How does could/would work in Spanish?

Question

Like, what tense is it? Does the verb it modifies have a special tense for it?

Answer 1

Yes, in a way does. Usually there would be a "podría" "quisiera" in a sentence.

For instance: I would like to eat jalapeño peppers: Yo "quisiera" comer jalapeño peppers.

or

I could eat jalapeño peppers: Yo "puedo" comer jalapeños peppers.

Would: quisiera

Could: podría

Would:

Yo quiero

Tu quieres

El/Ella quiere

Nosotros queremos

Ellos quieren

Could:

Yo puedo

Tu puedes

El/Ella puede

Nosotros podemos

Ellos pueden

Answer 2

Would does not translate into a specific word. Would implies conditional and in spanish, the conditional is formed by adding a suffix to the verb. So Conditional is a tense you need to conjugate for every person, from 1st sing to 3rd plural. Example;

I would think = Yo pensaria.  

We would think= Nosotros pensariamos.

Could is translated as either Conditional or Imperfect Subjunctive mode tense of the verb Poder. Sometimes even as Present tense of Poder, but that's unusual. It really depends. Example;

Could you open the door, please? = Podrias abrir la puerta, por favor?

- CONDITIONAL

In this case, you might also translate it as = Puedes abrir la puerta, por favor? - PRESENT . But that's a bit, let's say, informal, not exactly out of the manual.

If only i could... = Si tan solo pudiera/pudiese... -IMPERFECT SUB.

Subjunctive mode is pretty complicated for english speakers, since there's nothing like that in the english language. And the Imperfect tense of Subjunctive mode allows 2 variations for every verb. In the case of Poder;

Yo pudiera / pudiese.

Tu pudieras / pudieses.

El/Ella pudiera / pudiese.

Nosotros pudieramos / pudiesemos.

Vosotros pudierais / pudieseis.

Ellos pudieran / pudiesen.

So you can say the one with the "r" or the one with the "s" in the last sylable. There's no difference at all. And it's the same with any other verb.

Answer 3

You would you poder.. to be able to.  

for present tense:

Yo - Puedo

Tú- puedes

él - puede

nosotros- podemos

ellos- pueden