So you’ve studied the Conditional Tense in Spanish with the regular verbs and now you are ready to take on the irregular rebels in the Conditional Tense? Well, you’ve come to the right place! The huge bonus, when it comes to the irregular verbs in the Conditional Tense, is that it’s nothing to do with the endings, they are the same for every single verb in the Spanish dictionary.
The irregularity is in the stem and to be honest there are only a few to learn, which we can put into three small groups, making it even easier to learn them. Better still, if you have studied the few irregulars in the Simple Future Tense you are in for a treat because the Conditional Tense and the Simple Future Tense share the same irregulars.
So let’s get started…
I like to learn the irregulars in groups, as certain verbs behave similarly:
| Group | New stem |
| Replace the final vowel with ‘d‘: Tener Venir Poder Salir Valer Poner | Tendr- Vendr- Podr- Saldr- Valdr- Pondr- |
| Drop the final vowel from the infinitive: Sab Hab Quer Cab | Sabr- Habr- Querr- Cabr- |
| Drop two letters from the infinitive: D Ha | Dir- Har- |
Here’s an example of one in action:
Tener- To have
- (yo) tendría – I would have
- (tú) tendrías– You would have
- (él/ella/usted) tendría– He/she/it would have & you (polite) would have
- (nosotros/as) tendríamos– We would have
- (vosotros/as) tendríais– All of you would have
- (ellos/ellas/ustedes) tendrían– They would have & all of you (polite) would have
Bonus… Any verbs that contain these infinitives will work the same!
For example:
| Hacer | Tener | Decir |
| Rehacer: Rehar– Deshacer: Deshar– | Detener: Detendr– Retener: Retendr– | Predecir: Predir– Maldecir: Maldir– |
Here are a few sentences, just to help it sink in:
- Desharía las maletas pero estoy exhausta.
- I would unpack (undo) the suitcases but I’m exhausted.
- Un buen economista prediría una crisis económica.
- A good economist would predict a recession/economic crisis.
- Retendríamos el depósito pero no sería suficiente.
- We would retain the deposit but it wouldn’t be enough.
Just in case…
Just in case you haven’t read my blog about the Conditional Tense with regular verbs, there was one point that I made, which I think is worth reiterating here. Feel free to read the blog yourself, but basically I pointed out a popular mistake that people make when using the Conditional Tense and that is about how it actually translates. Here’ a recap:
Despite popular belief, the Conditional Tense literally translates as ‘would‘… not ‘should‘ and not ‘could‘. We use it all the time to say ‘ I should…’ and ‘I could…’ but actually, word for word it translates as ‘would’.
You may ask, ‘does it really matter?’ if we use the conditional to help us say ‘I should…’ and ‘I could…’ so often? Well, the answer is yes because if you aren’t aware that the Conditional Tense translates as ‘would’ you are likely to make mistakes when translating.
For example:
Trabajaríamos más pero no tenemos la energía…
The correct translation for this sentences is: ‘We would work more but we don’t have the energy.’
However, it is quite common for learners to doubt themselves and think… does it also mean ‘We should work more’ and ‘we could work more’? The answer is no. The only reason learners start to get confused is because we use the conditional so much to say ‘I should…’ and ‘I could…’ but in fact these verbs would be ‘debería…’ (I should) and ‘podría…’ (I could…):
Have a look at how these examples translate:
| Our typical translation in English: | The actual meaning: |
| Ella debería practicar más. (She should practise more.) | Ella debería practicar más. (She would ought to practise more.) |
| Podrías venir conmigo. (You could come with me.) | Podrías venir conmigo. (You would be able to come with me.) |
As you can see, the true translation still contains ‘would‘. Therefore, try not to get caught out by thinking that the conditional ending of ‘ía‘ automatically translates as ‘would, could and should‘. It actually only literally translates as ‘would’.
‘Would‘ you like to have a go at forming the irregular verbs in the Conditional Tense?
Now that you’ve been introduced to the irregular rebels, have a go at these interactive practice activities. Just remember that although these irregular verbs take the same endings as all verbs, they don’t simply use the infinitives and finally… take extra care with any ‘should’ and ‘could’ translations.
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