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.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
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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?
