When we tell someone what another person said, we use reported speech (discurso indireto). If the reporting verb is in the past (like "he said" or "they warned"), the tenses inside the reported statement usually shift backward in time.
If the original statement was about the future ("It will rain"), the reported version shifts to the conditional ("He said it would rain").
Forming the Conditional
To form the conditional, simply take the infinitive of the verb and add the endings -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, or -iam. This is the Portuguese equivalent of using "would" in English.
| The guide stated that the hike would start early. | O guia afirmou que a caminhada começaria cedo. |
| They warned that the downpour would arrive in the afternoon. | Eles avisaram que o aguaceiro chegaria à tarde. |
Notice how the reporting verbs like afirmar (to state) or avisar (to warn) are in the past tense (afirmou, avisaram), triggering the shift to the conditional for the reported action (começaria, chegaria).
Common Irregular Verbs
Just like in the future tense, a few common verbs have irregular stems in the conditional. For example, fazer (to make/do) uses the stem far-, and dizer (to say) uses dir-.
| You said that we would make a barbecue in the garden. | Tu disseste que nós faríamos um churrasco no jardim. |
Describing the Weather and Plans
You will frequently use verbs like haver (there to be), estar (to be), and ter (to have) when discussing disrupted plans or the weather forecast (a meteorologia). Their conditional forms are regular: haveria, estaria, and teria.
| The radio warned that there would be a horrible storm. | O rádio avisou que haveria um temporal horrível. |
| She said that the sky would be very cloudy today. | Ela disse que o céu estaria muito nublado hoje. |
| The grandfather said that we would have to take shelter in the pavilion. | O avô disse que nós teríamos de abrigar-nos no pavilhão. |