Portuguese Grammar Guide

Present conditional (e.g.: Eu falaria)

On this page: Description, Questions, Exercises

Description

An Overview of the Present Conditional (Condicional Presente)

The present conditional has two main uses:

a) Politeness

It is used to make requests or statements more polite:

  • Gostaria de ir.

  • Poderia ajudar-me?

b) Hypothetical situations

It expresses actions that would happen under certain conditions:

  • Faria isso se tivesse dinheiro suficiente.

👉 The conditional is often used with clauses introduced by se, but it does not follow se directly. Instead, use:

  • present (se tenho tempo)

  • imperfect (se tinha tempo)

  • imperfect subjunctive (se tivesse tempo)

How to Form the Present Conditional

The conditional is formed by adding endings to the infinitive:

Subject Conditional Translation
eu falaria I would speak
tu falarias you would speak
ele/ela/você falaria he/she would speak
nós falaríamos we would speak
vocês/eles falariam they would speak

Common Irregular Verbs

Many frequent verbs use irregular stems (same as the future):

  • sair → sairia

  • querer → quereria

  • dizer → diria

  • fazer → faria

  • valer → valeria

  • ter → teria

  • caber → caberia

  • saber → saberia

  • pôr → poria

  • vir → viria

  • poder → poderia

  • haver → haveria

🔑 Key point

The present conditional expresses:

  • politeness

  • hypothetical or unreal situations

Questions

Questions about the Conditional (Portuguese)

Q: Why is it Se eu tinha and NOT Se eu teria?
Although se expresses a condition, it is not followed by the conditional. Instead, other verb forms are used depending on the meaning:

  • present → Se o meu amigo vem

  • imperfect → Se o meu amigo vinha

  • preterite → Se o meu amigo veio

  • future → Se o meu amigo vier

  • imperfect subjunctive → Se não fosse por isso

👉 The conditional (teria, faria, etc.) appears in the main clause, not after se:

  • Se tivesse tempo, iria contigo.

🔑 Key point

  • After se → never conditional

  • Conditional → used in the result clause

Exercises

Provide the present conditional (condicional presente) for the following:

Nós (perguntar).
Ela (comer).
Eles (saber).
O Miguel (ter).
A minha irmã (pensar).
Os meus amigos (ir).
Tu (vir).
Elas (poder).
O Ricardo (dever).

Tags: verbs mood infinitive past conditional subjunctive present future simple imperfect
Verb conjugation:
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