Language/Russian/Grammar/Conditional-Mood

Russian Grammar - Conditional Mood

Hi Russian learners! 😊
In today's lesson, we will be discussing the conditional mood in Russian grammar. The conditional mood is used to express hypothetical situations or events that are dependent on certain conditions. It is an important part of the Russian language and can be used to express a variety of ideas.

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Use of the verb быть in the past, Russian Grammar → Russian Pronouns → Noun-Adjective Agreement, Accusative Case & А vs Но.

Overview

The conditional mood is formed by adding the suffixes -л, -ла, -ло, -ли to the stem of the verb. This suffix is added to the end of the verb, regardless of the tense or person. For example, the verb говорить (to speak) becomes говорил, говорила, говорило, говорили in the conditional mood.

Uses

The conditional mood is used to express hypothetical situations or events that are dependent on certain conditions. It can also be used to express wishes, requests, and polite commands.

• To express hypothetical situations: Если бы я был богатым, я бы путешествовал по всему миру. (If I were rich, I would travel around the world.)
• To express wishes: Я желаю, чтобы все было хорошо. (I wish that everything was good.)
• To express requests: Пожалуйста, помогите мне. (Please help me.)
• To express polite commands: Пожалуйста, приходите вовремя. (Please come on time.)

Conjugation

The conditional mood is conjugated by adding the suffixes -л, -ла, -ло, -ли to the stem of the verb. This suffix is added to the end of the verb, regardless of the tense or person. For example, the verb говорить (to speak) becomes говорил, говорила, говорило, говорили in the conditional mood.

The following table shows the conjugation of the verb говорить (to speak) in the conditional mood:

Person	Singular	Plural
I	говорил	говорили
You	говорил	говорили
He/She/It	говорила	говорили
We	говорили	говорили

Examples

Here are some examples of sentences using the conditional mood:

• Я бы поехал в Россию, если бы у меня было больше денег. (I would go to Russia if I had more money.)
• Она бы помогла мне, если бы я попросила. (She would have helped me if I had asked.)
• Мы бы пошли на концерт, если бы мы имели билеты. (We would have gone to the concert if we had tickets.)
• Он бы пришел вовремя, если бы он знал. (He would have come on time if he had known.)

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Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Other Lessons

• Pronouns
• Questions
• To and же particles in Russian
• Nouns
• Personal Pronouns
• Plurals
• Adjectives
• Кое То Нибудь
• А vs Но
• The verb to be

Sources

• Subjunctive mood of Russian verbs (conditional tense) explained
• Russian Conditional Sentences - Russian grammar and vocabulary ...