Spanish · Chapter 25 · Lesson 9 · Common mistake
si tengo or si tuviera?
Real conditions and imagined ones take different tenses, and neither takes a future.
The rule
A real condition takes the present, with a future or a command after it: si tengo tiempo, iré. An unreal one - something you are imagining rather than expecting - takes the imperfect subjunctive with the conditional: si tuviera tiempo, iría. Spanish never puts a future or a conditional straight after si, and that is the rule English speakers break first.
Pick the right one
0/6Pick the right one: tengo or tuviera.
Si tiempo, iré contigo.
Si dinero, compraría una casa.
Si hambre, come algo.
Si más años, lo entendería.
Si mañana tiempo, te llamo.
Si que elegir, elegiría este.
The full lesson on this sits in the same chapter.
Read the full lesson