Be Polite in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to be polite in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• be polite

• use vocabulary related to meetings

• ask politely

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Nouns

Spanish	English
la apertura	opening
la conferencia	conference
la copia	copy
el fondo	fund
el informe	report
la opinión	opinion
el plan	plan
la presencia	presence
el suegro	father-in-law

examples
Me gustaría anunciar la apertura de la nueva oficina. I'd like to announce the opening of the new office.
Me gustaría asistir a la conferencia. I'd like to attend the conference.
¿Podría enviarme una copia del informe? Could you send me a copy of the report?

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Abordar

Abordar(to board) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	abordaría	I would board
tú	abordarías	you would board	informal singular you
vos	abordarías	you would board	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	abordaría	he, she would board
usted	abordaría	you would board	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	abordaríamos	we would board
vosotros, vosotras	abordaríais	you would board	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	abordarían	they would board
ustedes	abordarían	you would board	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Aceptar

Aceptar(to accept) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	aceptaría	I would accept
tú	aceptarías	you would accept	informal singular you
vos	aceptarías	you would accept	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	aceptaría	he, she would accept
usted	aceptaría	you would accept	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	aceptaríamos	we would accept
vosotros, vosotras	aceptaríais	you would accept	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	aceptarían	they would accept
ustedes	aceptarían	you would accept	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Acompañar

Acompañar(to go with) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	acompañaría	I would go with
tú	acompañarías	you would go with	informal singular you
vos	acompañarías	you would go with	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	acompañaría	he, she would go with
usted	acompañaría	you would go with	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	acompañaríamos	we would go with
vosotros, vosotras	acompañaríais	you would go with	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	acompañarían	they would go with
ustedes	acompañarían	you would go with	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Aconsejar

Aconsejar(to advise) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	aconsejaría	I would advise
tú	aconsejarías	you would advise	informal singular you
vos	aconsejarías	you would advise	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	aconsejaría	he, she would advise
usted	aconsejaría	you would advise	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	aconsejaríamos	we would advise
vosotros, vosotras	aconsejaríais	you would advise	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	aconsejarían	they would advise
ustedes	aconsejarían	you would advise	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Anticipar

Anticipar(to anticipate) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	anticiparía	I would anticipate
tú	anticiparías	you would anticipate	informal singular you
vos	anticiparías	you would anticipate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	anticiparía	he, she would anticipate
usted	anticiparía	you would anticipate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	anticiparíamos	we would anticipate
vosotros, vosotras	anticiparíais	you would anticipate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	anticiparían	they would anticipate
ustedes	anticiparían	you would anticipate	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Anunciar

Anunciar(to announce) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	anunciaría	I would announce
tú	anunciarías	you would announce	informal singular you
vos	anunciarías	you would announce	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	anunciaría	he, she would announce
usted	anunciaría	you would announce	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	anunciaríamos	we would announce
vosotros, vosotras	anunciaríais	you would announce	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	anunciarían	they would announce
ustedes	anunciarían	you would announce	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Apostar

Apostar(to bet) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	apostaría	I would bet
tú	apostarías	you would bet	informal singular you
vos	apostarías	you would bet	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	apostaría	he, she would bet
usted	apostaría	you would bet	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	apostaríamos	we would bet
vosotros, vosotras	apostaríais	you would bet	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	apostarían	they would bet
ustedes	apostarían	you would bet	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Aprobar

Aprobar(to approve) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	aprobaría	I would approve
tú	aprobarías	you would approve	informal singular you
vos	aprobarías	you would approve	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	aprobaría	he, she would approve
usted	aprobaría	you would approve	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	aprobaríamos	we would approve
vosotros, vosotras	aprobaríais	you would approve	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	aprobarían	they would approve
ustedes	aprobarían	you would approve	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Asegurar

Asegurar(to secure) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	aseguraría	I would secure
tú	asegurarías	you would secure	informal singular you
vos	asegurarías	you would secure	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	aseguraría	he, she would secure
usted	aseguraría	you would secure	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	aseguraríamos	we would secure
vosotros, vosotras	aseguraríais	you would secure	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	asegurarían	they would secure
ustedes	asegurarían	you would secure	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Atender

Atender(to help) is an -er verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	atendería	I would help
tú	atenderías	you would help	informal singular you
vos	atenderías	you would help	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	atendería	he, she would help
usted	atendería	you would help	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	atenderíamos	we would help
vosotros, vosotras	atenderíais	you would help	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	atenderían	they would help
ustedes	atenderían	you would help	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Aumentar

Aumentar(to increase) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	aumentaría	I would increase
tú	aumentarías	you would increase	informal singular you
vos	aumentarías	you would increase	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	aumentaría	he, she would increase
usted	aumentaría	you would increase	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	aumentaríamos	we would increase
vosotros, vosotras	aumentaríais	you would increase	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	aumentarían	they would increase
ustedes	aumentarían	you would increase	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Colaborar

Colaborar(to collaborate) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	colaboraría	I would collaborate
tú	colaborarías	you would collaborate	informal singular you
vos	colaborarías	you would collaborate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	colaboraría	he, she would collaborate
usted	colaboraría	you would collaborate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	colaboraríamos	we would collaborate
vosotros, vosotras	colaboraríais	you would collaborate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	colaborarían	they would collaborate
ustedes	colaborarían	you would collaborate	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Convencer

Convencer(to convince) is an -er verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	convencería	I would convince
tú	convencerías	you would convince	informal singular you
vos	convencerías	you would convince	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	convencería	he, she would convince
usted	convencería	you would convince	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	convenceríamos	we would convince
vosotros, vosotras	convenceríais	you would convince	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	convencerían	they would convince
ustedes	convencerían	you would convince	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Facilitar

Facilitar(to provide) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	facilitaría	I would provide
tú	facilitarías	you would provide	informal singular you
vos	facilitarías	you would provide	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	facilitaría	he, she would provide
usted	facilitaría	you would provide	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	facilitaríamos	we would provide
vosotros, vosotras	facilitaríais	you would provide	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	facilitarían	they would provide
ustedes	facilitarían	you would provide	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Guiar

Guiar(to guide) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	guiaría	I would guide
tú	guiarías	you would guide	informal singular you
vos	guiarías	you would guide	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	guiaría	he, she would guide
usted	guiaría	you would guide	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	guiaríamos	we would guide
vosotros, vosotras	guiaríais	you would guide	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	guiarían	they would guide
ustedes	guiarían	you would guide	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Importar

Importar(to mind or to care about) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

With the verb importar, the subject of the sentence is the action or thing causing someone to mind or care, while the person or thing doing the minding or caring is expressed via an indirect object.

This table refers to minding or caring about a singular thing. If the thing that was minded is plural, use importarían.

Conjugation	Translation	Notes
me importaría	I would mind
te importaría	you would mind	informal singular you
le importaría	he, she would mind
le importaría	you would mind	formal singular you
nos importaría	we would mind
os importaría	you would mind	informal plural you (in Spain)
les importaría	they would mind
les importaría	you would mind	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The verb importar is often used in the conditional to politely ask someone to do something. For example:

examples
¿Te importaría abrir la puerta? Would you mind opening the door?

Prestar

Prestar(to lend) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	prestaría	I would lend
tú	prestarías	you would lend	informal singular you
vos	prestarías	you would lend	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	prestaría	he, she would lend
usted	prestaría	you would lend	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	prestaríamos	we would lend
vosotros, vosotras	prestaríais	you would lend	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	prestarían	they would lend
ustedes	prestarían	you would lend	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Proporcionar

Proporcionar(to provide) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	proporcionaría	I would provide
tú	proporcionarías	you would provide	informal singular you
vos	proporcionarías	you would provide	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	proporcionaría	he, she would provide
usted	proporcionaría	you would provide	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	proporcionaríamos	we would provide
vosotros, vosotras	proporcionaríais	you would provide	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	proporcionarían	they would provide
ustedes	proporcionarían	you would provide	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The Simple Conditional

The conditional tense in Spanish el condicionalo el pospretéritois used to talk about hypothetical situations and probabilities as well as to make polite requests.

In the Spanish conditional tense, both regular and irregular verbs use the same set of endings, and any stems that are irregular in the simple future are also irregular in the conditional.

Regular Conditional Forms

To form the conditional tense with regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs, simply add the conditional endings to the end of the infinitive:

Spanish Conditional Endings

Subject	Conditional Ending
yo	-ía
tú, vos	-ías
usted, él, ella	-ía
nosotros	-íamos
vosotros	-íais
ustedes, ellos, ellas	-ían

Do these verb endings look familiar? They should! They’re the same as the imperfect tense endings for -er and -ir verbs.

Irregular Conditionals

As we stated before, any stems that are irregular in the simple future are also irregular in the conditional. The irregular stems in the conditional are:

Infinitive	Conditional Stem
caber	cabr-
decir	dir-
haber	habr-
hacer	har-
poder	podr-
poner	pondr-
querer	querr-
saber	sabr-
salir	saldr-
tener	tendr-
valer	valdr-
venir	vendr-

For example:

examples
¿Podría facilitarme su número de teléfono? Could you provide me with your phone number?
Querríamos posponer la videoconferencia. We'd like to postpone the video conference.

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Félix:

Nos gustaría hablar con el director, Rosario.

We'd like to speak with the director, Rosario.

Rosario:

Me gustaría acompañarte. ¿Cuándo hablarás con él?

I'd like to go with you. When will you talk to him?

Félix:

Mañana. ¿Aceptaría mi propuesta? ¿Te importaría darme tu opinión?

Tomorrow. Would he accept my proposal? Would you mind giving me your opinion?

Rosario:

No sé, Félix. ¿Podrías enviarme una copia del informe?

I don’t know, Felix. Could you send me a copy of the report?

Félix:

Sí. Cuando leas el informe, ¿podrías anticipar posibles problemas?

Yes. When you read the report, could you anticipate possible problems?

Rosario:

Claro que sí, Félix. ¿Podrías prestarme la computadora?

Of course, Felix. Could you lend me the computer?

Want to learn more about how to be polite in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• Fundamental Spanish Phrases to Learn Right Away

• What Does "Mucho Gusto" Mean in English?

• What Does "¿Cómo Está Usted?" Mean?