Module 12: Planes y Decisiones - Plans, Advice, Polite Requests

Module Overview

Duration: 2 weeks Level: B1 Prerequisites: Module 11 completion (ser/estar with adjectives, reflexive emotion verbs, reaction phrases); fluent ir + a + infinitivo from M7 L3

What You'll Learn

By the end of this module, you'll be able to:

• ✅ Conjugate the futuro simple of any verb with one set of endings glued onto the infinitive (hablaré, comeré, viviré)
• ✅ Use the ten irregular futuro stems (tendré, haré, podré, pondré, saldré, vendré, diré, querré, sabré, habré)
• ✅ Soften every request with the condicional (me gustaría, podría, debería) — politeness, advice, wishes
• ✅ Build real type-1 conditionals with si + presente
• ✅ Make, confirm, reschedule and cancel plans using quedar the way Spaniards do

Why This Module Matters

Module 9 taught you to talk about the past. Module 11 gave you the present-tense vocabulary of feelings. This module turns the lens forward — predictions, promises, plans, hypotheticals, polite requests, advice. The two new tenses are the futuro and the condicional, and they share more than half their grammar. Learn the futuro endings and the irregular stems once, and the condicional comes free.

The bigger payoff isn't grammatical, it's social. A B1 Spanish speaker needs to soften what they say. Spaniards rarely say quiero to a waiter — they say quería un café, por favor or me gustaría un café. They rarely say ven aquí to a colleague — they say ¿podrías venir un momento?. The condicional is the politeness layer of the language, and once you have it, you stop sounding blunt.

The capstone lesson is quedar con amigos — the social verb of every Spanish friendship. ¿Quedamos el sábado? ¿Dónde quedamos? Te recojo a las ocho. Me viene fatal, ¿lo dejamos para otro día? This is where all the grammar from M1 to M12 comes together in one practical scenario.

Module Journey

🚀 Lesson 1: Iré, Comeré, Viviré

The futuro simple in one card

• One set of endings (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án) glued onto the infinitive
• Same endings for -ar, -er and -ir verbs — no exceptions
• The ten irregular stems: tendré, haré, podré, pondré, saldré, vendré, diré, querré, sabré, habré
• When Spaniards actually use it: predictions, promises, "I'll handle it"
• Preview: "Mañana iré al médico. Tendré que pedir cita esta tarde."

🤝 Lesson 2: Me Gustaría, Podría, Debería

The condicional for politeness, advice and wishes

• The condicional formula: same stems as the futuro + the imperfecto -er/-ir endings (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían)
• Three uses students need now: politeness, advice, wishes
• Softening every M6/M7 ordering phrase you already know
• The classic phrases: me gustaría, ¿podría...?, deberías...
• Preview: "Me gustaría un café con leche. ¿Podría traerme la cuenta?"

🌧️ Lesson 3: Si Tengo Tiempo, Voy…

Real type-1 conditionals

• The structure: si + presente, presente / futuro / imperativo
• The hard rule: never si + futuro, never si + condicional in this construction
• Common triggers: si llueve, si puedo, si me apetece, si no estás cansado
• Stacking with entonces for emphasis
• Preview: "Si llueve, no salimos. Si hace bueno, vamos a la sierra."

📆 Lesson 4: Quedar con Amigos

Making, confirming, rescheduling and cancelling

• The verb quedar: to meet up, to arrange to meet
• The full repertoire: ¿quedamos el sábado? ¿a qué hora? ¿dónde quedamos?
• Confirming: te recojo a las ocho, perfecto
• Polite cancellation: me viene fatal, ¿lo dejamos para otro día?
• Preview: "—¿Quedamos el sábado? —Vale, ¿a qué hora? —A las ocho en la plaza."

📝 Assessment: Tu Sábado Perfecto

Plan a real Saturday with a friend

• Open with a futuro or ir + a + infinitivo proposal
• Use the condicional once for politeness
• Make a real conditional plan (si hace bueno...)
• Close with a confirmation phrase

What You'll Build On

This module connects to your previous learning:

• Ir + a + infinitivo (M7 L3) — your existing future. The futuro simple doesn't replace it; it adds a register.
• Imperfecto endings (M10) — the condicional reuses them on top of futuro stems
• Gustar pattern (M6, M11) — me gustaría extends it into the condicional
• Hours and days (M5) — back in play for booking quedadas
• Reaction phrases (M11) — used for confirming and softening cancellations
• Vosotros keeps its place: ¿quedamos vosotros y nosotros mañana?

Cultural Connections

Throughout this module, you'll explore:

• 🌅 The Spanish weekend — when plans are typically made, confirmed and reshuffled
• 📱 The WhatsApp quedada thread — every Spanish friend group has one
• ⏰ Spanish punctuality — what a las ocho actually means in different cities
• 🍷 The afternoon-into-evening pivot: how a quedada can drift from coffee to tapas to dinner
• 🇪🇸 Castilian register for politeness — why me gustaría is the safest social verb in Spain
• 🎭 The art of cancelling without burning the friendship — me viene fatal and the offer to reschedule
• 🇲🇽 The futuro for prediction in Spain vs. ir + a + for plans in Latin America

Study Tips for Success

1. Drill the futuro endings out loud: hablaré, hablarás, hablará, hablaremos, hablaréis, hablarán. Then comeré, comerás, comerá... Then viviré, vivirás... Two minutes a day for a week. The endings will burn in.
2. Memorise the ten irregular stems as one chant: tendré, haré, podré, pondré, saldré, vendré, diré, querré, sabré, habré. The endings are normal; the stems are the work.
3. Replace one ordering phrase a day: every time you'd say quiero to a waiter, replace it with me gustaría or quería. Build the polite reflex.
4. Practice si + presente: every time you start a sentence with "if," check that the verb after si is plain present. Si llueve, si puedo, si tengo tiempo. Never si + futuro in everyday Spanish.
5. Plan a real Saturday in Spanish: text a friend (or yourself) the whole arrangement: ¿quedamos? ¿dónde? ¿a qué hora? ¿qué hacemos si llueve? Five lines. That's the social glue verb in action.

Module Resources

• 🗂️ Futuro simple cheat card (endings + ten irregular stems)
• 🤝 Condicional cheat card (same stems, imperfecto endings)
• 🎬 Ocho Apellidos Vascos — Spanish romcom full of quedadas and weekend plans
• 📱 WhatsApp quedada template thread (six messages, start to confirmation)
• 🗒️ "Si... entonces..." daily journal: one real-conditional plan per day

Skills You're Developing

Beyond vocabulary, this module strengthens:

• Forward-looking talk: predictions, promises, plans, hypotheticals
• Politeness reflex: replacing quiero / puedes with me gustaría / podrías without thinking
• Real-conditional logic: the if-then structure of everyday plans
• Social-stamina vocabulary: making and surviving real quedadas in Spanish
• Register-switching: knowing when to use the futuro for promises and when to use ir + a + for plans

Ready to Plan a Real Saturday in Spanish?

You can describe the past, the present, and how you feel right now. Now you can plan the future, ask politely for what you want, give advice when a friend asks, and arrange a real meet-up from first message to confirmation. By the end of this module, your Spanish friend will text ¿quedamos el sábado? and you won't pause — you'll reply vale, ¿dónde y a qué hora?, and a real plan will form. That's what this module is for.

¡Vamos a hacer planes!