Imperfect Subjunctive + Conditional

the imperfect subjunctive and the conditional

In the previous post we talked about this verb tense -- the imperfect subjunctive, as well. So many of you have asked to see even more examples of this super-useful grammar trick so: aqui estão! (here they are!)

the Imperfect Subjunctive is insanely great. Even better with the Conditional!

And BTW, only language professors need to know these categories of verb tenses. You only need to know that this is one of the most powerful grammar combos!

IF + something were to happen (had happened) + CONDITIONAL

For example:

Se ele falasse Português poderia vir conosco. ➜ If he spoke Portuguese he could come with us.

Did you feel the power?

You've probably seen the conditional before, right? PODER > PODERIA

The falASSE is the preterite imperfect form of FALAR. It's an easy conjugation. This verb tense is in the SUBJUNCTIVE category. That means that we are talking about UNCERTAINTY. The subjunctive mood always deals with uncertainty or impossibility. In English we say, if he were to speak... In Portuguese, this is done with the ASSE, ESSE verb endings. Arguably one of the most fun conjugations to say!

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Another,

Se eu tivesse dinheiro, compraria tudo. ➜ If I had money I would buy everything.

You see the pattern here? The conditional would comes after the if whatever were to be so. *Note in this example that the verb TER is irregular -- it's not tevesse it's, tivesse.

More,

Se você pudesse voar, para onde você voaria? ➜ If you could fly, where would you fly to?

A weird example! But you get to see the same verb in both forms.

Note that this tense is the most (the most) subjunctive of the subjunctive. In other words, it is used only for situations that did not happen, could not have happened, or would be very unlikely to happen or happened. You get the picture.

Se eu ganhasse na loteria, compraria um carro zerado.

Um carro zerado, BTW is a new car. "Zerado" refers to the odometer! This example gets trickier if you wanted to place it squarely into the past: If I had won...

Se eu tivesse ganho a loteria, compraria um carro zerado.

But now we're into super advanced territory. I do however think that even beginners learning Portuguese show try and use some of these. Do this: think up an example sentence that you can use once in a while. You will really impress the Brazilians ;-).

Here's one for you,

Se eu estudasse mais, falaria melhor!