Si clauses

Question

I need to create "si" clauses and have to use verbs that end in iera or ia (I forget what they are called). I have the following sentences, but they seem to be lacking something. Ayuda por favor.

Si mis amigos me dieron 20 dólares, vería una pelicula.

Sí yo caminara a la universidad, no necesitaría un coche.

What are these verbs called, the ones that end in ía?

Gracias.

Susana

(iera + ía) subjunctive + conditional :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 1, 2012

no accento on the sí for your second one otherwise that means 'yes' :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 1, 2012

Si mis amigos me dierAn, dieron is the preterite and you need the subjunctive. - kenwilliams, Apr 1, 2012

Answer 1

What are these verbs called, the ones that end in ía?

Those are the conditional tense endings. The conditional is used to usually translated as would, could, must have or probably and is also used when "would" is used in the sense of a repeated action in the past.

It's a nice easy tense to conjugate because with regular verbs you just add the following endings to the whole infinitive.

ía ías ía íamos íais ían

Eg:

hablar hablaría hablarías hablaría hablaríamos hablaríais hablarían

Answer 2

No es correcto.

Si mis amigos me dieran 20 dolares, iria a ver una pelicula

Son oraciones condicionales.

Answer 3

Hi Susana,

In your If clause "Si mis amigos me.." dieran o diesen 20 dólares --> you need to use the past subjunctive since your subordinate clause is in the conditional tense. It is exactly like your second phrase.

Answer 4

It is imperfect subjunctive + the conditional e.g. Si tuviera una casa con jardín tendría un perro. If I had a house with a garden I would have a dog.

Great, Ken. Minor correction: Tendría - francobollo, Apr 1, 2012

Thanks. - kenwilliams, Apr 1, 2012