Planes y Decisiones - Plans, Advice, Polite Requests
Me Gustaría, Podría, Debería - The Condicional
You have the futuro simple. The good news: the condicional uses the same stems and barely costs you any new memorisation. The better news: the condicional is the politeness layer of Spanish. Once you have it, you stop sounding blunt and start sounding like someone who's lived in Spain. By the end of this lesson, every request you make will land softer.
The Endings — Same Stems, Imperfecto Endings
The condicional simple is built from two pieces you already know:
- The futuro stem (the infinitive for regular verbs, or one of the ten irregular stems from Lesson 1).
- The imperfecto -er/-ir endings from Module 10: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
Glue them together and you have the condicional:
| Pronoun | hablar (regular) | tener (irregular) | hacer (irregular) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablaría | tendría | haría |
| tú | hablarías | tendrías | harías |
| él / ella / usted | hablaría | tendría | haría |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablaríamos | tendríamos | haríamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | hablaríais | tendríais | haríais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | hablarían | tendrían | harían |
Three things to lock in:
- The yo and él/ella forms are identical: hablaría means "I would speak" or "he/she would speak." Spanish disambiguates with context or a pronoun.
- Every form carries an accent on the í: hablaría, hablarías, hablaría, hablaríamos, hablaríais, hablarían.
- The same ten irregular stems from the futuro reappear: tendr-, har-, podr-, pondr-, saldr-, vendr-, dir-, querr-, sabr-, habr-. Learn them once, use them twice.
Three Uses You Need Today
The condicional has many uses across Spanish, but for B1 you need three:
1. Politeness — soften any request.
The condicional turns a blunt quiero or a bare imperative into something a Spanish waiter, colleague, or stranger will respond to warmly:
| Blunt (avoid) | Polite (use) | English |
|---|---|---|
| Quiero un café. | Me gustaría un café. | I'd like a coffee. |
| Tráeme la cuenta. | ¿Podría traerme la cuenta? | Could you bring me the bill? |
| Necesito ayuda. | Necesitaría un poco de ayuda. | I would need a bit of help. |
| Habla con tu jefe. | Yo hablaría con tu jefe. | I'd speak with your boss. |
A note on quería: this is the imperfecto of querer, but Spaniards use it for soft polite requests interchangeably with me gustaría:
- Quería un café con leche, por favor. – I'd like a coffee with milk, please.
- Quería pedir cita. – I'd like to book an appointment.
Both me gustaría and quería are perfectly polite. Use whichever sounds smoother on your tongue.
2. Advice — what someone should do.
The condicional of deber ("should") is the advice verb of Spanish. Deberías + infinitivo is how you give a friend a soft suggestion:
- Deberías descansar. – You should rest.
- Deberíais avisar antes. – You all should give notice in advance.
- Yo, en tu lugar, hablaría con ella. – If I were you, I'd talk to her.
The phrase yo en tu lugar... ("if I were you...") followed by a condicional is one of the most natural advice patterns in Spanish.
3. Wishes — what would be nice.
The condicional expresses something you'd love to do but haven't committed to:
- Me gustaría aprender italiano algún día. – I'd like to learn Italian someday.
- Sería increíble vivir en Granada. – It would be amazing to live in Granada.
- Tendríamos que ir a la sierra este verano. – We should go to the mountains this summer.
Tendríamos que... is the slightly stronger cousin of deberíamos... — the felt obligation that hasn't quite become a plan.
Asking Politely with Podría
Podría ("could you / could I") is the single most useful condicional form for a learner. It softens any request:
- ¿Podrías ayudarme un momento? – Could you help me for a moment?
- ¿Podría hablar con el doctor García? – Could I speak with Dr. García? (usted)
- ¿Podríais bajar la música un poco? – Could you all turn the music down a bit?
For a guest at a restaurant, a question to a stranger, or a favour from a colleague, ¿podría / podrías? is almost always the right opener. Compare to bare imperatives:
| Bare (sounds rude) | Polite (sounds right) |
|---|---|
| Pásame la sal. | ¿Podrías pasarme la sal? |
| Dame un momento. | ¿Podrías darme un momento? |
| Tráenos otra ronda. | ¿Podría traernos otra ronda? |
| Hablen más bajo. | ¿Podrían hablar más bajo? |
The condicional doesn't change what you're asking — it changes how you're asking it.
Soften Every M6/M7 Phrase You Already Know
You spent two whole modules learning to order food and shop. Most of those phrases get a polite upgrade with the condicional:
| Module 6/7 phrase | Condicional upgrade |
|---|---|
| Me pones una caña, ¿no? | ¿Me podrías poner una caña? |
| Quiero la tortilla. | Me gustaría la tortilla. |
| Cóbreme, por favor. | ¿Podría cobrarme, por favor? |
| Voy a coger esta camiseta. | Quería esta camiseta, por favor. |
The original phrases are perfectly fine for casual contexts (a tapas bar, a friend's house). The condicional versions are the safer choice when you're not sure of the register, when you're talking to an older person, or when you want to come across as well-mannered.
Practice
Words to Remember
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| me gustaría | I would like |
| te gustaría | you would like |
| le gustaría | he/she would like |
| nos gustaría | we would like |
| quería | I'd like (lit. I wanted) |
| ¿podría...? | could I / he / she...? |
| ¿podrías...? | could you...? |
| ¿podríais...? | could you all...? |
| debería | I/he/she should |
| deberías | you should |
| tendría que | I would have to |
| haría | I/he/she would do |
| sería | it would be |
| vendría | I/he/she would come |
| me apetecería | I'd feel like |
| sería increíble | it would be amazing |
| en tu lugar | if I were you |
| algún día | someday |
| mejor / peor | better / worse |
| sería mejor | it would be better |
Conversation
Ordering at a café
Lucía: Me gustaría un café con leche, por favor. I'd like a coffee with milk, please.
Camarero: ¿Algo más? Anything else?
Lucía: ¿Podría traerme también un vaso de agua? Could you also bring me a glass of water?
Asking a friend for advice
Marta: No sé qué hacer con mi jefe. I don't know what to do with my boss.
Diego: Yo, en tu lugar, hablaría con él directamente. If I were you, I'd talk to him directly.
Marta: Tienes razón. Debería hacerlo el lunes. You're right. I should do it on Monday.
Asking a neighbour a favour
Pablo: ¿Podrías bajar la música un poco? Could you turn the music down a bit?
Carmen: Ay, perdona. ¿Te molesta? Oh, sorry. Is it bothering you?
Pablo: Un poco. Sería genial. A bit. That'd be great.
Practice
Recall
Type the Spanish for each English meaning. Leave a row blank if you draw a blank — that counts as a miss.
Practice
Translation Exercise
Translate each English sentence into Spanish.
Cultural Note
The condicional is the politeness register of Spanish, and Spaniards deploy it constantly even though they have a reputation for being direct. There's no contradiction — Spanish bluntness lives at the level of opinions and emotions ("eso es una tontería," "no me gusta nada"), but the social fabric of small requests is held together by the condicional. A Spaniard at a café will rarely say quiero un café — they'll say quería un café or me pones un café, por favor or me gustaría un café, all of which land softer.
A small contrast worth noting: the condicional is also the tense of unrealised wishes in Spanish — me iría a vivir a Granada, sería un sueño. When you hear a Spaniard say yo me iría, they're not actually going. They're imagining a life that's not currently theirs. The English "I'd love to" carries a similar mood. Listen for the condicional after phrases like me encantaría, daría lo que fuera, no me importaría — it's how Spanish dreams out loud.
A note on quería: yes, it's literally the imperfecto of querer ("I wanted"). Spanish has used it for centuries as a polite present-tense softener, the same way English uses "I'd like" instead of "I want." It's not actually past tense in this construction — it's a historical politeness move that stuck. Quería un café, por favor is exactly the same act as me gustaría un café, por favor, and Spaniards use both without thinking.