Le conditionnel: the Conditional in French

When to use le conditionnel in French

Le conditionnel is often translated with would or could in English. In French, we use the conditional in the following cases:

• to express a wish, a possibility, or a hypothesis in the present or the future (conditionnel présent) or in the past (conditionnel passé)

  Example:

  Daphné aimerait partir en vacances au soleil.Daphné would like to go on holiday somewhere sunny.

• as a tense to talk about the future from a past point of view

  Example:

  L’année dernière, elle pensait qu’elle pourrait partir en Martinique.Last year, she thought she might go to Martinique.

• in if-clauses

  Example:

  Si j’économisais une belle somme tous les mois, j’aurais assez d’argent pour aller où je veux ! If I saved a good amount each month, I’d have enough money to go wherever I want!

• to make polite requests

  Example:

  Est-ce que tu pourrais me prêter un peu d’argent ?Could you lend me some money, please?

How to conjugate le conditionnel in French

Conditionnel présent

We form the conditionnel présent by adding the imparfait endings to the stem of the futur simple form of the verb.

The verbs avoir and être are irregular.

To conjugate any French verb in the conditional, go to the verb conjugator.

Exceptions

Tip: the exceptions in the conditionnel présent are the same as those in the futur simple.

• Add a grave accent to an é or e that appears in the final syllable of the verb stem.

  Examples:

  peser – je pèserais

  modeler – je modèlerais

• Some verbs ending in -eler/-eter double their final consonants before adding the ending.

  Example:

  jeterto throw – je jetterais

• The i in certain -rir verbs disappears when we add the endings.
  

  Examples:

  courirto run – je courrais

  mourirto die – je mourrais

• For verbs ending in yer, y becomes i. For verbs ending in ayer, both y and i are allowed. (Note: the following verbs don’t follow this pattern: envoyer → j’enverrais and renvoyer → je renverrais.)

  Example:

  employerto employ – j’emploierais, tu emploierais, il emploierait, nous emploierions, vous emploieriez, ils emploieraient

  payerto pay – je payerais/paierais

• Verbs ending in -oir, as well as the verbs aller, envoyer, faire and venir, are irregular. To see their full conjugations, go to the list of irregular verbs.

  Example:

  pouvoirto be able to – je pourrais, tu pourrais, il pourrait, nous pourrions, vous pourriez, ils pourraient

Conditionnel passé

The conditional passé corresponds to the English structure would have + past participle. We use it to look back on past situations and express alternative outcomes. To conjugate the conditionnel passé we use the conditional form of avoir/être followed by the participe passé of the verb.

In negative sentences, the past participle comes after the second part of the negation (pas).

Example:

J’aurais rigolé. → Je n’aurais pas rigolé.I would have laughed.→ I wouldn’t have laughed.
Je serais parti.→ Je ne serais pas parti. I would have left.→ I wouldn’t have left.

For reflexive verbs, we put the reflexive pronoun and the auxiliary verb between the two parts of the negation (ne … pas).

Example:

Je ne me serais pas trompé dans mon calcul.I I wouldn’t have miscalculated.

Avoir or être

Most verbs construct the conditionnel passé with avoir. The auxiliary verb être is used:

• with reflexive verbs

Example:

se lever → je me serais levéto get up → I would have gotten up

• with the following 16 verbs of movement and change of state:
  naître/mourirto be born/to die, aller/venirto go/to come, monter/descendreto go up/to go down, arriver/partirto arrive/to leave, entrer/sortirto enter/to go out, apparaîtreto appear, devenirto become, passerto pass, resterto stay, retournerto return, tomberto fall
  

  Example:

  Luc serait venu, s’il ne s’était pas cassé la jambe.Luc would have come if he hadn’t broken his leg.

• and their derivatives:
  → revenirto come back, rentrerto return (home), remonterto go back up, redescendreto go back down, repartirto leave again, …
  

  Example:

  Nous serions repartis le lendemain, si notre voiture n’était pas tombée en panne.We would have left the next day if our car hadn’t broken down.

Participe passé

For the regular -er/-ir/-re verbs, the participe passé is easy to construct:

• If the infinitive ends with -er, the participle ends with é

  Example:

  aimer – aimé

• If the infinitive ends with -ir, the participle ends with i

  Example:

  finir – fini

• If the infinitive ends with -re, the participle ends with u
  

  Example:

  vendre - vendu

For the irregular verbs, we have to look up the participle forms in the list of irregular verbs, check their conjugation in the verb conjugator — or simply learn their forms by heart.

Agreement of the participe passé

For certain verbs, the participe passé must agree in gender and number.

• For verbs constructed with être, the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.

  Examples:

  Il serait parti en vacances.He would have gone on holiday.
  Elle serait partie en vacances.She would have gone on holiday.
  Ils seraient partis en vacances.They would have gone on holiday.
  Elles seraient parties en vacances.They (only women) would have gone on holiday.

• For verbs that are constructed using avoir, the participle agrees in gender and number with a direct object that comes before the verb. This direct object can take three possible forms: a personal pronoun (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les), the relative pronoun que, or a noun that comes before the verb (in questions and exclamations).
  

  Examples:

  Le maître aurait interrogé l’écolier. → Il l’aurait interrogé.The teacher would have asked the student.

  Le maître aurait interrogé l’écolière. → Il l’aurait interrogée.The teacher would have asked the student. (female)

  Le maître aurait interrogé les écoliers. → Il les aurait interrogés.The teacher would have asked the students. (males)

  Le maître aurait interrogé les écolières. → Il les aurait interrogées.The teacher would have asked the students. (all female)

• In the case of reflexive verbs (which always take être as their auxiliary in the conditionnel passé), the past participle generally agrees with the subject.
  

  Example:

  Nous nous serions levés trop tard.We would have got up too late.

• The exception to this concerns direct objects: the participle does not agree if the reflexive verb is followed by a direct object.
  

  Example:

  Elle se serait lavé les mains.She would have washed her hands. (Elle se serait lavé quoi? → les mains)

  → but: Elle se serait lavée.She would have washed herself.

• Remember: the past participle never agrees with an indirect object:

Example:

Marie et Laurent se seraient téléphoné.Marie and Laurent would have called each other on the phone.

→ se = indirect object

• The participe passé does not agree with the subject of the following verbs: se téléphonerto call each other, se parlerto talk to each other, se mentirto lie to each other, se plaire (complaire/déplaire)to like each other, se sourireto smile at each other, se rireto laugh at each other, se nuireto hurt each other, se succéderto succeed each other, se suffireto be enough, se ressemblerto look like each other, s’en vouloirto be annoyed with each other. This is because the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object. It is used in the sense of “each other” for these verbs.