The present and past conditional

Politeness, hypothesis, regret: je voudrais, j’aurais dû.

⚡Key points

Present: future stem + -ais…→je parlerais, je serais, j’aurais

Past: cond. of avoir/être + participle→j’aurais mangé, je serais parti

Politeness→je voudrais, pourriez-vous…

Hypothesis→si j’avais le temps, je viendrais

Regret / reproach (past)→j’aurais dû, tu aurais pu

Present conditional: formation

The present conditional = the future simple stem + imparfait endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient). The irregular stems are the same as the future: être → ser-, avoir → aur-, aller → ir-, faire → fer-, pouvoir → pourr-, vouloir → voudr-.

Parler (present conditional)

je	parlerais	I would speak
tu	parlerais	you would speak
il / elle	parlerait	he / she would speak
nous	parlerions	we would speak
vous	parleriez	you would speak
ils / elles	parleraient	they would speak

The past conditional

The past conditional = the present conditional of avoir or être + past participle. It expresses an unrealised action, regret or reproach.

Past conditional (manger / partir)

je	j’aurais mangé / je serais parti(e)	I would have eaten / left
tu	tu aurais mangé / tu serais parti(e)	you would have eaten / left
il / elle	il aurait mangé / elle serait partie	he/she would have eaten / left
nous	nous aurions mangé / serions parti(e)s	we would have eaten / left
vous	vous auriez mangé / seriez parti(e)s	you would have eaten / left
ils / elles	ils auraient mangé / seraient partis	they would have eaten / left

Uses

Politeness

Je voudrais un café. (I would like a coffee.)

Pourriez-vous m’aider ? (Could you help me?)

Hypothesis

Si j’avais le temps, je viendrais. (If I had time, I would come.)

Regret, reproach (past)

J’aurais dû partir plus tôt. (I should have left earlier.)

Tu aurais pu me prévenir. (You could have warned me.)

Unconfirmed information

Le président serait malade. (The president is reportedly ill.)

💡⚠️ Past conditional = regret

The past conditional often expresses regret or reproach about the past: j’aurais dû (I should have), tu aurais pu (you could have), il aurait fallu (it would have been necessary). The action never happened.

J’aurais aimé venir, mais j’étais malade.

Vous auriez dû réserver à l’avance.

Dialogue: after the match

HugoOn aurait dû gagner ce match !

SamiSi l’arbitre avait été juste, on aurait gagné.

HugoTu pourrais arrêter de chercher des excuses ?

SamiJe voudrais juste qu’on rejoue.

Hugo: We should have won that match! | Sami: If the referee had been fair, we would have won. | Hugo: Could you stop making excuses? | Sami: I would just like a rematch.