COULD

Past form of Conditional

“CAN” form of “CAN”

Ability in the Possibility in

past the FUTURE

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 COULD (podría)

POSSIBILITY in the FUTURE

(posibilidad para el futuro) (condición)

John could go to jail for stealing the money.

If you went to Paris, you could see the Eiffel Tower.

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 FUTURE

WILL
modal verb

predictions for decisions made

the future at the moment

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For example…
After school, I will go to university and
I will study to be a vet. (prediction)
Better say…  I’ll go to university…
 I’ll study to be…

Excuse me, I will be right back in a minute.

(desicion at the moment)

Better say…  I’ll be right back in a minute.

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 FUTURE CONDITIONAL
conditional
WOULD form
of “will”

modal verb

unreal or imaginary conditional

situations sentences

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The modal “would” is used for unreal or
imaginary situations. For example…

-I would love to visit New York.

(Me encantaría visitar Nueva York.)

-She would like to be professional footballer.

(A ella le gustaría ser futbolista professional.)

-It would be great to live by the sea.

(Sería grandioso vivir cerca del mar.)

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So now we are ready to check the use of

COULD WOULD
in the future
conditional

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 If I had the chance, I would travel to Hawaii.
(Si tuviera la posibilidad, viajaría a Hawaii.)

She would be happy if you called her.

(Ella estaría feliz si la llamaras.)

If he found a job, he could rent an apartment.

(Si él encontrara un trabajo, podría arrendar un departamento.)

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All these are unreal or imaginary situations.

If I had the chance, I would travel to Hawaii.

(but I don’t have the chance to travel.)

If he found a job, he could rent an apartment.

(but he doesn’t have a job.)

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In English, we call this...

SECOND CONDITIONAL

express an unreal situation in the present or in

the future which is unlikely to happen

it depends on a condition

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If I had an electric guitar, I could play in a band.

condition result

si tuviera una guitarra eléctrica, podría tocar en una banda.

no tengo una guitarra eléctrica, así que la situación es imaginaria.

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It would be great if my mom cooked french fries.

result condition

sería grandioso si mi mamá cocinara papas fritas.

mi mamá está en su trabajo, así que no puede cocinarme papas

fritas, por lo tanto, es una idea irreal o imaginaria.

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 SECOND CONDITIONAL STRUCTURE

IF sentence in past conditional sentence

regular or would / could

irregular verbs
in past form

If you went to Paris, you could see the Eiffel Tower.

*went is the past form of GO

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We could flip the order of this structure without a difference
in the meaning.

conditional sentence IF sentence in past

would / could regular or

irregular verbs
in past form

You could see the Eiffel Tower if you went to Paris.

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