Le Conditionnel Passé Français IV
Past Conditional = Conditional Perfect Le conditionnel passé in French consists of the conditional form of the auxillary verb (avoir or etre) plus a past participle This verb translates as “would have/ should have / could have done something”
Formation AVOIR: J’aurais Nous aurions Tu aurais Vous auriez Il/elle/on aurait Ils/elles auraient + a past participle EX: I would have finished my homework, but I had to work after school. J’aurais fini mes devoirs, mais j’avais dû travailler après l’école.
Formation, cont’d ETRE: J’serais Nous serions Tu serais Vous seriez Il/elle/on serait Ils/elles seraient + a past participle EX: She would have gone out with him if he hadn’t stood her up! Elle serait sortie avec lui si il ne l’avait pas posé de lapin!
Common Uses Past conditional is very often used with the following expressions: You should have… Tu aurais dû… (or you shouldn’t have – tu n’aurais pas dû…) You could have… Tu aurais pu…
Si Clauses In French, there are clauses that are the equivalent of “if…then” clauses in English. In the perfect tenses, si clauses are formed by following this pattern: Use plus-que-parfait in the SI CLAUSE (if…) Use conditionnel passé in the MAIN CLAUSE (then…)
Plus-que-Parfait Remember: plus-que-parfait is formed by using the IMPARFAIT of avoir/etre plus a past participle AVOIR: ETRE: Stem: av- Stem: ét- (PLUS -ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient) EX: J’avais fini – I had finished Elle était sortie – she had gone out
Si Clause Examples Si j’avais étudié pour mon examen, je l’aurais réussi! Mathilde serait allée au concert si nous lui avions telephoné plus tôt. Tu aurais dû telephoner à tes parents si tu avais su que tu serais en retard!