The French Conditional - Part 2

In her latest lesson, Patricia introduces the conditional mood, used to describe hypothetical situations. Unlike the indicative mood, which refers to definite, certain actions or events, the conditional refers to anything indefinite or uncertain. The French conditional generally corresponds to "would" in English—"would go," "would say," "would run," etc. 

Conjugating the conditional is fairly straightforward. You just take the infinitive form of the verb and add the ending -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, or -aient (though there are some exceptions to this rule). Let's take the verb parler (to talk) as an example:

je parlerais (I would talk)                        nous parlerions (we would talk)
tu parlerais (you [sing.] would talk)        vous parleriez (you [pl.] would talk)
il/elle parlerait (he/she would talk)          ils/elles parleraient (they would talk)

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You may have noticed that these endings are the same as those used in the imperfect tense. In fact, you'll often see the conditional paired with the imperfect in si (if) clauses:

Que ferais-tu si tu gagnais à la loterie?  
What would you do if you won the lottery?

Si j'avais soigné mon épaule,

If I had taken care of my shoulder,

je lèverais mon bras.

I would raise my arm.

Captions 14-15, Le saviez-vous? - Le mode du conditionnel

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(J'avais soigné is actually a pluperfect construction, which Patricia reviews in another video.)

The conditional isn't only found in si clauses. You can also use it to express a request or a wish:

Pardon, excusez-moi,

Sorry, excuse me,

est-ce que vous pourriez m'aider à traverser la rue?

could you help me cross the street?

Caption 22, Cap 24 - Alessandro Di Sarno se met à nu !

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Je voudrais juste une rose.

I would just like a rose.

Caption 11, Bande-annonce - La Belle et La Bête

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As we discussed in a previous lesson, the conditional can also be used to express uncertainty or to report something you heard from someone else. In this case it's often translated with words like "apparently," "supposedly," "reportedly," etc.:

Le rire serait aussi bénéfique que le sport.

Laughter is apparently as good for you as sports.

Caption 16, Le Journal - Les effets bénéfiques du rire!

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In our next lesson, we'll show you how to construct the conditional in the past tense. In the meantime, be sure to check out Patricia's video on the future tense, which has a similar conjugation pattern to the conditional. You wouldn't want to get them confused!