French Conditional Tense: Forms, Uses and Si Clauses

Most learners meet the French conditional tense on their first day of class without knowing it: je voudrais un café is a conditional. Then the tense turns up everywhere, in polite questions, in advice, in "if I won the lottery" daydreams, in news headlines, and students start to wonder why one little s matters so much.

Good news: the conditional is one of the most regular tenses in French. If you know the future tense and the imparfait, you already know almost all of it. This page gives you the formula, the irregular stems, the five ways French really uses it, the past conditional for regrets, and the mistake I correct in almost every intermediate lesson.

What is the French conditional tense?

The conditional (le conditionnel) is the French way to say would. Larousse defines it as the verb mood that presents an action as a possibility, or as the consequence of a supposed fact or condition. In plain English: it describes things that are not real, or not real yet.

• J'aimerais visiter Québec. I would like to visit Québec City.
• Tu pourrais m'aider ? Could you help me?
• Vous devriez vous reposer. You should rest.

Notice that the French conditional covers three English words: would, could (with pouvoir) and should (with devoir). That alone explains why it shows up in so many everyday sentences.

How to form the French conditional: one formula

Future stem + imperfect endings. That's it. The University of Texas grammar puts it the same way: the conditional uses the stem of the future, usually the infinitive, with the endings of the imparfait.

Three things to remember:

1. -er and -ir verbs keep the whole infinitive: parler → parler-, finir → finir-.
2. -re verbs drop the final e: prendre → prendr-, vendre → vendr-.
3. Every conditional has an r sound right before the ending. If you don't hear r, it isn't a conditional.

Pronunciation hint: je parlerais sounds like "par-luh-REH", and the endings -ais, -ait and -aient all sound the same. Only nous (-ree-YOHN) and vous (-ree-YAY) sound different.

Tip from class: I tell students the conditional is a "mash-up tense": the front half comes from the future, the back half from the imparfait. If you can say je parlerai and je parlais, glue the start of the first to the end of the second and you get je parlerais.

Verbs with spelling changes

Verbs that change their spelling in the present tense keep that change in the conditional. The LibreTexts university course gives two typical examples:

• acheter → j'achète → j'achèterais (I would buy)
• s'appeler → je m'appelle → je m'appellerais (my name would be)

Irregular conditional stems

Here is the shortcut: the irregular stems are exactly the future-tense stems. If you have already learned them for the French future tense, you have nothing new to memorize. The endings never change.

The double r in pourrais and verrais is pronounced like a single r in everyday speech, so don't stress about it when speaking. In writing, it matters.

Five ways French uses the conditional

1. Polite requests

This is the use you need first. The conditional softens a request so it sounds less like an order. Compare:

• Je veux un croissant. I want a croissant. (sounds like a demand)
• Je voudrais un croissant, s'il vous plaît. I'd like a croissant, please. (always right)
• Pourriez-vous répéter ? Could you repeat that?
• Est-ce que tu pourrais fermer la fenêtre ? Could you close the window?

Our vouloir conjugation page has a full café dialogue built around je voudrais, and the pouvoir conjugation page covers pourriez-vous and its cousins.

2. Advice and suggestions

Devoir in the conditional means should, and it's the natural way to give advice:

• Tu devrais dormir plus. You should sleep more.
• Vous devriez réserver à l'avance. You should book ahead.
• On pourrait aller au cinéma ce soir. We could go to the movies tonight.

3. Hypotheses with si (if)

The classic "if... would" sentence. The rule never moves: si + imparfait, then the conditional.

• Si j'avais le temps, je voyagerais plus. If I had the time, I would travel more.
• Si tu habitais à Montréal, tu parlerais français tous les jours. If you lived in Montréal, you would speak French every day.
• Je serais content si vous veniez. I would be happy if you came.

The two halves can swap places, but si always stays with the imparfait. The French Academy also accepts a more literary version with no si at all, just two conditionals side by side: J'aurais beaucoup d'argent, je serais riche. You'll hear it in conversation, but as a learner, stick to si + imparfait.

4. The future seen from the past

When you report what someone said about the future, the future tense becomes the conditional, exactly like "will" becomes "would" in English:

• Il dit qu'il viendra. He says he will come.
• Il a dit qu'il viendrait. He said he would come.
• Je pensais que tu serais là. I thought you would be there.

5. Unconfirmed information in the news

This one surprises English speakers. French journalists use the conditional to report something they have not verified themselves, the way English uses reportedly or allegedly. A University of Antwerp research project lists its many names: conditionnel journalistique, conditionnel de reprise, conditionnel de la rumeur.

• Une expédition partirait bientôt pour le pôle sud. An expedition is reportedly leaving soon for the South Pole.
• Il y aurait des blessés. There are reportedly people injured.

Once you notice it, you'll see it in every French news site. It's a great reading habit for B1 and B2 learners.

The past conditional: would have

The past conditional (conditionnel passé) means would have. Larousse lists it as the second form of the mood, as in j'aurais aimé (I would have liked). Build it with avoir or être in the conditional plus the past participle, following the same auxiliary rules as the passé composé:

Its si partner is the plus-que-parfait:

• Si j'avais su, je serais venu. If I had known, I would have come.
• Si nous étions partis plus tôt, nous n'aurions pas raté le train. If we had left earlier, we wouldn't have missed the train.

Three past conditionals do most of the work in real life, and they're worth learning as fixed phrases:

• J'aurais dû + infinitive: I should have. J'aurais dû t'appeler. I should have called you.
• J'aurais pu + infinitive: I could have. Tu aurais pu me le dire ! You could have told me!
• J'aurais voulu + infinitive: I would have liked to. J'aurais voulu être là. I would have liked to be there.

If the plus-que-parfait still feels shaky, review the passé composé vs imparfait first; the past conditional builds on the same participles.

A mini-dialogue to hear it in action

• Léa : Si tu gagnais au loto, qu'est-ce que tu ferais ?
• Sam : J'achèterais une maison à la campagne. Et toi ?
• Léa : Moi, je partirais un an au Québec. Tu viendrais avec moi ?
• Sam : Avec plaisir ! Mais on devrait d'abord acheter un billet...

If you won the lottery, what would you do? / I would buy a house in the countryside. And you? / I would go to Québec for a year. Would you come with me? / Gladly! But we should buy a ticket first...

Five conditionals in four lines, and not one of them after si.

Common mistakes English speakers make

• Mistake: Si j'aurais le temps, je viendrais. → Say instead: Si j'avais le temps, je viendrais. The LibreTexts course puts it in five words: never use the conditional after si. Native speakers make this mistake too, which is why you'll hear it, but it's always corrected in writing and on exams.
• Mistake: Je voudrai un thé when ordering → Say instead: Je voudrais un thé. Without the s, you're saying "I will want."
• Mistake: translating every "would" as a conditional → Say instead: the imparfait when "would" means "used to." Quand j'étais petit, je jouais dehors. When I was little, I would play outside.
• Mistake: je prenderais → Say instead: je prendrais. -re verbs drop the e, they don't add one.
• Mistake: je pourais → Say instead: je pourrais, with two r's (same for je verrais, je courrais).

Tip from class: when a student says si j'aurais, I ask "Si who would?" The si clause sets the scene; the conditional is the result. One verb per job: imparfait sets the scene, conditional delivers the result.

Practice

Put the verb in brackets in the right form.

1. Je ___ (vouloir) une table pour deux, s'il vous plaît.
2. Tu ___ (devoir) appeler ta grand-mère.
3. Si nous ___ (avoir) une voiture, nous ___ (aller) à la plage.
4. Elle a dit qu'elle ___ (venir) demain.
5. Si j'avais su, je ___ (partir) plus tôt. (past conditional)

Answers: 1. voudrais · 2. devrais · 3. avions, irions · 4. viendrait · 5. serais parti(e)

Got number 3 right on the first try? You've understood the most important rule on this page.

In short

The French conditional is the future stem plus the imperfect endings, and the irregular stems are the same ones you learned for the future. Use it to be polite, give advice, imagine, report the future from the past, and read the news, but never right after si. Next, pair it with the French subjunctive, the other mood intermediate learners need to feel at home with.

If si j'avais and je voudrais still don't come out naturally when you speak, book a free 30-minute assessment with Magali. You'll practice the conditional in real conversation and leave knowing exactly which tense to work on next.