El ladrón se habría escapado por una ventana: the condicional compuesto

The condicional compuesto can be used to refer to unreal situations in the past, that is, to situations that did not occur, normally because they depended on a condition that was not met. This condition is generally introduced using the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo, but not always. It is also used to introduce actions that occurred because an exceptional circumstance intervened. Let’s look at examples.

Si yo hubiera tenido suficiente dinero, me habría comprado la casa. – If I had had enough money, I would have bought the house. (I didn’t buy it).

Sin tu ayuda no habríamos resuelto el problema. – Without your help we would not have solved the problem. ( We solved the problem).

In colloquial language, and this depending on the variety of Spanish in question, conditional sentences that are not accompanied by a sentence in the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo are often constructed with this latter verb tense. Thus, in certain areas of the Spanish-speaking world one can hear sin tu ayuda no hubiéramos resuelto el problema. The standard in this type of sentence is the use of the condicional compuesto, since this verb tense is the one that introduces actions that did not occur in the past and the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo is the one that introduces the conditions for those actions to occur or not, but the alternation between these verb tenses is something very widespread in spoken language.

This verb tense is also used for imaginary situations in the past, or to express our agreement or disagreement with, for example, decisions made by other people.

Hacía mucho frío en la montaña, me habría sentido mejor con ropa más abrigada. – It was very cold in the mountains, I would have felt better with warmer clothes.

María aceptó la beca, yo habría hecho lo mismo. – María accepted the scholarship, I would have done the same.

Juan se casó dos meses después de conocer a su novia, yo no lo habría hecho. – Juan got married two months after meeting his girlfriend, I would not have done it.

In these cases the same thing happens as in the previous examples: depending on the variety of Spanish in question, in sentences like these the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo is often used in spoken language.

The condicional compuesto is also used to give advice about past situations, or reproaches about past situations with a kind and gentle tone.

Si me hubieras prestado atención, no habrías cometido ese error. – If you had paid attention to me, you would not have made that mistake.

Yo en tu lugar no habría visitado Siberia en invierno. – In your place I would not have visited Siberia in winter.

Likewise, it can be used to express regret or introduce unfulfilled wishes.

Habría sido hermoso conocerte antes. – It would have been beautiful to meet you earlier.

Ella habría estudiado Ingeniería, pero no tenía tiempo porque trabajaba demasiado. – She would have studied Engineering, but she didn’t have time because she worked too much.

At the risk of being repetitive, again in spoken language these uses of the condicional compuesto are replaced by the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo. This happens, for example, in my own variety of the language, and the use of the condicional compuesto, in some cases, always speaking of my variety of the language, sounds unnatural. For example, if someone tells me habría viajado a Austria el año pasado – I would have traveled to Austria last year, expressing that action as an unfulfilled wish, I would be waiting for a condition, the one that prevented the person who told me that from traveling to Austria. To me, personally and because of the variety of the language I speak, hubiera viajado a Austria el año pasado would sound much more natural. I clarify all this not with the idea of generating confusion, but because this is a linguistic phenomenon that occurs very frequently.

The condicional compuesto is also used to express supposition in the past about another fact that is also past, generally about the causes of this latter fact.

 – Ayer llegué al trabajo y María no estaba. Yesterday I arrived at work and María was not there.

 – Se habría ido más temprano. – She would have left earlier.

 – La semana pasada Juan no atendió el celular ningún día. Last week Juan didn’t answer his cell phone any day.

Se le habría roto. It would have broken.

It is also used to express speculations or suppositions about a fact that would have occurred or not in the future but from the perspective of the past. Normally the meaning of the sentence, that is, the realization or not of the fact, is negative in affirmative sentences and positive in negative ones. Let’s look at examples with the same sentence:

Juan pensó que para el viernes habría terminado el trabajo. – Juan thought that by Friday he would have finished the work. (He didn’t finish it).

Juan pensó que para el viernes no habría terminado el trabajo. – Juan thought that by Friday he would not have finished the work. (He finished it).

Another use of this verb tense is to introduce information that the speaker cannot affirm to be real, that is not verified, or from which the person issuing it wants to maintain a distance. This use is scarce or nonexistent in spoken language, it is a more journalistic use. Although in general, even within this journalistic use, it refers rather to rumors or unverified information, there is also a stylistic use: the sentence el ladrón se habría escapado por una ventana – the thief would have escaped through a window could be used in a journalistic piece about a robbery in which the evidence shows that there are no forced locks, all the openings of the robbed house are locked and there is a broken window, which leaves little room for speculation, but since there is no, for example, a video showing the thief through that window, and, on the other hand, because of the writing style of journalism, that sentence would be written in the condicional compuesto. These last uses that I have described, it is worth clarifying, are not normally replaced by the pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo.

I repeat what was said in the first paragraph: we have gotten into rough terrain. We will see even more exceptions and substitutions in the next article, in which we will look at conditional sentences in Spanish and in which we will close this small series of articles in which we navigate between different levels of linguistic competence but which I thought was interesting to create. I understand the difficulties when it comes to understanding some things, because it happens to me myself that there are many things I don’t understand, at first, in the languages I learn. But, from my point of view and from my own experience, everything is stored somewhere in the brain and, at some point, it blooms. Here I leave you exercises to practice this topic. Thanks for reading!