English loose ends (cabos sueltos) and review: Lesson 1

Lesson 1: would

You already know "would like"

?me gustaría|I would like

?Le gustaría a ella|She would like

Etc, Etc. Let’s practise this:

?Me gustaría verlo|I would like to see it

?Nos gustaría tenerlo|We would like to have it

These endings ría/rías/ríamos/etc are a tense (tiempo) in Spanish. To say this in English we don’t have a tense. Remember English verbs are very boring and we use auxiliaries to do almost everything! In this case, we use the modal verb "would" in English. Let’s practise:

?Lo haríamos pero no tenemos suficiente dinero|We would do it but we don’t have enough time.

Did you remember to use don’t have and not haven’t here? Remember that have is a verb here and not an auxiliary!

?Te ayudaría pero no tengo tiempo|I would help you but I don’t have time.

? Te lo daría pero todavía no lo he terminado|I would give it to you but I haven’t finished it yet.

This time have is an auxiliary ha ha! Did you remember to use yet at the end of the clause?

?Irían a la reunión pero están demasiado ocupados|They would go to the meeting but they are too busy

Exactly as in Spanish, this is used also to report what people have said:

?Dijeron que nos lo enviarían mañana|They said they would send it to us tomorrow.

Remember if you don’t mention the person, you use say, if you mention the person, you use tell.

?Dijo que vendría cuando tuviera tiempo (ella)|She said she would come when she had time.

?Te dije que iría si no estaba ocupado|I told you I would go if I wasn’t busy

?Me dijo que me apoyaría|He told me he would support me

?Nos prometieron que dejarían de hacer eso|They promised us they would stop doing that.

?Me preguntó si estaríamos en casa cuando llegara (él)|He asked me if we would be home when he arrived.