CONDITIONAL
Hola otra vez:
I need a little help with one of the variants of the conditional tense in Spanish. I was trying to translate an article from English to Spanish and came across a sentence which gave me some trouble.
The sentence in English read something like this:
The houses would be made available to the other contributors by August.
(There's a sense of the future here...)
I had translated the sentence using the conditional perfect the 'would' fooled me 
) but after going through La Gramatica of your Reference section, I think that I may have been wrong. There's no condition in the sentence. Should the future perfect be used instead? So:
Las casas se habran puesto a la disposicion de los otros contribuidores
en agosto.
Gracias,
15 Answers
Thank you for the clarification. The future can indeed be used...
Forma pasiva en futuro:
Las casas serán puestas a la venta cuando estén terminadas.
Las casas se habrán puesto a la venta cuando estén terminadas.
"Las casas se pondrán a la venta cuando estén terminadas". Es decir, en el futuro.
O también se puede expresar de la siguiente manera: "Las casas se habrán puesto a la venta cuando estén terminadas". En realidad, significan lo mismo.
Una está en forma pasiva y la otra no. Pero las dos están en futuro.
Thanks for the corrections Lazerus. I wrote it in about three seconds and was hoping a native would help out. The use of "would" in this context doesn't sound strange in English so it is interesting that in Spanish "tendrían" does.
I don't think this is a strange sentence at all. Would is being used here to describe a hypothetical situation. The full text could go something like this:
We are thinking about building houses in and around the West London area to be made available mainly to public sector workers. They (public sector workers) would have first call on 80 percent of the houses while the other 20 percent would be made available to other contributors in August.
as no-one else has attempted a translation I shall put myself forward. I think however that it contains many mistakes.
Estámos pensando en construir casas por la área de Londres Oeste, las cuales serán disponible para los trabajadores del sector público. Tendrían la primera oportunidad comprar hasta 80 porciento de las casas mientras otros contribuidores (') tendrían la oportunidad comprar la 20 porciento que queda.
Sorry but you put in into a context. In isolation it IS "strange"
We are thinking about building houses in and around the West London area to be made available mainly to public sector workers, who would have first call on 80 percent of the houses while the other 20 percent would be made available to other contributors in August.
Estamos pensando en construir casas por el área oeste de Londres, las cuales estarán disponibles para los trabajadores del sector público. Tendrían '' la primera oportunidad de comprar hasta 80 por ciento de las casas, mientras que otros contribuidores tendrían '' la oportunidad comprar el 20 por ciento que queda.
Those "tendrían" sound very strange without a condition (e.g. Si terminamos de construirlas, tendrían...). I'd definitely use "Tendrán" here.
By the way, although "porciento" can be used instead of "porcentage" to mean "percentage", you have to write "por ciento" to mean %.
Sorry but you put in into a context. In isolation it IS 'strange?
Fair point.
I don't think this is a strange sentence at all. Would is being used here to describe a hypothetical situation. The full text could go something like this:
We are thinking about building houses in and around the West London area to be made available mainly to public sector workers. They (public sector workers) would have first call on 80 percent of the houses while the other 20 percent would be made available to other contributors in August.
as no-one else has attempted a translation I shall put myself forward. I think however that it contains many mistakes.
Estámos pensando en construir casas por la área de Londres Oeste, las cuales serán disponible para los trabajadores del sector público. Tendrían la primera oportunidad comprar hasta 80 porciento de las casas mientras otros contribuidores (') tendrían la oportunidad comprar la 20 porciento que queda.
As far as I can remember there was no condition.... I think the sentence in it's entirety went something like this:
Public sector workers would have first call on 80 percent of the houses while the other 20 percent would be made available to other contributors in August.
Your full sentence would suggest that a preceding sentence included something like "if or when the project is finished". If so now we have a conditional situation but in my opinion the full stop at the end of of such a preceding sentence would be incorrect, and your full sentence is still "strange"
As far as I can remember there was no condition.... I think the sentence in it's entirety went something like this:
Public sector workers would have first call on 80 percent of the houses while the other 20 percent would be made available to other contributors in August.
The general content of the article was about a housing development not yet completed for public sector workers. So the future tense would be applicable. In language, there is hardly ever one way to express an idea so while I agree that the future sense is the easiest way to go, I was wondering if there isn't another way to express the same idea using another tense...
Using the future tense would be easier but can the future conditional be used? Is that form incorrect?
As Samdie and I have said the sentence, as it stands, is not conditional and is not "normal" so any attempt at exact translation is going to be difficult - if not impossible. We need more context.
Question: Was this actually the sentence you wanted to translate, with a full stop (POINT) at the end of it'
Hola otra vez:
I need a little help with one of the variants of the conditional tense in Spanish. I was trying to translate an article from English to Spanish and came across a sentence which gave me some trouble.
The sentence in English read something like this:
The houses would be made available to the other contributors by August.
(There's a sense of the future here...)
As it stands, the sentence (in English is a bit peculiar [more context might help]). One could infer an "implied" condition e.g. "If all went well/as expected, the houses would ..." or some other sort of subordinating construction e.g. I/we/someone hoped/expected that the houses would ..." The larger context (in English) can result in different ways of expressing the thought in Spanish.
Using the future tense would be easier but can the future conditional be used? Is that form incorrect'
Hola otra vez:
I need a little help with one of the variants of the conditional tense in Spanish. I was trying to translate an article from English to Spanish and came across a sentence which gave me some trouble.
The sentence in English read something like this:
The houses would be made available to the other contributors by August.
(There's a sense of the future here...)
I had translated the sentence using the conditional perfect the 'would' fooled me
Las casas se habran puesto a la disposicion de los otros contribuidores
en agosto.
Gracias,
The sentence "The houses would be made available (sold) ... etc" is not conditional (there is no "if" in the sentence) It can be regarded more as a statement of fact, and probably better said as " The houses will be made available (sold) ... etc. Which is easier to translate.
