Questions on Lesson 2.1 Taking a Tour

Hello All

Re: Lesson 2.1 Taking a Tour

Comparing the two sentences below, they have the same sentence structure. However, the first sentence uses the conditional present tense (gustaría ), and the second uses the present tense (quiere). Could someone please explain to me the reason for using two utterly different tenses? 

1. ¿Qué tipo de tour le gustaría hacer? 

What type of tour would you like to do?

¿Qué actividades quiere hacer?

What activities do (you) want to do?

Thank you! 

¡Hola LiZ1744!

Great question! 

As you pointed out, these sentences use two different tenses; the first uses the conditional, and the second uses the present tense. 

El conditional, or “the conditional,” is a tense used in Spanish to express hypothetical actions and conditions. Meanwhile, English sticks “would” (or “could” or “should”) in front of other verbs to get this hypothetical or conditional effect. 

Another key use of the conditional in both Spanish and English is to ask polite questions, which we see here with the question ¿Qué tipo de tour le gustaría hacer? “What type of tour would you like to do?” Note that this does not mean it would be incorrect or rude to use the present tense here, but rather that the speaker is using this tense to soften the question they are asking. If you are interested in learning more about the conditional and its uses, you can check out Lesson 18.5, “Would,” “Could,” and “Should.”

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

¡Saludos!

Indy

To me it's the difference between “would like (gustaria)” and “want (quiere)”