The conditional mood in Portuguese

The conditional mood usually expresses a wish or an action that may happen in the future. There are two ways to compose it. In one of them we use the Pretérito Imperfeito form of the verb, and in the other we add a special ending to the infinitive. But first, let’s see what we use the Conditional Presente for.

Politeness

When you want to be polite, not pushy and direct, use Condicional. Interestingly, you can use the Pretérito Imperfeito (one of the past tenses) form of the verb even if you are talking about the present tense, i.e.:

Podia dar-me um conselho? (Could you give me an advice?)

Ajudavas-me com o trabalho para casa? (Could you help me with my homework?)

Despite the fact that the verb is in the past tense, you politely ask for an answer now so that the object will perform an action in the near future. Very interesting!

This manner of communication is useful, for example, in a restaurant. This is important not only to seem polite to the waiter. This will make a good impression on those who came to the restaurant with you.

A wish

You already know that there is a “haver de + infinitive” structure to describe your desire, a plan for the future, which are sure to be realized. When we use Conditional, we are expressing a desire or preference, but we don’t know if it will be fulfilled.

A Rafaela gostava de abrir um negócio em Portugal. (Rafaela would like to open a business in Portugal.)

Não podemos ir à festa, porque preferíamos ficar em casa hoje. (We can’t go to the holiday because we’d rather stay at home today.)

Again, we are talking about how we think and feel now, but we use the past tense in these examples.

Advice

You can strongly recommend something and use Presente do Indicativo, or you can express your opinion regarding the actions of another person in a mild form, using Pretérito Imperfeito.

Let’s see both options in examples:

Deves beber menos cerveja. (You should drink less beer.)

Devias comer mais fruta. (You should eat more fruits.)

It’s up to you how you give advice, but now you know how to be especially polite and well-mannered. 

Suggestion

An offer can also be made in a mild form, in the form of fantasies. To do this, you just need to use Conditional Presente.

Comprávamos um iate e íamos aos Açores. O que achas? (We would buy a yacht and go to the Azores. What do you think?)

The line between advice and proposal is barely noticeable, so it’s good that the form of their expression is the same.

Actions provided

To describe an action that is impossible or possible due to or despite some conditions, we use Pretérito Imperfeito.

Contava-te uma história interessante, mas tu não queres falar comigo. (I would tell you an interesting story, but you don’t want to talk to me.)

Arrumava o quarto, mas não me sinto bem. (I would clean my room, but I don’t feel well.)

We want to note that in this case, the circumstances can still change, the result, respectively, too. For conditional sentences that no longer have a different outcome and solution to the situation, there is a separate structure, which we will analyze in another article.

The second way to form a conditional

In all cases above, we can use a different form of verbs. Despite the fact that the form of the verbs Préterito Imperfeito is more often used in colloquial speech, we cannot ignore the second way of forming the Condicional Presente.

So, to the infinitive of any verb, we must add the following endings:

Something familiar, right? In the past tense Pretérito Imperfeito, we removed the endings of the verbs “-er” and “-ir” and added exactly the same. Only for the Condicional Presente we do not remove anything, but simply add such an ending to the infinitive.

That is, we can legally say:

O Lucas gostaria de abrir uma escola de condução. (Lucas would like to open a driving school.)

O senhor poderia estacionar o seu carro noutro lugar? (Senior could park the car elsewhere.)Choose any of the two options and feel free to use.

Verbs ending in “-zer”

As usual, we have to deal with exceptions. First, let’s remember which verbs end in “-zer”: fazer, dizer, trazer. Now we need to remove this ending and add a new one:

Let’s look at examples to better remember:

Eu diria a verdade, mas ele não quer saber! (I would tell the truth, but he doesn’t want to know it!)

That is, we can choose the form of the verb, for example: gostava or gostaria. Both options are correct. But, for verbs with the ending “-zer” you cannot say, for example, fazeria, but you can say fazia or faria.

Fortunately, there are very few exceptions. However, don’t forget the derived words: desfazer (mess up), contradizer (contradict), and so on. They also change according to the rule of exceptions. 

Conclusion

So, unexpectedly, the forms of the verbs in Pretérito Imperfeito helped us form a large layer of Portuguese grammar. As you can see, everything is interconnected, and it is very important to pay attention to each individual topic. Thus, your possibilities in Portuguese become more unlimited!