The Conditional (Pospretérito)
The pospretérito is the Galician conditional, meaning "would" + verb. Add -ía, -ías, -ía, -iamos, -iades, -ían to the infinitive: Iría contigo (I would go with you).
How It Works
Regular forms
- falar: falaría, falarías, falaría, falariamos, falariades, falarían
- comer: comería, comerías, comería, comeriamos, comeriades, comerían
- vivir: viviría, vivirías, viviría, viviriamos, viviriades, vivirían
Irregular stems. Like the future: faría (facer) and diría (dicir), and their compounds (desfaría). Pór gives poría, and its variant poñer gives poñería.
Regular where Spanish is not. Galician keeps the full infinitive: podería (not podría), tería (not tendría), sabería, habería, querería, viría, sairía.
No accent in nós and vós. Standard Galician stresses falariamos and falariades on the second-to-last syllable, so there is no accent, just as in the imperfect falabamos. Many speakers say falaríamos, but the written standard keeps the older stress and writes no accent.
Main uses
- Imagined situations: Eu no teu lugar non o faría (if I were you, I would not do it). With a condition: Se puidese, iría (see hypothetical conditions).
- Future seen from the past: Dixo que chamaría (she said she would call). See reported statements.
- Politeness: Podería axudarme? See polite requests.
- Guesses about the past: Serían as dez (it must have been about ten). See the conditional of probability.
Pronouns attach after the verb in a plain statement: Faríao eu (I would do it), Gustaríame.
Examples (6)
- Iría contigo, pero teño que traballar.
I would go with you, but I have to work.
Word by Word: I-would-go with-you, but I-have that work.
Iría is ir + -ía.
- Eu no teu lugar non o faría.
If I were you, I would not do it.
Faría is the irregular conditional of facer. The pronoun o goes before the verb because of non.
- Con máis tempo, viaxariamos moito máis.
With more time, we would travel much more.
Viaxariamos has no written accent.
- Dixo que chamaría ao chegar.
She said she would call when she arrived.
Chamaría expresses a future seen from a past moment.
- Nunca pensei que o exame sería tan doado.
I never thought the exam would be so easy.
Sería is the conditional of ser.
- Se tivese cartos, compraría unha casa na costa.
If I had money, I would buy a house on the coast.
The conditional compraría gives the result of an imagined condition.
Common Mistakes
Using the shortened Spanish-style stem.
Podría axudarte mañá.Podería axudarte mañá.Galician keeps the full infinitive in the conditional: podería, tería, sabería.
Writing an accent on the nós or vós form.
Iríamos contigo.Iriamos contigo.You will hear iríamos in speech, but standard Galician stresses these forms on the second-to-last syllable, so no accent is written.
Using tendría for ter.
Tendría que estudar máis.Tería que estudar máis.The conditional of ter is tería, tería, teriamos...
How It Connects
Learn This First
The conditional adds its endings to the same stems as the future.
Related Patterns
- Simple Future
The future, which shares its stem with the conditional.
Level 2 - Polite Requests With the Conditional
Using the conditional to make polite requests.
Level 3 - se + Imperfect SubjunctiveHypothetical Conditions
Hypothetical conditions whose result is in the conditional.
Level 4 - Conditional of Probability
The conditional used to guess about the past.
Level 4 - dicir queReported Statements
Reported statements, where the future becomes the conditional.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice The Conditional (Pospretérito) in Bubblegum
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