Le conditionnel présent
The present conditional
The present conditional
At B1 you stop describing only what is and start talking about what would be. The present conditional (le conditionnel présent) is the tense of imagined situations: polite requests, dreams, advice, and hypotheses about the present or future. It is also the backbone of the exam can-do for this chapter, talking about the future and forming hypotheses.
Associez chaque forme au conditionnel à son sens en anglais.
Match each conditional form to its English meaning.
- je voudrais
- tu devrais
- il faudrait
- nous pourrions
- elle aimerait
Quelle phrase est au conditionnel présent ?
Which sentence is in the present conditional?
Complétez avec le conditionnel d'aimer.
Complete with the conditional of aimer.
J' ____ bien partir en vacances cet été.
How to form it
The recipe is simple: take the future stem (for regular verbs, the infinitive) and add the imparfait endings ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient. So parler gives je parlerais, tu parlerais, il parlerait, nous parlerions, vous parleriez, ils parleraient. If you know the future, you already know the conditional: same stem, different endings.
| j'aimerais | I would like |
| je voudrais | I would like (want) |
| je pourrais | I could / would be able to |
| tu devrais | you should / ought to |
| il faudrait | it would be necessary / one should |
| nous serions | we would be |
| vous auriez | you would have |
| ils iraient | they would go |
| je ferais | I would do / make |
| elle viendrait | she would come |
| à ta place | if I were you (in your place) |
| ce serait bien | that would be nice |
Complétez avec le conditionnel de pouvoir.
Complete with the conditional of pouvoir.
Est-ce que vous ____ m'aider, s'il vous plaît ?
Traduisez en français (utilisez le conditionnel).
Translate into French (use the conditional).
You should rest a little.
Choisissez le verbe correct pour compléter l'hypothèse.
Choose the correct verb to complete the hypothesis.
What it is used for
Three jobs dominate. First, politeness: je voudrais and pourriez-vous soften a request. Second, advice: tu devrais and il faudrait tell someone what to do gently. Third, hypothesis: with the pattern si + imparfait, conditionnel présent, you describe an unreal or unlikely situation in the present or future.
Remettez les mots dans l'ordre pour former une demande polie.
Put the words in order to form a polite request.
Complétez l'hypothèse avec le conditionnel d'être.
Complete the hypothesis with the conditional of être.
Si nous avions plus de temps, ce ____ plus facile.
Écoutez et tapez exactement ce que vous entendez.
Listen and type exactly what you hear.
In context
Traduisez en français (utilisez si + imparfait, conditionnel).
Translate into French (use si + imparfait, conditionnel).
If I had a car, I would come more often.
Quelle phrase donne un conseil correctement ?
Which sentence gives advice correctly?