Spanish Lesson: Colloquial Spanish Conditional phrases & structures

This lesson is part of the Intermediate Spanish Course (143 lessons)

Expand and master your Spanish skills with this in-depth view of more advanced grammar topics, vocabulary and expressions that have been condensed and simplified so that you can understand and remember them in no time at all. This course is jam-packed with easy-to-follow information that will enable you to not just understand and be understood, but really show off!

Click here for a list of all 143 lessons in this course

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FULL VIDEO OR MP3 COURSE

In this free Spanish lesson we will look at key colloquial Spanish structures and phrases used with the Spanish Conditional – El condicional – such as Si + pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo + condicional compuesto. This continues the theme from the previous two Spanish video lessons where we saw other, more conventional, Spanish Conditional phrases and structures such as Salvo que + subjuntivo (Unless), Excepto que + subjuntivo (Unless), Siempre que + subjuntivo (Whenever/Every time), and Siempre y cuando + subjuntivo (Only if). It is just as important to be aware of colloquial Spanish phrases and structures as it is to be well versed in textbook Spanish. You need to be aware of how people really speak on the street today otherwise you will frequently get lost in conversation and run the risk of sounding out of touch and unnatural in the way you form your sentences. I will be introducing much more colloquial Spanish in future lessons and I hope that you enjoy them. Spanish Idioms, Spanish Sayings, Spanish Proverbs and Spanish Slang are key elements of the language, but can be more difficult to collect for the foreign language student living outside of Spain or Latin America. For this reason, it is a good idea to watch Spanish television, read Spanish magazines and listen to Spanish radio as much as you can. Also try to find a native Spanish speaking online buddy to chat to via Skype or to exchange emails. With this kind of interaction you are sure to start hearing and reading the kind of Spanish that people really use on a day-to-day basis.

Lesson notes:

Si + pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo + condicional compuesto:
Si hubieras estudiado habrías aprobado: If you had studied you would have passed

De + infinitivo compuesto + condicional compuesto:
De haber estudiado habrías aprobado: If you had studied you would have passed

Si + llegar a (in present tense) + infinitive + condicional compuesto/presente de indicativo:
Si lo llego a saber, no habría venido: If I had known it, I wouldn’t have come
Si lo llego a saber, no vengo: If I had known it, I wouldn’t have come

Si + presente de indicativo + presente de indicativo:
Si lo se, no vengo: If I had known it, I wouldn’t have come

Activity:

Translate the following sentences in the three different ways…

(Colloquial) If I had known it, I would have watched that film
(Colloquial) If I had known it, I would have bought you a book

Here are the answers to the last activity:

Come siempre que tengas hambre
Puedes ver la televisión, siempre y cuando hayas terminado tus deberes
Con tal de que vengas conmigo, estaré contento
Iremos contigo a la playa a condición de que vayamos en coche