-ia/-ias/-ia/-íamos/-íeis/-iam (condicional)

Futuro Do Pretérito Regular

Level 3

The Futuro do Pretérito (Conditional) is the 'would' tense in Portuguese. It is formed by adding endings like -ia directly to the full infinitive of a verb.

How It Works

The Futuro do Pretérito (commonly called the Condicional in Portugal) is a versatile tense used in several key contexts:

1. Hypothetical Situations: It describes what would happen if a certain condition were met. Note that the 'if' part of the sentence usually requires the Imperfect Subjunctive.
2. Politeness: It softens requests or questions, making them more formal or courteous (e.g., 'I would like' instead of 'I want', or 'gostaria' instead of 'quero'). This is often called the Condicional de Cortesia.
3. Future-in-the-Past: When reporting speech, if someone said in the past that they 'will' do something, we use the conditional to report it: 'He said he would come' ('Ele disse que viria'). In spoken Portuguese, this is often replaced by the ia + infinitive construction (e.g., 'Ele disse que ia vir').
4. Past Probability: It can express conjecture or uncertainty about a past event (e.g., 'Quem seria aquela mulher?' meaning 'Who could that woman have been?').

Conjugation:
The endings are identical for all regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs and are attached to the infinitive:

  • Eu falaria (I would speak)
  • Tu falarias (You would speak)
  • Você/Ele/Ela falaria (You/He/She would speak)
  • Nós falaríamos (We would speak)
  • Vós falaríeis (You all would speak)
  • Vocês/Eles/Elas falariam (You/They would speak)

Colloquial Usage:
In informal speech, Brazilians and Portuguese speakers frequently substitute the Pretérito Imperfeito for the conditional (e.g., 'Se eu pudesse, eu ia' instead of 'eu iria').

Irregular Verbs:
Only three base verbs (and their derivatives) are irregular in this tense, using shortened stems: Dizer (diria), Fazer (faria), and Trazer (traria). Derivatives follow the exact same pattern (e.g., desfazer becomes desfaria).

Mesóclise (Pronoun Insertion):
In formal writing and European Portuguese, object pronouns are inserted between the infinitive stem and the conditional ending, a process called mesóclise (e.g., 'dar-te-ia' = I would give you).

Compound Conditional:
To express what 'would have' happened in the past, combine the conditional of 'ter' with a past participle (e.g., 'eu teria falado' = 'I would have spoken'). While 'ter' is the most common auxiliary, the verb 'haver' can also be used in formal or literary contexts (e.g., 'haveria falado').

Examples (5)

  1. Se eu tivesse dinheiro, eu viajaria pelo mundo.

    If I had money, I would travel around the world.

    Word by Word: If I had money, I would travel through the world.

    A classic hypothetical 'if-then' sentence using the conditional 'viajaria'.

  2. Você poderia me ajudar com as malas?

    Could you help me with the suitcases?

    Word by Word: You could me to help with the suitcases?

    Using 'poderia' (could/would be able to) makes the request much more polite than using the present tense.

  3. Eu gostaria de um café, por favor.

    I would like a coffee, please.

    Word by Word: I would like of a coffee, please.

    'Gostaria' is the standard way to express 'would like' in any setting.

  4. Eles disseram que chegariam às oito horas.

    They said they would arrive at eight o'clock.

    Word by Word: They said that would arrive at the eight hours.

    This is 'future-in-the-past.' At the moment they spoke, the arrival was in the future.

  5. Nós comeríamos mais, mas estamos satisfeitos.

    We would eat more, but we are full.

    Word by Word: We would eat more, but we are satisfied.

    Expresses a hypothetical desire that is blocked by a current reality.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the conditional immediately after 'se' (if).

    Se eu teria tempo, eu iria.
    Se eu tivesse tempo, eu iria.

    In Portuguese, the 'if' clause requires the Imperfect Subjunctive (tivesse), not the Conditional (teria). The Conditional only goes in the result clause.

  • Confusing the Conditional with the Pretérito Imperfeito.

    Eu comia a pizza agora.
    Eu comeria a pizza agora.

    For -er and -ir verbs, both tenses use '-ia'. However, the Imperfeito (comia) means 'I was eating/used to eat', while the Conditional (comeria) means 'I would eat'. Remember: Conditional = Infinitive + Ending.

  • Dropping the 'r' of the infinitive.

    Eu falaia com ele.
    Eu falaria com ele.

    Learners often forget that the 'r' of the infinitive must remain before adding the ending.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-ia/-ias/-ia/-íamos/-íeis/-iam (condicional)Level 3Futuro Do Pretérito Regular

Learn This First

To learn the conditional tense, you need to understand how to conjugate verbs by attaching endings to the infinitive (similar to the future tense) and recognize that the endings themselves are identical to those used in the Pretérito Imperfeito for -ER and -IR verbs.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-ia