Using the Spanish conditional simple to talk about a future in the past

A future in the past with El Condicional Simple

El Condicional Simple can be used in Spanish to express an action that takes place in a future within the past. It is commonly used in reported speech, with "Dijo que..."

For example:

If we place ourselves in the past at the moment of speaking, the action expressed with El Condicional is seen as something that has not happened yet, but it is going to happen in the future (inside that past).

Thinking about it now, everything expressed in the sentence is completed in the past, but not back then at the moment of speaking.

Sometimes the indirect speech is not obvious, or not present, but it has the same effect, as long as there is a verb in the past tense. For example:

Bear in mind that sometimes the action expressed with the conditional may still not have happened yet, but it will happen in a future point after the moment of talking. For example:

Here, the moment of speaking is "today" and we can understand that the action expressed in the conditional is an action either about to happen today or already happening. It is not clear, but it is understood that it will happen.