⇒ The conditional tense in Spanish (el condicional) is used to talk about hypothetical situations and probabilities and to make polite requests.

⇒ The Spanish conditional tense is formed much like the Spanish simple future tense.

⇒ Both regular and irregular verbs use the same set of endings, and any stems that are irregular in the simple future are also irregular in the conditional.

⇒ To form the conditional tense with regular verbs, simply add the conditional endings to the end of the infinitive.

⇒ Below you'll find a table with the Spanish conditional endings, as well as conjugations of three regular verbs in the conditional: viajar, conocer, and escribir

Spanish conditional endings:

⇒ The endings for the conditional tense are the same as those for the -er and -ir forms of the imperfect tense. However, conditional endings are attached to the infinitive, while imperfect endings are attached to the stem.

• Conditional: Escribiría unas cartas. (I would write some letters.)
• Imperfect: Escribía unas cartas. (I wrote some letters.)

⇒ Check out these examples of the regular conditional.

⇒ The conditional has relatively few irregular verbs. They fall into three categories:

1. Verbs where the last vowel in the infinitive is replaced with a -d
2. Verbs where the last vowel in the infinitive is removed
3. Verbs that are just plain irregular

⇒ Only -er and -ir verbs fall into this category.

⇒ To form the stem of these verbs, simply replace the e or i at the end of the infinitive with a -d. Then, add the conditional endings.

⇒ A good example of this type of verb is tener (to have). Check out the conditional conjugation of this verb below.

⇒ Other verbs like tener:

⇒ Only -er verbs fall into this category. To form the stem of these verbs, remove the vowel from the infinitive ending. Then, add the conditional endings.

⇒ A good example of this type of verb is poder (to be able to). Check out the conditional conjugation of this verb below.

⇒ Other Verbs like Poder:

⇒ The verbs decir (to say) and hacer (to do/make) have slightly more drastic stem changes that don't fit into either of the above patterns. Check out the conditional conjugations of these two verbs below.