Verbs: The Conditional

This is quite an easy one.  Wherever you would prefix an English verb with the word ‘would’, you are using the conditional tense.  Note though, that prefixing an English verb with the words ‘would have’ (‘I would have walked home’) is different – this would be the ‘conditional perfect’ tense (still in the conditional mood, but a different tense), so it is only if the verb concerned is immediately prefixed by ‘would’ in English. 

Of course, the verb ‘have’ in itself could be prefixed with the word ‘would’ (‘They would have a pet cat, if…), and this is conditional – it’s only if ‘have’ is being used as an auxiliary verb that the tense would become the conditional perfect.

Examples of the conditional tense:  ‘I would go, but I’m busy’;  ‘He would walk home’;  ‘They would not believe me’, ‘I would have a burger but I’m on a diet.’

Irregular verbs in the conditional tense:

Conditional tense of the irregular first conjugation verb:  estar (to be)
estaria	estaríamos
estarías	estaríeis
estaría	estariam

Conditional tense of the irregular second conjugation verb:  ser (to be)
seria	seríamos
serias	seríeis
seria	seriam

Conditional tense of the irregular third conjugation verb:  ir (to go)
iria	iríamos
irias	iríeis
iria	iriam

Comments

Subjuntivo Written by David Foley on 2006-07-06 15:30:46 IP: 217.129.241.65 Why do you not cover the Modo Conjuntivo/Subjuntivo? My Portuguese teacher tells me it is much more commonly used than the conditional. I have trouble knowing when to use the Modo Conjuntivo. Thanks for the great site!

Subjunctive Written by Administrator on 2006-07-06 16:31:10 IP: 80.3.128.8 I simply have not got round to writing about subjunctives yet (except briefly in passing). Subjunctives are certainly used quite frequently in Portuguese, but they don't really feature in English which makes it very difficult for English speakers to know when to use them. You can get by with indicative (it will sound 'foreign' to a Portuguese speaker, but they will understand you). Subjunctive is used whenever there is any uncertainty as to the action of the verb. I do hope to add more information about subjunctives at some point.    For the benefit of anyone else reading this, 'Conjunctive' is another way of saying 'Subjunctive' - they both refer to the same mood, but 'subjunctive' is the more common term.

Written by Mahli on 2007-06-28 21:33:32 IP: 193.136.124.221 From the book Gramática Activa I, the authors put dizer, fazer and trazer as the irregular verbs. I wonder, if ter has any exception.

Irregulars Written by Administrator on 2007-06-29 12:19:08 IP: 80.3.252.130 There are lots of irregular verbs! The above examples just show a small selection. 'Ter' is irregular in some tenses, but the conjugation of the conditional tense is regular, as are the above examples (in fact, I don't think any irregular verbs have an irregular conditional, but I could be wrong).

The Subjunctive Mood (modo conjuntivo) Written by Vasco Reis on 2007-10-14 13:38:16 IP: 81.84.109.78 About the subjunctive mood, I'd like to add that it's more commonly used for the first part of a conditional sentence. For likely things, you'd say, for instance, 'Se eu receber uma carta dela, não a vou abrir" (If I get a letter from her, I won't open it); for unlikely things: 'Se eu ganhasse a lotaria, comprava um Ferrari' (If I won the lottery, I'd buy a Ferrari). Both 'receber' (don't confuse with the infinitive) and 'ganhasse' are subjunctive (Future and imperfect, to be more specific).   But there are many other uses for this mood, like, for instance: 'Sempre que ele aparecer, expulso-o' (every time he comes, I'll expell him/get him out) or 'Seja rico ou pobre, tem que respeitar a lei' ( Be he rich or poor, he must respect the law).

Irregular Conditional verb forms Written by Krystoffer on 2009-01-31 06:07:35 IP: 189.73.167.212 In fact, almost all verbs in Portuguese (regular and irregular) feature a totallty regular Conditional tense.    But there are a few exceptions, such as FAZER (to do) and DIZER (to say).    faria, farias, faria; faríamos, faríeis, fariam    diria, dirias, diria; diríamos, diríeis, diriam    But weirdly enough (and thankfully), the two most abnormal verbs in Portuguese (SER and IR) have completely regular Conditional forms. xD

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