Le conditionnelle

The French conditional (le conditionnel) mood is very similar to the English conditional mood. It
describes events that are not guaranteed to occur, those that are often dependent on certain
conditions. While the French conditional mood has a full set of conjugations, the English
equivalent is simply the modal verb "would" plus the main verb.

Le Conditionnel: If...then

The French conditional is mainly used in if...then constructs. It expresses the idea that if this
were to happen, then that would be the result.

While French uses the word si in the "if" or condition clause, it does not use a term for "then" in
the result clause. The conditional verb itself is used in the result (then) clause, while only four
other tenses are permitted in the si clause: présent, passé composé, imparfait, and plus-que-
parfait.

 Il mangerait s'il avait faim: He would eat if he were hungry

 Si nous étudiions, nous serions plus intelligents: If we studied, (then) we would be
smarter
 Il mangerait avec nous si nous l'invitions: He would eat with us if we invited him

Special Cases: Vouloir and Aimer

The verb vouloir (to want) is used in the conditional to express a polite request:

 Je voudrais une pomme: I would like an apple

 Je voudrais y aller avec vous: I would like to go with you

However, you can't say "si vous voudriez" to mean "if you would like," because the French
conditional can never be used after si.

The verb aimer (to like, love) is used to express a polite desire, sometimes one that cannot be
fulfilled:

 J'aimerais bien le voir: I would really like to see it

 J'aimerais y aller, mais je dois travailler: I would like to go, but I have to work

Conjugating le Conditionnel

Conjugating the conditional may be one of the simplest French conjugations you'll encounter.
There is only one set of endings for all verbs. Most of them — even many that are irregular in
the present tense — use their infinitives as the root. There are only about two dozen stem-
changing or irregular verbs that have irregular conditional stems but take the same endings.
To show you how easy conditional conjugations are, let's take a look at how it applies to
different types of verbs. We'll use jouer (to play) as our regular -er example, finir (to finish) as
our irregular -ir example, and dire (to say) as one exception to the rules.

Subject Ending Jouer Finir Dire

je -ais jouerais finirais dirais
tu -ais jouerais finirais dirais
il -ait jouerait finirait dirait
nous -irons jouerions finirions dirions
vous -iez joueriez finiriez diriez
ils -aient joueraient finiraient diraient

Notice how we had to drop the "e" in dire before adding the conditional endings. This is the sort
of change you will find in that handful of verbs that do not follow the standard conditional
conjugation pattern. Other than that, you can see how easy it is to form the conditional from
almost any verb, even the irregular ones.

The Verbs That Don't Follow the Rules

So which verbs are you going to have to pay attention to when it comes to the conditional verb
mood? Dire and other verbs that end in -ire are easy compared to some of the others, a few
barely resemble the infinitive form while others take on more subtle changes.

The following verbs are irregular in the conditional mood. Notice how the stems change and that
they do not use the infinitive form like the other verbs do. There are two rules here:

1. The conditional stem always ends in "r."

2. The exact same verbs are irregular in the future tense and use the same stems.

When conjugating these into the conditional, simply attach the endings noted above according to
the subject pronoun in your sentence.

Infinitive Verb Conditional Stem Similar Verbs

acheter achèter- achever, amener, emmener, lever, promener
acquérir acquerr- conquérir, s'enquérir
appeler appeller- épeler, rappeler, renouveler
aller ir-
avoir aur-
courir courr- concourir, discourir, parcourir
devoir devr-
envoyer enverr-
essayer essaier- balayer, effrayer, payer
Infinitive Verb Conditional Stem Similar Verbs
essuyer essuier- appuyer, ennuyer
être ser-
faire fer-
falloir faudr-
jeter jetter- feuilleter, hoqueter, projeter, rejeter
nettoyer nettoier employer, noyer, tutoyer, -ayer stem-changing verbs
pleuvoir pleuvr-
pouvoir pourr-
savoir saur-
tenir tiendr- maintenir, obtenir, soutenir
valoir vaudr-
venir viendr- devenir, parvenir, revenir
voir verr- revoir
vouloir voudr-