IF Clauses

“Si” Clauses“Si” (“if”) is an adverbial conjunction, but it’s different from all other adverbial conjunctions. It NEVER gets the PRESENT subjuntive:

Juan siempre almuerza si tiene tiempo.Juan va a almorzar si tiene tiempo.

In these sentences, the present INDICATIVE follows “si.” The present subjunctive never does. However, the IMPERFECT subjunctive frequently does follow “si.”

Some “si” clauses are called “contrary to fact” clauses:

If it were raining (but it’s not), we would leave.

If I were you (but I’m not), I would study more.

If I had a million dollars (but I don’t), I’d buy a Ferrari.

All of these “if” clauses are contrary to fact, and you use the imperfect subjunctive in them:

Si lloviera, saldríamos.

Si fuera tú, estudiaría más.

Si tuviera un millón de dólares, compraría un Ferrari.

Look carefully at the verbs in these sentences from the previous page:

Si lloviera, saldríamos.Si fuera tú, estudiaría más.Si tuviera un millón de dólares, compraría un Ferrari.

In all three sentences, the verb after “si” is in the imperfect subjunctive, and the main verb is conditional. Those two tenses are MARRIED. If you have imperfect subjunctive in the “si” clause, you HAVE to have the conditional in the main clause. If you have the conditional in the main clause, you HAVE to have the imperfect subjunctive in the “si” clause. If you have one, you have to have the other. If you don’t have one, you can’t have the other.

And if you don’t have either one of those, you use whatever indicative tense makes sense:

Si llueve, Juan no va. – If it’s raining, Juan isn’t going.

Si llovió, Juan no fue. – If it rained, Juan didn’t go. (We don’t know if it rained or not, but if it did, Juan stayed home.)

Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.