Subjunctive? "He could dance if he wanted to"

Question

I'm trying to say "He could dance if he wanted to" as in, I have a friend who does not dance, but I think if he tried he'd be very good at it. Would I use subjunctive to say this?

Podría bailar si quisiera? or the other way around maybe, él pudiera bailar si querría? Is past subjunctive appropriate or would present be more appropriate? Or would I word it differently? He doesn't dance, but I think he'd be good at it. El no baila, pero creo que...I'm not sure how to say that.

Sorry if this is vague.

Good question worth a vote. - ray76, Mar 8, 2014

Worth more than one vote mate. - ian-hill, Mar 8, 2014

Answer 1

He could dance if he wanted to: Él podría bailar si quisiera/quisiese

It's the second conditional about unlikely or currently contrary situacions. It's used to express what could happen if some condition is met. There are 3 kinds of "SI clauses" as they are called:

• the condition clause (starts with si) requires the imperfect subjunctive, while the result clause takes the conditional. The order of the clauses is unimportant

  if+ imperfect subjuntive...+ conditional (would/could)

  if he tried he'd be very good at...: Si él lo intentara/intentase, sería muy bueno

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Wow , for once it is starting to make sense to me , thanks for that mate. - ray76, Mar 8, 2014

I agree Ray :) - ian-hill, Mar 8, 2014

Answer 2

See the following 2 good links:

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see section IIIB1

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These are “contrary to fact” (in truth sometimes merely unlikely) if clauses

These combine the si- condition in the imperfect subjunctive with the possible outcome in the conditional.

In the English, you can often convert the portion to become the imperfect subjunctive with a clause that includes “were”

If he were to want to, he would be able to dance

Si quisiera, podría bailar

Or in your word order:

Podría bailar si quisiera

That choice of yours would seem to me to be the correct one.

I like tge way you explained it. - gringojrf, Mar 7, 2014

Thanks! - bailarina95, Mar 7, 2014

Excellent mate ,thanks. - ray76, Mar 8, 2014

:) - ian-hill, Mar 8, 2014