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Today, we are going to see how to construct Conditional Sentences in Spanish.

The Conditional tense is broadly defined as the verb tense that is used to indicate that an action or state of being is dependent on the occurrence of a condition. The Spanish Conditional tense is known as both El condicional and El futuro hipotético (“The Hypothetical Future”). Unlike the past, future and present tenses, the Spanish Conditional doesn’t always refer to a particular period of time. Its name suggests that it is used when there’s a condition involved, but it also has close connections with the future tense. Verbs in El condicional don’t refer to events that definitely or necessarily have happened or are happening, they refer to hypothetical acts.

There are three conditional tenses…

Let´s start with the Spanish 1st Conditional: (likely actions in the present or future) Si + presente (indicativo) + presente(indicativo):

• Si hace calor, voy a la playa: If it is hot, I go to the beach
• Si no tenemos mucho trabajo, vamos al cine: If we don´t have much work, we go to the cinema

Si + presente (indicativo) + futuro simple(indicativo):

• Si mañana hace calor, iré a la playa: If tomorrow is hot, I will go to the beach
• Si no tenemos mucho trabajo, iremos al cine: If we don´t have much work, we will go to the cinema

Si + presente (indicativo) + imperativo:

• Si hace calor, vete a la playa: If it is hot, go to the beach
• Si no tenéis mucho trabajo, id al cine: If you don´t have much work, go to the cinema (you/group)

Let´s see now how to construct sentences in Spanish using the Spanish 2nd Conditional

The Spanish 2nd Conditional: (imaginary present/future actions) Si + imperfecto (subj) + condicional simple:

• Si hiciera calor, iría a la playa: If it was hot, I would go to the beach
• Si no tuviéramos/tuviésemos mucho trabajo, iríamos al cine: If we didn´t have much work, we would go to the cinema

And finally we will se the Spanish 3rd Conditional:

The Spanish 3rd Conditional: (imaginary past actions) Si + pret. Pluscuamperfecto (subj) + condicional compuesto:

• Si hubiera/hubiese hecho calor, habría ido a la playa: If it had been hot, I would have gone to the beach
• Si no hubiéramos/hubiésemos tenido mucho trabajo, habríamos ido al cine: If we hadn´t had much work, we would have gone to the cinema

De + infinitivo compuesto + condicional compuesto:

• De haber hecho calor, habría ido a la playa: If it had been hot, I would have gone to the beach
• De no haber tenido mucho trabajo, habríamos ido al cine: If we hadn´t had much work, we would have gone to the cinema

I have condensed quite a lot of information into this Spanish lesson so take things step by step and concentrate on one conditional at a time. I would suggest studying and practicing the three Spanish conditionals in order with lots of practice sentences using a wide variety of verbs. Look out for these types of sentences in books, magazines and articles on the web and slowly but surely try to use them in conversation as well.

Have a great day and see you next time with more Spanish!