The conditional is the European Portuguese tense for what would happen. You form it by adding -ia, -ias, -íamos or -iam to the whole infinitive, so falar becomes falaria, meaning I would speak. It carries polite requests, the result of a hypothesis, and plans reported from the past.
English builds its would with a helper word in front of the verb: I would speak, you would go. Portuguese does it with a single verb ending instead. The conditional, o condicional, folds that would straight into the verb, so one word carries the whole idea.
The conditional is one of the easier Portuguese tenses to build, because it adds the same endings to almost every verb. The harder part is knowing when the Portuguese spoken in Portugal reaches for it, and when casual speech swaps in a simpler tense instead.
Key takeaways
- The conditional (o condicional) is formed by adding the endings -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos and -iam to the whole infinitive.
- Only three verbs are irregular: dizer, fazer and trazer use the stems dir-, far- and trar-, giving diria, faria and traria.
- The conditional pairs with the imperfect subjunctive for hypotheses, as in se tivesse tempo, viajaria, meaning if I had time, I would travel.
- The rule is shared with Brazil, but in casual Portugal speech the imperfect often replaces the conditional, so gostava stands in for gostaria.
What is the conditional in Portuguese?
The conditional is the Portuguese tense for an action that would happen, usually under some condition. It is the form you use for would speak, would go and would like. In the Portuguese spoken in Portugal it covers three everyday jobs: softening a request, naming the result of an if, and reporting what someone said they would do.
Its name in Portugal is o condicional. The tense never changes its endings from one verb to the next, so it is one of the most predictable forms to learn. Once you can build one verb in the conditional, you can build nearly all of them.
How do you form the conditional?
You take the whole infinitive, falar, comer or partir, and add one set of endings. The same endings work for all three conjugations, so there is nothing extra to learn per verb group. The eu form and the ele form share a shape, as they do in several Portuguese tenses.
| Person | Conditional (falar) | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | falaria | I would speak |
| tu | falarias | you would speak |
| ele / ela / você | falaria | he or she would speak |
| nós | falaríamos | we would speak |
| eles / elas / vocês | falariam | they would speak |
Three verbs break the pattern, and they are the same three that are irregular in the future tense. Dizer becomes diria, fazer becomes faria, and trazer becomes traria. Every other verb, including ser and ter, simply keeps its full infinitive and adds the ending, giving seria and teria.
When do you use the conditional?
The conditional shows up most in three places in Portugal Portuguese. The first is the polite request, where it takes the edge off a demand. The second is the hypothetical, the result half of an if sentence. The third is the future seen from the past, when you report a plan someone once had.
| Use | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Polite request | gostaria de um café | I would like a coffee |
| Hypothetical result | se pudesse, viajaria mais | if I could, I would travel more |
| Future in the past | disse que viria | he said he would come |
The hypothetical use almost always travels with the imperfect subjunctive. The if half takes the subjunctive, se tivesse dinheiro, and the result half takes the conditional, compraria uma casa, meaning if I had money, I would buy a house. The two tenses lock together, which is why the subjunctive in European Portuguese is worth learning alongside the conditional.
What changes in European Portuguese?
The way you build the conditional is the same across Portugal and Brazil, so the rule you learn here also holds there. What differs is which person forms you hear, and one everyday habit of spoken Portugal.
Portugal keeps tu as its normal informal you, so the tu conditional, falarias, gostarias and poderias, is ordinary speech. A course built around Brazilian você gives you falaria and gostaria for that same person and skips the tu endings entirely. For the wider split between the varieties, see how different is European Portuguese from Brazilian Portuguese?
| Portugal (tu) | Brazil (você) | English |
|---|---|---|
| tu gostarias | você gostaria | you would like |
| tu poderias | você poderia | you could |
| tu farias | você faria | you would do |
There is also a spoken habit worth knowing. In relaxed Portugal speech, people often replace the conditional with the plain imperfect: eu gostava de ir instead of eu gostaria de ir, both meaning I would like to go. The conditional is still correct and expected in writing, so learn it, but do not be surprised to hear the imperfect in its place.
One more Portugal feature sits on top of the conditional. A pronoun can slot inside the verb rather than before it, as in dar-te-ia, meaning I would give you. This mid-verb placement is a European Portuguese trait, and where object pronouns go in European Portuguese explains how it works.
How do you make it automatic?
The conditional is quick to understand and slower to produce. In live speech you have no spare moment to choose the ending or to decide whether the imperfect would sound more natural. The form only becomes automatic through use: you say it, you are corrected, and you say it again.
This is where Fluentus fits. Fluentus teaches the Portuguese spoken in Portugal only, and its AI tutor holds spoken conversations with you 24 hours a day in a real human voice. The tutor corrects your endings as you speak, so forms like gostaria and faríamos start coming out without thought. It runs courses from A1 to B2 with smart flashcards built from your own conversations, on iOS and Android.
In one sentence: build the conditional by adding -ia endings to the infinitive, and use it for polite requests, the result of an if, and plans reported from the past.
Frequently asked questions
How do you form the conditional in Portuguese?
You add the endings -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos and -iam to the whole infinitive. Falar becomes falaria, comer becomes comeria, and partir becomes partiria. The same endings work for every conjugation, and only dizer, fazer and trazer change their stem, giving diria, faria and traria.
What is the difference between the future and the conditional?
The future tense says what will happen, while the conditional says what would happen. Falarei means I will speak, and falaria means I would speak. Both add their endings to the infinitive, and both use the same three irregular stems, so dizer gives direi in the future and diria in the conditional.
Can you use the imperfect instead of the conditional?
In casual Portugal Portuguese, yes. Everyday Portugal speech often replaces the conditional with the imperfect, so you hear eu gostava de ir instead of eu gostaria de ir, both meaning I would like to go. The conditional stays correct and is expected in writing, so it is still worth learning properly.
Is the conditional different in Portugal and Brazil?
The way you build the conditional is the same in Portugal and Brazil. The visible difference is the tu form. Portugal keeps tu, so you hear tu gostarias and tu poderias, while a Brazilian course built around você uses gostaria and poderia and leaves out the tu endings.