Guessing what was happening in the past
Just as you can use the future tense to guess what is happening right now, you can use the conditional tense to speculate about what was happening or what a situation was like in the past.
When used this way, the conditional translates to English phrases like "was probably," "must have been," or, when asked as a question, "I wonder if."
To form the conditional, simply take the full infinitive of the verb and add these endings for all verbs (-ar, -er, and -ir):
| Subject | Conditional ending | Example (estar) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -ía | estaría |
| tú | -ías | estarías |
| él / ella / usted | -ía | estaría |
| nosotros / nosotras | -íamos | estaríamos |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -ían | estarían |
Let's use this to investigate a mystery: a stray shopping cart stranded at the top of a steep hill.
| It was probably quite a feat to push the cart up here. | Sería toda una proeza empujar el carrito hasta aquí. |
| The cart was probably very heavy for that slope. | El carrito estaría muy pesado para esa cuesta. |
When phrased as a question, the conditional expresses wondering or guessing about a past action.
| I wonder if someone pushed the cart to the top. | ¿Alguien empujaría el carrito hasta la cima? |
Actions that had just happened
As you speculate about the timeline of events, you might need to describe actions that "had just" occurred. To do this, use the imperfect tense of the verb acabar, followed by de and an infinitive verb.
| The vandal had just left the cart right near the top. | El vándalo acababa de dejar el carrito cerquita de la cima. |
| They had just abandoned it intentionally right near the ravine. | Acababan de abandonarlo intencionalmente cerquita del barranco. |