mentir Conditional Conjugation
mentir — to lie
The conditional of mentir is regular: mentiría, mentirías, mentiría, mentiríamos, mentiríais, mentirían.
mentir Conditional Forms
When to Use the Conditional
Use this to say someone 'would lie' under certain conditions or to wonder about a past lie ('Would he have lied?').
Notes on mentir in the Conditional
Like the future tense, the conditional uses the full infinitive as its stem and is regular.
Example Sentences
Yo nunca mentiría por dinero.
I would never lie for money.
yo
¿Mentirías para salvar a un amigo?
Would you lie to save a friend?
tú
Dijeron que no mentirían.
They said they wouldn't lie.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Mientiría.
Correct: mentiría.
Why: The conditional never uses the stem-change found in the present tense.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'mentir' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: miento
Mentir is a stem-changing verb (e > ie) in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: mentí
Mentir changes its stem from 'e' to 'i' only in the third-person forms: mintió and mintieron.
Imperfect
yo: mentía
Mentir is regular in the imperfect: mentía, mentías, mentía, mentíamos, mentíais, mentían.
Future
yo: mentiré
Mentir is completely regular in the future tense; just add the endings to the infinitive.
Present Subjunctive
yo: mienta
Mentir changes to 'ie' in most forms, but importantly uses 'i' in the nosotros/vosotros forms.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: mintiera
The imperfect subjunctive of mentir uses the 'i' stem: mintiera, mintieras, mintiera...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: miente
Use 'miente' for informal commands and 'mienta' for formal ones.
Negative Imperative
yo: no mientas
All negative commands for mentir use the present subjunctive forms.