Le conditionnel: the Conditional in French

What is le conditionnel?

The conditionnel (the conditional in English) can be used in French as a tense or as a mood. As a tense, the conditionnel expresses the future seen from a past point of view. As a mood, it allows us to talk about a hypothetical or imagined reality that can only occur under certain circumstances.

Learn all about the conditionnel in French with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples, then put your knowledge to the test in the free exercises below.

Contents

Zeichnung

Daphné aimerait partir en vacances au soleil.

L’année dernière, elle pensait qu’elle pourrait partir en Martinique mais les billets d’avion étaient trop chers.

Cette année, elle s’est dit : « Si j’économisais une belle somme tous les mois, j’aurais assez d’argent pour aller où je veux ! »

When to use the conditionnel in French

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

  • to express a wish, possibility or 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 the conditionnel présent

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

Person -er verbs -ir verbs -re verbs
1st person singular (I) j’aimerais je finirais je vendrais
2nd person singular (you) tu aimerais tu finirais tu vendrais
3rd person singular (he/she/it) il aimerait il finirait il vendrait
1st person plural (we) nous aimerions nous finirions nous vendrions
2nd person plural (you) vous aimeriez vous finiriez vous vendriez
3rd person plural (they) ils aimeraient ils finiraient ils vendraient

The verbs avoir and être are irregular.

Person avoir être
1st person singular (I) j’aurais je serais
2nd person singular (you tu aurais tu serais
3rd person singular (he/she/it) il aurait il/elle/on serait
1st person plural (we) nous aurions nous serions
2nd person plural (you) vous auriez vous seriez
3rd person plural (they) ils/elles auraient ils/elles seraient

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

Exceptions

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.)
    Examples:
    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

How to conjugate the 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 or être followed by the past participle of the verb.

Person -er verbs -ir verbs -re verbs
1st person singular (I) j’aurais aimé j’aurais fini j’aurais vendu
2nd person singular (you) tu aurais aimé tu aurais fini tu aurais vendu
3rd person singular (he/she/it) il aurait aimé il aurait fini il aurait vendu
1st person plural (we) nous aurions aimé nous aurions fini nous aurions vendu
2nd person plural (you) vous auriez aimé vous auriez fini vous auriez vendu
3rd person plural (they) ils auraient aimé ils auraient fini ils auraient vendu

Avoir or être

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

Example:
se lever → Je me serais levé.to get up → I would have got 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.

Info

If the verbs descendreto go down, (r)entrerto enter, (re)monterto go (back) up, retournerto go back, and sortirto leave are used with a direct object, the auxiliary avoir is used. This often implies a change in meaning.

Example:
À quelle heure serais-tu sorti ?What time would you have left?
no direct object, we use the auxiliary être
but: Aurais-tu sorti les carottes du frigo ? Would you have taken the carrots out of the refrigerator?
take out what? les carottes is the direct object, we use the auxiliary avoir

For more information on when to use which auxiliary, go to our avoir vs. être page.

Participe passé

For regular -er/-ir/-re verbs, the past participle is formed as follows:

  • If the infinitive ends with -er, the participle ends with é
    Example:
    aimer – aimélike – liked
  • If the infinitive ends with -ir, the participle ends with i
    Example:
    finir – finifinish – finished
  • If the infinitive ends with -re, the participle ends with u
    Example:
    vendre – vendusell – sold

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

Agreement of the participe passé

In some situations, the participe passé has to agree in gender and number with either the subject or direct object of the sentence:

  • when a verb takes être as an auxiliary, the past participle has to agree in gender and number with the subject.
    Examples:
    Il serait parti en vacances.He would have gone on holiday. (subject = masculine singular)
    Elle serait partie en vacances.She would have gone on holiday. (subject = feminine singular)
    Ils seraient partis en vacances.They would have gone on holiday. (subject = masculine plural)
    Elles seraient parties en vacances.They (only women) would have gone on holiday. (subject = feminine plural)
  • when a verb takes avoir as an auxiliary, the past participle only agrees in gender and number when there’s a direct object before the verb. The direct object can be:
    • a noun
      Example:
      La lettre qu’elle aurait écrite.The letter that she would have written. (direct object = feminine singular)
      la lettre is the direct object and comes before the verb (What would she have written? → She would have written the letter.)
    • a personal pronoun (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les)
      Examples:
      Le maître aurait interrogé l’écolier. → Il l’aurait interrogé.The teacher would have asked the student. → He would have asked him. (direct object = masculine singular)
      Le maître aurait interrogé l’écolière. → Il l’aurait interrogée.The teacher would have asked the student. (female) → He would have asked her. (direct object = feminine singular)
      Le maître aurait interrogé les écoliers. → Il les aurait interrogés.The teacher would have asked the students. (males) → He would have asked them. (direct object = masculine plural)
      Le maître aurait interrogé les écolières. → Il les aurait interrogées.The teacher would have asked the students. (all female) → He would have asked them. (direct object = feminine plural)
  • the past participle also has to agree when a verb is reflexive (reflexive verbs always take être in the passé composé). In most cases, the participle agrees with the subject.
    Example:
    Nous nous serions levés trop tard.We would have got up too late.

    However, there’s no agreement when a direct object comes after the reflexive verb.

    Example:
    Elle se serait lavé les mains.She would have washed her hands.
    les mains are the direct object of lavé, no agreement is needed
    → but: Elle se serait lavée.She would have washed herself.
    there’s no direct object, so agreement is needed
    Although it’s reflexive, the past participle of the verb se rendre compte (to realise) doesn’t agree with the subject of the sentence. This is because the word compte acts as a direct object.
    Example:
    Elle se serait rendu compte de son erreur.She would have realised her mistake.

Important

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 (téléphoner à qui ? → “to whom?”)

For these verbs, se is always an indirect object: 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.

With these verbs, se means “to each other”. The action goes to the other person, not on the other person. So se is an indirect object and the past participle never changes.

How to form the negative with the conditionnel

In negative sentences with the present conditional, the verb is enclosed by the two parts of the negation (ne…pas, ne…jamais, etc.). With the past conditional, it is the auxiliary verb avoir or être that is enclosed.

Examples:
Je voudrais prendre l’avion. → Je ne voudrais pas prendre l’avion.I wouldn’t like to fly.
Nous aurions aimé voyager. → Nous n‘aurions pas aimé voyager.We wouldn’t have liked to travel.

With pronominal verbs, negation is formed in a similar way. In the present conditional, the pronoun–verb unit is enclosed by the two parts of the negation, and in the past conditional, the pronoun–auxiliary unit is enclosed.

Examples:
Je ne m’inquièterais pas pour ça.I wouldn’t worry about that.
Tu ne te serais pas trompé dans ton calcul ?Didn’t you make a mistake in your calculation?

Go to our page on negation in French for more information and lots of practice exercises.