Q&APast Subjunctive and Conditional Tenses

Past Subjunctive and Conditional Tenses

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I'm having trouble with these two tenses. I know how to conjugate verbs for the two tenses, but I'm not sure in which situation I use them.

I know that past subjunctive is used to express wants, intentions, preferences, advice, suggestions and recommendations in the past. It's also used to express happiness, hope, likes, complaints, worries, regret, and other emotions. It's used to express opinions and attitudes. It's used with the verbs querer, deber and poder. It's used to soften requests, make polite suggestions, and persuade gently.

I know that the conditional tense is used to express what would happen given a particular situation or set of circumstances. It's used with the past subjunctive to express hypothetical or contrary-to-fact statements about what would happen in a particular circumstance or under certain conditions. It's also used with the past subjunctive to express conjecture or a probability of something occurring in the past.

I understand the text book definitions of both tenses, but I guess I need help in learning how to apply these concepts to sentences.

So, I guess my question is "Can somebody please give me examples of these two tenses preferably in a sentence together so I can see how they work together?"

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updated Mar 7, 2012

edited by --Mariana--

posted by m_nester

Welcome to the forum! I changed the formatting so that your question was easier to read. - --Mariana--, Mar 7, 2012

You're not alone. - annierats, Mar 7, 2012