What is the conditional tense and how do you form it?

The conditional tense is a structure used to talk about hypothetical situations and ask polite questions, and it works just like we use it in English - for example, "would you like to go to the cinema on Saturday?" is the conditional form of the verb 'to want'.For the Italian conditional tense (il condizionale), certain verbs are very useful: dovere (to have to/must)volere (to want to/like)piacere (to like)potere (to be able to/can) Dovere: devo (I must, PRESENT) dovrei (I should, CONDITIONAL)Volere: voglio (I want, PRESENT) vorrei (I would like, CONDITIONAL) Piacere: mi piace (I like, PRESENT) mi piacerebbe (I would like, CONDITIONAL)Potere: posso (I can, PRESENT) potrei (I could, CONDITIONAL)In English, therefore, you can notice the conditional with the ending '-ould', and similarly for the Italian first person conjugation we have the ending '-ei' (the exception is piacere, because this is a complicated verb to describe something as being likeable to you, rather than you liking something).Here are some example sentences for you to practice the conditional tense:I should study this afternoon.Could I play football this evening?I would like a cappuccino, please.For the first sentence, the verb is should, which is the conditional of must (dovere in Italian)Dovere = dovrei (first personal conditional, I should)Study = studiare (use in the infinitive, because it follows another verb)The sentence is therefore: Dovrei studiare questo pomeriggio.Sentence 2 is an example of forming a polite question: could = can (potere in Italian)Potere = potrei (first personal conditional, I could)Play football = giocare a calcioPotrei giocare a calcio stasera? The third sentence contains the verb would like which comes from the verb to want (volere) - this is a much more polite way to order a cappuccino than saying "I want a cappuccino"Volere = vorrei (first person conditional, I would like)Vorrei un cappuccino, per favore. When you are happy with when and why we use the conditional to talk about hypothetical situations and ask polite questions, you can look at the conjugations for different parts of the verb (tu, lui/lei, noi, voi, loro).