Is this sentence really correct?

allison h.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Is this sentence really correct?

Si viniérais, os ________ una paella riquísima. If you guys came, we would make a delicious paella for you.HINT: Using the "nosotros" form, conjugate "hacer" in El Condicional Simple

Because the first clause is in the past, wouldn't the second be in the contitional perfect?

Si viniérais, os habríamos hecho una paella?

Asked 6 years ago
SilviaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq
¡Hola Allison! The sentence you are refering to is a conditional construction where we use the imperfect of subjunctive in the "si" clause and the conditional tense of indicative in the second clause in order to express hyphotetical situations that have not yet happened. To use the conditional perfect in the second clause as you were suggesting, we should use the pluperfect of subjuntive in the "si" clause, due to the fact that using the conditional perfect means that the action is impossible to happen at the present time. However, our example "si viniérais, os haríamos una paella riquísima", is a bit more probable to happen but it is still unsure if it will. In your suggestion "si hubiérais venido, os habríamos hecho una paella riquísima", it is sure that they missed their opportunity of going to that place and the fact of cooking the paella for them will never happen at the present time. To sum up, the use of tenses in these type of conditional constructions is quite concrete and we cannot accept to use the imperfect of subjunctive + the conditional perfect in a conditional tense with "si" because the time frames are different and they don't make any sense. I hope that this explanation helps you to understand a bit better this concept. ¡Gracias! Silvia.
allison h.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Muchas gracias por la respuesta detallada! Claro, si, y es un problema para mi de reconocer la clausa de "si" en estos casos. La veo ahora. 

Is this sentence really correct?

Si viniérais, os ________ una paella riquísima. If you guys came, we would make a delicious paella for you.HINT: Using the "nosotros" form, conjugate "hacer" in El Condicional Simple

Because the first clause is in the past, wouldn't the second be in the contitional perfect?

Si viniérais, os habríamos hecho una paella?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Let me take a look at that...