Conditionnel

REPRISE DE GRAMMAIRE

LE CONDITIONNEL

How do you form the conditional?

The conditional of most regular verbs is formed by adding the conditional endings to the infinitive. The stem of the conditional is the same as the stem of the future. Remember to drop the final e in the infinitive of -re verbs before adding the endings. Theconditional and imperfect endings are identical.

je ...............ais	nous ..............ions
tu ...............ais	vous ...............iez
il/elle/on ...............ait	ils/elles ..............aient

gagner

je gagnerais	nous gagnerions
tu gagnerais	vous gagneriez
il/elle/on gagnerait	ils/elles gagneraient

réussir

je réussirais	nous réussirions
tu réussirais	vous réussiriez
il/elle/on réussirait	ils/elles réussiraient

répondre

je répondrais	nous répondrions
tu répondrais	vous répondriez
il/elle/on répondrait	ils/elles répondraient

Regular -er verbs with certain endings undergo spelling changes before adding the conditional endings.

Verbs ending in e + consonant + er (e.g., mener, lever, peser) change e to è

je mènerais	nous mènerions
tu lèverais	vous lèveriez
il pèserait	ils pèseraient

Verbs ending in -eler and -eter (e.g., appeler, jeter) double the l and the t

j'appellerais	nous appellerions
tu jetterais	vous jetteriez

Note that acheter and geler change e to è instead of doubling the t and l

j'achèterais

nous gèlerions

Verbs ending in -yer (e.g., employer, essayer, essuyer, payer) change y to i. Verbs ending in -ayer may retain the y.

j'emploierais	nous emploierions
tu essaierais	vous essaieriez
il/on essuierait	ils essuieraient
elle paierait elle payerait	elles paieraient elles payeraient

Many common verbs have unusual stems in the conditional as in the future.

aller	j'irais
avoir	j'aurais
courir	je courrais
devoir	je devrais
envoyer	j'enverrais
etre	je serais
faire	je ferais
falloir	il faudrait
mourir	je mourrais
pleuvoir	il pleuvrait
pouvoir	je pourrais
recevoir	je recevrais
savoir	je saurais
tenir	je tiendrais
venir	je viendrais
voir	je verrais
vouloir	je voudrais

When do you use the conditional?

The conditional is used to soften questions and requests, making them more polite.

The conditional expresses the future of the past, in other words, an even that was future to a previously mentioned past event, but still in the past in relation to the moment in which you are speaking or writing. English also uses the conditional in this situation.

The conditional is used to indicate a possible or hypothetical fact that is the result of a condition. The English equivalent is would + verb.

Sentences that begin with SI

The conditional is used in sentences containing si-clauses. The following table contains the most common tense sequences used in conditional sentences.
The sequences are the same in English. The conditional tenses are only used in the main clause, never in the si-clause.

si-clause	main clause

present	present, futur, imperatif
imparfait	conditionnel present
plus-que-parfait	conditionnel passe

LE PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT

How do you form the pluperfect?

The pluperfect is a compound tense composed of the imperfect of the auxiliary verb (etre or avoir) and the past participle.

When do you use the pluperfect?

The pluperfect is used to indicate an action that took place before another action in the past. Its French name means more in the past that the past. It can be rendered in English as either the pluperfect had + past participle or the past tense.

LE CONDITIONNEL PASSE

How do you form the past conditional?

The past conditional is a compound tense composesd of the conditional of the auxiliary verb (etre or avoir) and the past participle.