Introduction
This post is about the practical use of verbs in general and more particularly the conditional tense, indicative mood of regular verbs ending in -ir.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are
looking at a house and discussing its suitability as someone's home.
At some point, the other person says to you: "tell me, who
would live here?".
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say to
you:
Dime,
¿quién viviría aquí?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿quién viviría aquí?
OUR
TIP
The question is an invitation for you to say who would live in the house you are looking at. When stating who would live in a given place, you may need to consider different levels of formality in your reply. That will be specifically the case when your answer includes a reference to the person you are talking to. The examples below include cases in which a more or less formal type of answer is required.
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
- Yo viviría* aquí (I would live here);
- Tú vivirías* aquí, ¿no? (you -familiar would live here, wouldn't you?);
- Usted viviría* aquí, ¿no? (you -formal would live here, wouldn't you?);
- Pedro viviría* aquí, ¿no? (Pedro would live here, wouldn't he?);
- María viviría* aquí, ¿no? (Maria would live here, wouldn't she?);
- Nosotros viviríamos* aquí, ¿no? (we would live here, wouldn't we?);
- Vosotros viviríais* aquí, ¿no? (you -familiar/ plural would live here, wouldn't you?);
- Ustedes vivirían* aquí, ¿no? (you -formal/ plural would live here, wouldn't you?);
- Pedro y María vivirían* aquí, ¿no? (Pedro and Maria would live here, wouldn't they?);
Now you should
practise replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿quién viviría aquí?
*Please
see grammar topic below, Verbs
Verbs
A verb is a 'doing'
word which conveys:
- What action takes place in a sentence
- Who does that action
- When that action occurs.
In
addition, the verb may also convey the mood
or feelings of the speaker toward the action which takes place. The
verb may, for example, indicate whether the speaker is stating a
fact, expressing a wish or indeed giving an order.
Verb
Conjugation
Please
see notes on conjugation*
at the end of this post.
Indicative
Mood-Conditional Tense
1.
Regular Verbs Ending in -ar
- SubjectTRABAJAR(TO WORK)
I YoTRABAJARÍAYou TúTRABAJARÍASYou Usted* TRABAJARÍAHe Él She EllaWe NosotrosTRABAJARÍAMOSYou Vosotros**TRABAJARÍAISYou Ustedes***TRABAJARÍANThey EllosThey Ellas
*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'
**NB
'You' plural
***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural
2.
Regular Verbs Ending in -er
- SubjectCOMER(TO EAT)
I YoCOMERÍAYou TúCOMERÍASYou Usted* COMERÍAHe Él She EllaWe NosotrosCOMERÍAMOSYou Vosotros**COMERÍAISYou Ustedes***COMERÍANThey EllosThey Ellas
*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'
**NB
'You' plural
***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural
3.
Regular Verbs Ending in -ir
- SubjectVIVIR(TO LIVE)
I YoVIVIRÍAYou TúVIVIRÍASYou Usted* VIVIRÍAHe Él She EllaWe NosotrosVIVIRÍAMOSYou Vosotros**VIVIRÍAISYou Ustedes***VIVIRÍANThey EllosThey Ellas
*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'
**NB
'You' plural
***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural
*
Verb Conjugation Notes
It
is worth remembering once more that in its basic form (infinitive),
a Spanish verb is just a general 'doing' word. In that form, a verb
simply indicates an action and nothing else. If we want a verb to be
more specific about the action in a sentence, we need to conjugate
it. It is only when conjugated that the verb indicates:
- Who does the action
- When the action takes place
- The mood/ attitude of the speaker towards the action
The conjugation
tables above refer to using conjugation establish who does the
action. What follows below are some notes on establishing when
the action takes place and the mood/ attitude of the speaker
towards the action.
Subjunctive
Mood
The
use of subjunctive
mood
is disappearing English. Nowadays is often viewed as an old and
unfashionable form of the language.
In contrast, the
use of subjunctive mood is very much alive and in everyday use
in Spanish. This widespread use of subjunctive mood tends to be the
bane of many a learner of Spanish from the English speaking world.
The
concept of subjunctive
mood
is perhaps best illustrated by contrasting its use against the use of
indicative mood with examples in English. The following are a couple
of examples which should serve that purpose:
- Indicative mood (“Peter eats an apple”).- Indicative mood is commonly used to make statements of facts or positive beliefs such as this one. As can be seen in the sample sentence (in quotes above), the speaker makes a clear and unambiguous statement of a fact (Peter eats an apple).
- Subjunctive mood (“Peter would eat an apple if he were hungry”).- In contrast with indicative mood, subjunctive mood is commonly used to make statements indicating hypothetical or non-fact actions. As can be seen in the sample sentence (in quotes), in this case the speaker sees the action of eating an apple as something hypothetical, something which may or may not happen (Peter would eat an apple... if he were hungry).
Verb
Tenses
Verb tenses relate
to setting the time period (when) during which the action of
the verb takes place. Basic times (periods) for Spanish verb actions
are:
- The past (before now)
- The present (now)
- The future (after now)
Each
Spanish verb tense corresponds to one of those basic time periods. In
other words choosing a verb tense places the action of the verb in
one of those basic periods and determines when
the action takes place.
Now
you should practise the use of the conditional-indicative mood
of regular verbs with some examples of your own.
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