Love-Spanish.com: Tell Me, Who Would Have Called Him?

Introduction

This post is about verb conjugation and in particular the conditional perfect tense, indicative mood of regular verbs ending in -ar.

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague about a third person (male) who should have received a phone call. That call would have only been made if required. At some point, the other person says: "tell me, who would have called him?".

In Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:

Dime, ¿quién lo habría llamado?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:

Dígame, ¿quién lo habría llamado?

OUR TIP

Answering the question is quite straight forward. However, please note that some answers require you to choose between a more formal or a less formal option -see examples below:

Lo habría llamado* yo (I would have called him);
Lo habrías llamado* tú, ¿no? (you -familiar would have called him, wouldn't you?);
Lo habría llamado* usted, ¿no? (you -formal would have called him, wouldn't you?);
Lo habría llamado* Pedro, ¿no? (Pedro would have called him, wouldn't he?);
Lo habría llamado* María, ¿no? (María would have called him, wouldn't she?);
Lo habríamos llamado* nosotros, ¿no? (we would have called him, wouldn't we?);
Lo habríais llamado* vosotros, ¿no? (you -familiar/ plural would have called him, wouldn't you?);
Lo habrían llamado* ustedes, ¿no? (you -formal/ plural would have called him, wouldn't you?);
Lo habrían llamado* sus padres, ¿no? (his parents would have called him, wouldn't they?);

NB Please note that every one of the answers could have included “si hubiese hecho falta” (if necessary). As an example, the top answer could be expanded to, si hubiese hecho falta, lo habría llamado yo (I would have called him if necessary).

Now you should practise replying to someone who says to you:

Dime, ¿quién lo habría llamado?

*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 Perfect Tense

1. Regular Verbs Ending in -ar

Subject		TRABAJAR (TO WORK)
I	Yo	HABRÍA TRABAJADO
You	Tú	HABRÍAS TRABAJADO
You	Usted^*	HABRÍA TRABAJADO
He	Él
She	Ella
We	Nosotros	HABRÍAMOS TRABAJADO
You	Vosotros**	HABRÍAIS TRABAJADO
You	Ustedes***	HABRÍAN TRABAJADO
They	Ellos
They	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

Subject		COMER (TO EAT)
I	Yo	HABRÍA COMIDO
You	Tú	HABRÍAS COMIDO
You	Usted^*	HABRÍA COMIDO
He	Él
She	Ella
We	Nosotros	HABRÍAMOS COMIDO
You	Vosotros**	HABRÍAIS COMIDO
You	Ustedes***	HABRÍAN COMIDO
They	Ellos
They	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

Subject		VIVIR (TO LIVE)
I	Yo	HABRÍA VIVIDO
You	Tú	HABRÍAS VIVIDO
You	Usted^*	HABRÍA VIVIDO
He	Él
She	Ella
We	Nosotros	HABRÍAMOS VIVIDO
You	Vosotros**	HABRÍAIS VIVIDO
You	Ustedes***	HABRÍAN VIVIDO
They	Ellos
They	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 perfect-indicative mood of regular verbs with some examples of your own.

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Saturday 29 March 2014

Tell Me, Who Would Have Called Him?

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