Simple Future and Conditional form

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Last Updated: Sunday, 30 November 2025 01:48

Published: Sunday, 10 March 2024 16:28

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Simple Future and Conditional form

I've combined both Future and conditional form into one section as they both follow similar form. Simple Future form is sentences like "I will do this". Simple Conditional form is sentences like "I would do this". They both are referring to things in future though one is hypothetical. Both of these transformations keep the base word same, and just add a suffix. So, remember that if the full infinitive form of the verb is kept, it's always things in future !! The transformation of all verbs (ending in -ar, -er, -ir) is the same, so it's easy to remember.

Similarity with Past tense: One caveat is that past tense for 3rd person plural for -ar verbs ends in -aron. This may make it sound like the full ar verb is being used, and we are just adding -on to it. So, we may confuse it with future form. The only thing that saves us here is that past tense ends in -on, while future form for 3rd person plural always ends in -án (and NOT -on). 

ex: hablar: past tense for 3rd plural is hablaron, while that for future tense is hablarán (with accent). So, remember this subtle difference.

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Future Tense of -ar, -er, -ir verbs:

Fortunately future tense of all the -ar, -er, -ir verbs follow the same pattern. However, there are many exceptions to this rule that we will learn later. Future tense is "I will go", "she will go to Paris" etc. There is no separate translation for "will" in spanish, we just transform the verb based on table below to indicate "will go", "will eat" in 1 word.

Lesson 51 => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U42loE1zhdw

Below is the transformation table. The thing that is different about future tense is that the base word remains the same, we just add the below suffix to it. The suffix has an accent in all forms except first person plural.

Viajar => To travel: The Spanish verb viajar is an -ar verb translated in English as “to travel”. Below is the table based on above transformation.

Ex:

• I will go tomorrow => yo iré mañana
• She will talk to her boyfriend tonight => Ella hablará con su novio esta noche
• I'll find a nice house some day => encontraré una casa bonita algún día => Here we used "casa bonita" as adjectives come after noun in Spanish. However, "una bonita casa" is also valid.

Conditional (condicional simple) of -ar, -er, -ir verbs:

This is closely related to future form. But it's used to talk about hypothetical situations and make requests. Ex: "Would you pass the water?", "He should take out the trash", "It could rain tomorrow", etc. They indicate kind of future event, so they are called "future conditional". Just like future tense, all -ar, -er, -ir verbs follow the same pattern and base word remains the same (we just add suffix based on table below). The table below follows the same table as "past imperfect tense" for -er/-ir verbs (i.e -ia, -ias, -ia, etc). 

Below is the transformation table. Here too the base word remains the same, we just add the below suffix to it. The suffix has an accent in all forms on the letter "i" (only the 1st i in suffix).

NOTE: This suffix "ía" etc is the same as that used in "Past Imperfect form" (i.e used to go, etc). The only difference is that it goes with the full base word here (i.e gustar + ía = gustaría), while in Past Imperfect, it goes with the stem (i.e gust + ía = gustía)

Would, Could, Should are the 3 most commonly used conditional verbs. They are most commonly used with "have", i.e I would have, he should have, etc. We see the 3 forms below.

1. Would

There is no separate translation for "would" in spanish, we just transform the verb based on table below to indicate "would like to", "would you pass" in 1 word (just as in Future tense). Here the verb "like", "pass", change based on above form.

ex: Below we see the table for "would know". Here "know" is transformed based on table above, and that implies "would know".

Conocer => To know: The Spanish verb conocer is an -er verb translated in English as “to know”. Below is the table based on above transformation. 

Ex: (NOTE: no separate transformation for would, the verb following "would" is conjugated based on table above)

• I would go tomorrow => yo iría mañana
• I would have eaten => yo habría comido. Here haber is changed to habría. eaten is transformed to "past participle" form which is com+ido.
  • NOTE: Another commonly used form for "would have" is "had" which is not 100% correct bookish form, but used frequently in regular conversations to imply "would have". "had" is conjugated as "hubriera".
    • ex: I would have been => yo hubiera sido. hubiera is past participle for have, which is "had". So, this sentence means "I had been". 
• She would like to read this book => ella le gustaría leer este libro (gustar is backward verb, so le gustaria used)
• I would like to order a pizza => me gustaría ordernar una pizza

2. Could

"Could" is another conditional form just like "would". ex: It could rain tomorrow. It's base verb is "can" or "poder" in spanish. So For could, we have separate verb "poder" to translate, while for "would" we have no separate verb, but instead conjugate the verb that follows "would".

 ex: Below we see the table for "could". 

Poner => Can: The Spanish verb poner is explained under -er verb. It's conditional transformation is "could" and used very often, i.e it could rain tomorrow, etc. Below is the table based on above transformation. Stem is "podr" instead of poner for future tense.

ex: NOTE: Here "could" is conjugated based on table above, the verb following it is kept in infinitive form)

• It could rain tomorrow => podría llover mañana
• It could have been .. => podría haber sido (been is past participle form). "have" is kept in infinitive form, while been is in "past participle" form.
  • NOTE: Similar to alternate form of "would have", we have alternate form for "could have". One commonly used form for "could have" is past form of "can" which is not 100% correct in bookish form, but used frequently in regular conversations to imply "could have". "could have" is conjugated to past tense form as "pudiste/pudo haber".
    • ex: It could have been worse => pudo haber sido peor.
• We could have helped you => podríamos haberte ayudado. Here "you" is attached to "have" as is common. "helped" is in past participle form, so conjugated as "ayudar + ado"
• I could do it => yo podría hacerlo
• You could go => tú podrías ir
• could you pass me the salt? =>  ¿podrías pasarme la sal?
• Could you tell me the time? => ¿podrías darme la hora?

3. Should (must)

Should is used in same way as "must". I can say "You should do this" instead of "you must do this". We use the verb for "must" which is "deber", and conjugate it to conditional form.Below is conditional form for deber,

Deber => Must or have to: The Spanish verb deber is an -er verb translated in English as “must”. Below is the table based on above transformation. 

There are 2 forms of should (or must):

1. Present tense: Below ex shows the regular present tense use of "should" or "must".
   • ex: You should (must) eat more vegetables => tú debes comer más verduras
2. Conditional future form: If we want to form conditional future tense of this, then we need to add "have".
   1. ex: You should (must) have eaten more vegetables => tú deberías haber comido más verduras
      1. NOTE: Similar to alternate form of "could have", we have similar past tense form for "should have". "should have" is conjugated to past tense form as "debiste haber".
         • ex: you should have come => debiste haber venido. Word by word, it means "you must had come". To be exact, it should be " tú deberías haber venido"
      2. Another commonly used form is, where we omit "must" or "deber" completely (since it gets too long) and only use "had". This translation is exactly same as for "would have", but it means both "would have" and "should have" in informal spanish.
         1. ex: You should have told me => me hubieras dicho. Word by word, it means, "you had told me", but it gets the same sentiment across. 
   2. ex: You should have woken up earlier => tú deberías haberse despertado antes