Conditionnel
Conditional can be used in French as a tense/mood. As a tense, conditionnel expresses the future seen from a past point of view. As a mood, conditional allows us to talk about a hypothetical or an imagined reality that can only occur under certain circumstances.
Conditional is often translated with “would/could” in English. But in French, we use this grammar in the below following cases:
CASE 1: To express a wish or a possibility or a hypothesis in the present or in the future or in the past.
Jason would like to be on a vacation.
(Jason aimerait prendre des vacances)
CASE 2: As a tense, it is used to talk about the future in the past point of view.
Dia thought she might go on a picnic.
(Dia a pensé qu’elle pourrait aller à un pique-nique)
CASE 3: It is also used to make polite requests.
Mickel, could you come to the board?
(Mickel pourriez-vous venir au tableau?)
How many tenses are there?
There are two tense:
1.Conditional Present 2.Conditional Past.
HOW TO CONJUGATE?
Conditional Present:
We form conditional present by adding the [IMPARFAIT] endings.
| Subject | Endings |
| Je | ais |
| Tu | ais |
| Il | ait |
| Elle | ait |
| Nous | ions |
| Vous | iez |
| Ils | aient |
| Elles | aient |
The verbs which ends in ER: We must add the endings next to the letter R.
The verbs which ends in IR: We must add the endings next to the letter R.
The verbs which ends in RE: We must remove that last letter E and add the endings.
| ER verbs | IR verbs | RE verbs |
| PARLER [to talk] |
PARTIR [ to leave] |
VENDRE [ to sell] |
| Je parlerais | Je partirais | Je vendrais |
| Tu parlerais | Tu partirais | Tu vendrais |
| Il parlerait | Il partirait | Il vendrait |
| Elle palerait | Elle partirait | Elle vendrait |
| Nous parlerions | Nous partirions | Nous vendrions |
| Vous parleriez | Vous partiriez | Vous vendriez |
| Ils parleraient | Ils partiraient | Ils vendraient |
| Elles parleraient | Elles partiraient | Elles vendraient |
Remember it’s not applicable for Être and Avoir. Since they are irregular verbs.
| ÊTRE | AVOIR |
| [to be] | [ to have] |
| Je serais | J’aurais |
| Tu serais | Tu aurais |
| Il serait | Il aurait |
| Elle serait | Elle auraiit |
| Nous serions | Nous aurions |
| Vous series | Vous auriez |
| Ils seraient | Ils auraient |
| Elles seraient | Elles auraient |
Conditional Past:
This is similar to the English structure “Would have + Past participle”.
We use this tense to look back on past situations and to express alternative outcomes. To conjugate this tense. We use the conditional form of AVOIR or ÊTRE followed by the past participle of the verb.
In negative sentences, the past participle comes after the second part of the negation (pas)
Je serais sorti = Je ne serais pas sorti.
J’aurai mangé = Je n’aurais pas mangé.