How to use the Present Conditional

If you’ve been to France or have been watching a few French TV shows, you’ve surely encountered le conditionnel (conditional).

• Est-ce que je pourrais avoir un café s’il vous plait ?
• Aimeriez-vous commander un apéritif ?
• Pourriez-vous m’aider à trouver cette boulangerie ?

In these examples, conditionnel enables you to express a suggestion or make a request. It is less direct and more polite than the imperative or the present. The verbs ‘pouvoir’, ‘vouloir’, and ‘devoir’ are often found in the conditional to diminish the strength of a command.

We are going to see when you can use the conditionnel present and how to form it.

1 – Politeness

We use le conditionnel to make a request less brutal

• Je veux un verre d’eau = I want a glass of water (a bit rude)
• Je voudrais un verre d’eau = I would like a glass of water

• Vous pouvez m’aider = Can you help me ? (just neutral)
• Vous pourriez m’aider = Could you help ?  (more polite)

• Avez-vous des pains au chocolat = Do you have chocolate croissants ?
• Auriez-vous des pains au chocolat = Would you have chocolate croissants ?

2 – Advice

You can use le conditionnel with DEVOIR and FAIRE MIEUX

• Tu ne devrais pas aller si souvent au McDonalds = You shouldn’t go to McDonalds so often
• A ta place, j’emménagerais dans un autre quartier moins bruyant = If I were you I would move in to another area less noisy

3 – Fantasy

• Nous habiterions à Tahiti et nous pécherions toute la journée = We would live in Tahiti and would go fishing all day long

(It’s just a dream at the moment, not the reality)

4 – Possibility / Uncertainty

We use le conditionnel a lot in the medias.

• Le president arriverait demain matin au Caire = The president would arrive tomorrow morning in Cairo (not yet confirmed, it may be delayed)

5 – Hypothetical Event

With Si + Imparfait > Conditionnel

• Si je gagnais au loto, je ferais un tour du monde = If I won the lottery, I’d go around the world
• J’irais le voir si j’avais assez de temps = I’d go to see him if I had the time

6 – Suggestion

Pourquoi est-ce que + conditionnel négative

• Pourquoi est-ce ne nous partirions pas faire du ski ?
• Pourquoi ne prendrions-nous pas aussi des pains aux raisins ?

It is formed with the stem of the verb to the futur simple and the endings of the imparfait.

– ais, – ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient

REGULAR Verbs

Note : -ais, -ait and -aient are pronounced exactly the same

IRREGULAR Verbs

Would you like to review the future tense or the imparfait ? Feel free to browse more articles in my blog or get in touch !