Imagine suddenly winning the lottery. To talk about hypothetical situations, dreams, and what you would do, you use the conditional tense (el condicional simple).
Forming the conditional
Unlike most Spanish tenses where you drop the verb's ending, the conditional is built by keeping the entire infinitive (like comprar, vender, or vivir) and attaching the conditional endings.
The best part? All regular verbs—whether they end in -ar, -er, or -ir—share the exact same endings in the conditional tense.
| Pronoun | Ending | Example (comprar - to buy) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -ía | compraría |
| tú | -ías | comprarías |
| él, ella, usted | -ía | compraría |
| nosotros, nosotras | -íamos | compraríamos |
| vosotros, vosotras | -íais | compraríais |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | -ían | comprarían |
| With the lottery, I would not work anymore. | Con la lotería, ya no trabajaría. |
| Would you all buy a large house with the lottery? | ¿Compraríais una casa grande con la lotería? |
Using -er and -ir verbs
Remember, -er and -ir verbs work exactly the same way. Just attach the endings directly to the full infinitive.
| I would sell the diamond to get more money. | Yo vendería el diamante para conseguir más dinero. |
| They would live with a lot of luxury. | Ellas vivirían con mucho lujo. |
| We would distribute the prize among the family. | Repartiríamos el premio entre la familia. |
Clarifying who is acting
Notice that the yo and él/ella/usted forms are identical in the conditional (both end in -ía). If the context doesn't make it obvious who is doing the action, simply include the subject pronoun or the person's name to avoid confusion.
| My brother would buy a yacht for his wife. | Mi hermano le compraría un yate a su mujer. |
| I would not buy such an expensive jewel. | Yo no compraría una joya tan cara. |