Question 1

Why do we use the conditional tendría (would have) here instead of the future tense?

Accepted Answer

Because the main verb explicaron (they explained) is in the past. When someone in the past talked about their future (e.g., "Expanding the business will have a risk"), Spanish uses reported speech rules. Just like English changes "will" to "would," Spanish changes the future tense (tendrá) to the conditional (tendría).

Question 2

How is tendría formed? I thought conditional verbs just added endings to the full infinitive.

Accepted Answer

Usually, they do! But tener is one of a few irregular verbs in the conditional (and future) tense. Instead of keeping the full infinitive, it uses the irregular stem tendr-, which gives us tendría instead of the incorrect form tenería.

Question 3

Why does the Spanish sentence use the infinitive expandir when the English translation uses the -ing word "expanding"?

Accepted Answer

In English, we use the -ing form (a gerund) when a verb acts as a noun, like being the subject of the phrase "expanding the business". In Spanish, you can never use the -ndo form for this. You must use the infinitive (expandir) whenever a verb acts as a noun.

Question 4

Is it common to say tener un riesgo? I thought "to take a risk" was correr un riesgo.

Accepted Answer

Correr un riesgo (literally "to run a risk") is indeed the standard idiom when talking about a person taking or running a risk. However, tener un riesgo is perfectly normal when you simply mean that a situation or action (like expanding a business) intrinsically has or contains a risk.

Ellos explicaron que expandir el negocio tendría un riesgo.

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