I have a question about the conditional tense...
I know the conditional is used to express what would happen and it usually represents a possibility or hypothetical situation.
However, sometimes "would" can be used a bit different in English.
i.e. She would come late to school on the first day.
As in she is always late to school, it's typical of her to come late on the first day. When an emphasis is put on would, the whole meaning of the sentence changes. (Compared to if I said something like... If she has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, she would come late to school on the first day.)
Haha, do you guys get what I mean? How would I express the first example in Spanish? (using would as saying that's typical of one's behavior, or can the conditional express that?)
1 Answer
Great question. This is expressed with verbs like "soler" - "use to" in the imperfect in Spanish. Examples:
El primer día solía llegar tarde a clase.
You may also use the imperfect of the verb llegar.
El primer día llegaba tarde a clase (but you may need an adverb to help out the meaning)
Usualmente, el primer día llegaba tarde a clase
