Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Indicative tenses after si

In conditional clauses other than those discussed in 13.1, indicative tenses

are used:

Si hablo mucho, me canso. If I speak a lot, I get tired.

Si llegas temprano, iremos If you arrive early, we shall go

juntos. together.

Si se reían, no estaban If they were laughing, they

enfadados. weren’t angry.

This includes conditional clauses that appear in reported speech referring

to the past, where the original words expressed an open condition, e.g. ‘He

stated that he would help me if it was possible’. The original words were,

‘I will help you if it is possible’ (i.e. Te ayudaré si es posible) and so the

report of that statement is translated using the indicative: Me afirmó que

me ayudaría si era posible. Other examples:

Prometió que lo devolvería si todavía lo tenía.

He promised he would return it if he still had it.

Dijo que limpiaría la cocina si yo pasaba la aspiradora.

He said he would clean the kitchen if I vacuumed the floor.

13.2

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

Indicative

tenses after si

163

Latin America, after no saber: No sé si sea cierto[LA] for No sé

si es cierto ‘I do not know if it is true’.

4 Como si‘as if’ is always followed by the imperfect or pluperfect

subjunctive: Gasta dinero como si fuera millonario‘He spends

money as though he were a millionaire’.

5 If the words ‘were to’ occur in an English sentence (or can be

inserted), as in ‘If they offered more/were to offer more, would

you sell?’, this is an indication that it is a closed condition

requiring an imperfect subjunctive: Si ofrecieran más, ¿venderías?

Future and conditional tenses after si

Generally these only occur after siwhen it can be translated as

‘whether’ in English:No sé si iré al trabajo‘I don’t know if/whether

I’ll go to work’, No sabía si ella vendría‘I didn’t know if/whether

she would come’.