Future vs. Conditional

Question

When I created the "word of the day" today, I came up with the sentence;

"Llegaría mañana si el tiempo es bueno.".

"I will arrive tomorrow if the weather is good."

Can you use either the future tense or conditional here because of will or if?

I can see that sentences with the same conditions might be confusing.

I appreciate some input.

Please forgive me and be easy on me if this is a stupid question.

I'm sensitive. Trust me, I'm a doctor.

Marshall

I think this is conditional but, I may be wrong. - HotChickCD, Jul 10, 2011

I think it's subjunctive. - TheSilentHero, Jul 10, 2011

Answer 1

"I will arrive tomorrow if the weather is good."

If you choose future in English, why do you decide not to do the same in Spanish instead of complicating things?

Llegaré mañana si el tiempo es bueno.

Thank you Maestro - 0043ad50, Jul 10, 2011

Answer 2

Grammatically, both of these sentences are correct: ¿Cuándo llegarías? - LLegaría mañana si el tiempo es bueno.

¿Cuándo llegaras? - Llegaré mañana si el tiempo es bueno.

The second sentence is correct because both tenses indicate real action.

The first sentence is incorrect because the first tense is hypothetical action and the second is real so it doesn't make sense. Both tenses need to be either real or hypothetical, so in this case the first is Conditional simple (indicativo), so the second needs to be Pretérito imperfecto (subjuntivo), ie "Llegaría mañana si el tiempo fuera bueno."

Great answer Julian. Thank you so much - 0043ad50, Jul 10, 2011

Exactly! Great explanation, Julian. - Izanoni1, Jul 10, 2011

Answer 3

I'm far from being an expert, but I would say:

Llegaré mañana si el tiempo es bueno

I suggest comfirming this.

Edit: I read up on this, and in English "will" can be used as the first conditional. And so..

Llegaría mañana si el tiempo es bueno.

..es correcto también.

"...es bueno" - lazarus1907, Jul 10, 2011

Thanks for posting Felix - 0043ad50, Jul 10, 2011

Answer 4

Difference Between Would and Will

Base on this article I would say that the sentence;"I will arrive tomorrow if the weather is good."; is conditional.

Grammatically, both of these sentences are correct:

¿Cuándo llegarías? - LLegaría mañana si el tiempo es bueno.

¿Cuándo llegaras? - Llegaré mañana si el tiempo es bueno.

So, I guess it all boils down to what exactly you want to convey. I am no expert on this, so listen to Lazzie My brain functions way better when there are numbers involved, lol.

Thank you HotChick - 0043ad50, Jul 10, 2011

The first example sentence makes no sense. It's like saying, "I would arrive tomorrow if the weather is good." Such a construction would be incorrect in both Spanish and English. - Izanoni1, Jul 10, 2011