Question about example sentence

Mysterious StrangerKwiziq community member

Question about example sentence

Hi!

So in "Si empiezas el trabajo mañana, te tocaría archivar los expedientes a primera hora",  here tocaría  is a conditional, so would the correct translation not be "you would have to file" Instead of "you will have to file"? Like this: "If you start work tomorrow, you would have to file the dossiers first thing."

Thank you and have a good weekend!

Asked 4 years ago
InmaKwiziq Head of Spanish, Native Spanish TeacherCorrect answer

Hola Alexander,

yes, thanks. We changed it to the conditional.

Inma

InmaKwiziq Head of Spanish, Native Spanish Teacher

Hola Alexander,

actually, I checked this with our native English team and that combination of tenses doesn't seem to be possible. In Spanish the conditional sentences are a bit more flexible than English. So, in Spanish you could say:

Si empiezas el trabajo mañana, te tocará....

If you start work tomorrow, you will have to...

or

Si empiezas el trabajo mañana, te tocaría...

If you started work tomorrow [lit: if you start], you would have to...

or 

Si empezaras el trabajo mañana, te tocaría...

If you were to start work tomorrow, you would have to...

I have added a "literal" note in the translation of that sentence to avoid confusion. I hope that helps.

Saludos

Mysterious StrangerKwiziq community member

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Mysterious Stranger asked:

Question about example sentence

Hi!

So in "Si empiezas el trabajo mañana, te tocaría archivar los expedientes a primera hora",  here tocaría  is a conditional, so would the correct translation not be "you would have to file" Instead of "you will have to file"? Like this: "If you start work tomorrow, you would have to file the dossiers first thing."

Thank you and have a good weekend!

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