01 · The classic dream
Si ganara la lotería, compraría una casa.
If I won the lottery, I'd buy a house.
Si + tuviera-style verb, then the result in the conditional — this is the shape of every big daydream in Spanish.
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What If
Imagine other lives and give 'if I were you' advice — dreaming out loud in Spanish.
The imperfect subjunctive is how Spanish imagines things that aren't so, and it's easier to build than it sounds: take the preterite ellos form and swap the ending for -ra (hablaron → hablara, tuvieron → tuviera, fueron → fuera) — the irregular stems come along for free. The core formula pairs it with the conditional: Si tuviera dinero, viajaría — if I had money, I'd travel. The classic trap is putting the conditional after si: it's si tuviera, never si tendría. And keep it apart from real conditions, which take the present: Si llueve mañana, me quedo en casa vs Si lloviera ahora, me quedaría.
Below: the pattern phrase by phrase, the advice frames built on it, real vs unreal conditions side by side — and a way to practise hypotheticals in live conversation instead of a conjugation drill.
The warm-up pack
How to imagine a different life, give real advice, and tell real conditions from daydreams — all out loud.
01 · The classic dream
Si ganara la lotería, compraría una casa.
If I won the lottery, I'd buy a house.
Si + tuviera-style verb, then the result in the conditional — this is the shape of every big daydream in Spanish.
02 · One clause, reversed order
Viajaría por el mundo si tuviera el dinero.
I'd travel the world if I had the money.
The order flips easily — result first, si-clause after. Both land exactly the same way.
03 · The version of you with more time
Si tuviera más tiempo, leería más libros.
If I had more time, I'd read more books.
Swap in your own version — the formula holds no matter what you'd actually do with the time.
04 · The real one, not the dream
Si llueve mañana, me quedo en casa.
If it rains tomorrow, I'll stay home.
This could really happen tomorrow, so it stays in the present — no subjunctive needed here at all.
05 · The unreal version of the same idea
Si lloviera ahora, me quedaría en casa.
If it were raining now, I'd stay home.
Same idea, but now it's not actually raining — that shift into unreal is what pulls in the imperfect subjunctive.
06 · Giving advice like it's your own life
Si yo fuera tú, hablaría con el jefe.
If I were you, I'd talk to the boss.
The classic advice-opener. You're not saying what you'd do — you're stepping into their situation for a moment.
07 · The shorter way to give the same advice
Yo en tu lugar, buscaría otro trabajo.
In your place, I'd look for another job.
Same advice, no si required — just as common, and a little more conversational than the full formula.
08 · Answering a hypothetical question
¿Qué harías si te ofrecieran ese puesto?
What would you do if they offered you that position?
The question version of the whole pattern — someone asks, and you answer back with a tuviera-style form of your own.
09 · A world without a thing you rely on
Si no existiera internet, la vida sería muy diferente.
If the internet didn't exist, life would be very different.
A big, sweeping hypothetical — the grammar works exactly the same whether the stakes are tiny or huge.
10 · A braver version of you
Si fuera más valiente, viajaría solo por Asia.
If I were braver, I'd travel alone through Asia.
Not about what you'd do — about who you'd be. Fuera doesn't only apply to actions.
11 · Comparing to something that isn't true
Habla como si supiera todo.
He talks as if he knew everything.
Como si always pulls in the imperfect subjunctive, even mid-sentence — you're comparing to something you both know isn't true.
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First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/what-ifRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
No conjugation charts, nothing to fill in — in the What If lessons the hypotheticals are about your life, and Carla keeps them coming out loud. What would you do with more time, more money, another city? Si ganara la lotería, compraría una casa — now your version. Then she asks for advice — ¿Qué harías si te ofrecieran ese puesto? — and you reach for Si yo fuera tú…, Yo en tu lugar…, Yo que tú… — three openers, one conditional. When you're cruising she stretches you into como si: Habla como si supiera todo — until the unreal mood comes as fast as the real one.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and What If is yours — earned, not given.
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Quick answers
From the preterite ellos stem plus -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -ran: hablaron → hablara, tuvieron → tuviera, fueron → fuera. Because it starts from the preterite, the irregulars are already built in: poder → pudiera, saber → supiera.
Si tuviera — the conditional never follows si. The conditional belongs in the result: Si tuviera más tiempo, leería más libros. Getting this backwards is the single most common giveaway in hypotheticals.
Nothing in meaning — -se forms like si hablase or si tuviese are a formal, bookish alternative. In conversation across Spain and Latin America the -ra form dominates; understand -se, speak -ra.
Si yo fuera tú, hablaría con el jefe. Two natural variants: Yo en tu lugar, buscaría otro trabajo and the very colloquial yo que tú. In Argentina it's voseo: si fuera vos.
Present for real, likely conditions: Si llueve mañana, me quedo en casa. Imperfect subjunctive + conditional for unreal or contrary-to-fact ones: Si lloviera ahora, me quedaría. Ask yourself: could this actually happen, or am I imagining?