tu presupuesto – very natural and common:
- Check it, look over it, maybe correct or adjust it. ✔️
repasar tu presupuesto – also possible, but more often used for:
- Going over material (lessons, notes) again. It can work, but revisar is more idiomatic for a budget.
examinar tu presupuesto – sounds more formal or analytical:
- Examine your budget carefully. Also correct, just a different tone.
comprobar tu presupuesto – “to verify/check”:
- You’d more likely say comprobar los números, comprobar las cuentas. With presupuesto, it’s understandable but slightly less typical.
So revisar tu presupuesto is the most natural everyday choice for “review your budget” in Spain.
Here is an approximate pronunciation guide using IPA and stress marking (the stressed syllable in CAPS):
- si – /si/ (like English see)
tus – /tus/ (like toos)
gastos – /ˈɡas.tos/ → GAS-tos
- g before a is a hard [g] as in go.
son – /son/ (like sawn but with pure o)
mayores – /maˈʝo.ɾes/ → ma-YÓ-res
- y / ll in Spain is usually a “y” sound similar to English y in yes.
que – /ke/ (like keh, never kwee)
ingresos – /iŋˈɡɾe.sos/ → in-GRE-sos
- g before r is also a hard [g].
- The n before g is pronounced like the “ng” in song.
deberías – /deβeˈɾi.as/ → de-be-RÍ-as
- The written accent on -rí- tells you that syllable is stressed.
revisar – /reβiˈsaɾ/ → re-vi-SAR
tu – /tu/ (like too)
presupuesto – /pɾesuˈpwes.to/ → pre-su-PWES-to
The only word with a written accent in the sentence is deberías, and that accent mark shows where the stress falls: on -rí-. All the other stresses follow normal Spanish rules (stress on the second-to-last syllable for words ending in a vowel, n, or s; on the last syllable otherwise).