T HE C ONDITIONAL T ENSE

The French conditional mood is very similar to the English conditional mood. It describes events that are not guaranteed to occur; often they are dependent on certain conditions. While the French conditional mood has a full set of conjugations, the English equivalent is just the modal verb "would" + main verb. J E VOUDRAIS I would like

T O CONJUGATE AN -ER OR -IR VERB IN THE CONDITIONAL, ADD THE APPROPRIATE ENDINGS TO THE INFINITIVE. F OR -RE VERBS, REMOVE THE FINAL - E AND THEN ADD THE CONDITIONAL ENDINGS.

C ONDITIONAL ENDINGS Je Tu Il/elle/on Nous Vous Ils/elles -ais -ait -ions -iez -aient SubjectVerb ending

R EGULAR V ERBS -er and -ir verbs Add the ending to the infinitive Je jouerais Je finirais -re verbs Miss of the final ‘e’ and add the ending Je vendrais

Je voudrais une pomme. I would like an apple Je voudrais aller avec vous. I would like to go with you T HE VERB VOULOIR IS USED IN THE CONDITIONAL TO EXPRESS A POLITE REQUEST VOULOIR POLITE REQUEST

T HE F RENCH CONDITIONAL IS MAINLY USED IN SI CLAUSES, TO EXPRESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF A CONDITION WERE MET : SI CLAUSES Il boirait s'il avait soif. He would drink if he were thirsty. Si nous étudiions, nous serions plus intelligents. If we studied, we would be smarter.

H OWEVER, YOU CAN ' T SAY " SI VOUS VOUDRIEZ " TO MEAN " IF YOU WOULD LIKE," BECAUSE THE F RENCH CONDITIONAL CAN NEVER BE USED AFTER SI." SI VOUS VOUDRIEZ "

For irregular verbs, add the endings to the irregular conditional stem.

I RREGULAR STEMS ir aur devr enverr ser fer faudr pourr saur viendr verr voudr aller avoir devoir envoyer être faire falloir pouvoir savoir venir voir vouloir

N OTE 1. The conditional stem always ends in R. 2. The exact same verbs are irregular in the future and use the same stems. future

T EST 1.Si j'étais riche, je te (donner) une voiture 2 Il (partir) s'il avait une voiture. 3 Si mes frères travaillaient, ils (être) riches. 4 Elle t'(aimer) si tu étais gentil 5 Si je l'expliquais encore, (comprendre)-tu ?

A NSWERS 1.Si j'étais riche, je te donnerais une voiture 2 Il partirait s'il avait une voiture. 3 Si mes frères travaillaient, ils étaient riches. 4 Elle t’aimerais si tu étais gentil 5 Si je l'expliquais encore, comprendrais-tu ?