In English the conditional mood is formed by the word “would”, e.g. “I would do, I would speak”, but in Spanish it is formed by endings.

There is not difference between –AR, -ER, -IR verbs in the conditional mood. All verbs, including irregular ones, have stems the same as in the future tense.

OLVIDAR – to forget

YO OLVIDARÍAI would forget
TÚ OLVIDARÍASYou would forget
ÉL, ELLA, USTED OLVIDARÍAHe, she, You would forget
NOSOTROS OLVIDARÍAMOSWe would forget
VOSOTROS OLVIDARÍAISYou would forget
ELLOS, USTEDES OLVIDARÍANThey, You would forget

Example of an irregular verb, as it was said before – the stem is the same as in future tense.

PONER – to put. In the future tense this verb is irregular and has the stem PONDR-

YO PONDRÍAI would put
TÚ PONDRÍASYou would put
ÉL, ELLA, USTED PONDRÍAHe, she, You would put
NOSOTROS PODRÍAMOSWe would put
VOSOTROS PODRÍAISYou would put
ELLOS, USTEDES PODRÍANThey, You would put

Conjugate these verbs

Incluir – to include, Servir – to serve, Reconocer – recognize, Correr – to run, Pagar – to pay (for), Aceptar – to accept, Asegurarse – to make sure, Acordarse – to remember, Sufrir – to suffer, Participar – to participate, Emplear – to employ.

Examples

¿Memorizarías el poema? – would you memorize this poem?

¿Dibujaría algunas illustraciónes para mi libro? – would you(usted) write some illustrations for my book?

¿Cómo lo dirías en inglés? – how would you say that in English?

Yo compraría un nuevo teléfono pero no tengo mucho dinero – I would buy a new phone, but I don’t have much money

Degrees of comparison

In English, one can say “beautiful, more beautiful, the most beautiful” – these are degrees of comparison of the word “beautiful”. In Spanish we can say so too.

Let’s start from irregulars.

First of all, memorize these two words: BUENO – good, and MAL – bad, because these two words have own irregular degrees of comparison in all (or almost all) languages, including Spanish:

BUENO – goodMEJOR – betterEL/LA MEJOR – the best
MALO – badPEOR – worseEL/LA PEOR – the worst

Also, these are a little bit more irregulars:

PEQUEÑO

little

MENOR

less

EL/LA MENOR

the least

JOVEN

young

MENOR  youngerEL/LA MENOR

the youngest

VIEJO

old

MAYOR

older

EL/LA MAYOR

the oldest

And all other adjectives are declined with the word MÁS – more.

BONITO(m)

BONITA(f) beautiful

MÁS BONITO

MÁS BONITA

more beautiful

EL MÁS BONITO

LA MÁS BONITA

the most beautiful

GRANDE

big

MÁS GRANDE

bigger

EL/LA MÁS GRANDE

the biggest

FUERTE

strong

MÁS FUERTE

stronger

EL/LA MÁS FUERTE

the strongest

Examples

Su Hermana es mayor que la mía – his sister is older than mine

Esta cámara es más costosa que esa – this camera is more expensive than that one

El edificio más alto está en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos – the highest building is (located) in the United Arab Emirates

El inglés es más facíl que el español – English is easier than Spanish

 

Exercises

Conjugate a verbs in conditional mood

  1. ¿Qué  tú en esta situación? (HACER – to do) – What would you do in this situation?
  2. ¿Me  en este traje? (RECONOCER – to recognize) – Would you recognize me in this suit?
  3. ¿Cuánto  usted por este apartamento? (PAGAR – to pay) – How much would You pay for this apartment?
  4. ¿Cuánto  ella en esa tienda? (GASTAR – to spend) – How much would she spend in that store?
  5. Ellos  nuestras decisiónes (ACCEPTAR – to accept) – They would accept our decisions

Use appropriate degree of comparison

  1. Mi hija es  que su hijo (ALTO – tall) – My daughter is taller than his son
  2. ¿Cuál es  de los dos? (BUENO – good) – Which one is better of the two?
  3. ¿Cuáles naranjas son ? (SABROSO – tasty) – Which oranges are the most tasty?
  4. ¿Quién de ustedes es ? (JOVEN – young) – Which (who) of you is the youngest?
  5. Sobre los trenes, es  viajar por trenes separados que por los directos (BARATO – cheap) – What about the trains, it is cheaper to travel by separate trains than direct ones.

Answers

a: harías, b: reconocerías, c: pagaría, d: gastaría,

e: aceptarían, f: más alta, g: mejor, h: las más sabrosas,

i: el menor, j: más barato