me gustaría, sería, haría: wishes, politeness and hypotheticals
Spanish "would" is a real tense — the condicional simple. Add the same endings to the whole infinitive: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
hablar → hablaría (I would speak) · comer → comería (I would eat)
vivir → viviría (I would live) · ser → sería (I would be)
The endings never change — and they attach to the infinitive, not a stem. Viviría = vivir + ía.
Me gustaría + infinitive (I would like to...) is probably the highest-value B1 phrase — essential for wishes, plans and exam tasks.
Me gustaría viajar por Sudamérica. (I would like to travel around South America.)
Nos gustaría reservar una mesa. (We would like to book a table.)
It works like gustar: the person is me/te/le/nos/os/les — le gustaría = he/she would like.
The same twelve verbs that are irregular in the future are irregular in the conditional — same shortened stems.
tener → tendría · poder → podría · hacer → haría · decir → diría
salir → saldría · venir → vendría · saber → sabría · querer → querría
haber → habría · poner → pondría · valer → valdría · caber → cabría
If you know the future stem (tendr-, har-, dir-), you already know the conditional.
The conditional softens anything — requests, opinions, advice. It is the polite register of Spanish.
¿Te importaría cerrar la ventana? (Would you mind closing the window?)
Yo en tu lugar, hablaría con él. (If I were you, I would talk to him.)
¿Sería posible cambiar la reserva? (Would it be possible to change the booking?)
"Yo en tu lugar..." or "Yo que tú..." + conditional is the classic advice formula.
The conditional pairs with the imperfect subjunctive for unreal situations: Si + imperfect subjunctive, conditional. You will master the subjunctive part later — recognise the pattern now.
Si tuviera dinero, viajaría más. (If I had money, I would travel more.)
Si pudiera, te ayudaría. (If I could, I would help you.)
Memorise si tuviera... / si pudiera... as chunks — they unlock a whole exam task type.
Traps for English speakers
These are the errors English speakers make most often.