Introduction to the Conditionnel Présent in French
The Conditionnel Présent in French corresponds to the Conditional Present tense in English. It’s used to express an action or state that depends on a condition, hypothesis, wish, or possibility in the present or future.
In English these sentences often have expressions like ‘if’, ‘would’ or ‘perhaps’. For examples, ‘If I had more time, I would learn French quicker’ or for example when you are in a restaurant and you say ‘I would like a coffee, please’
When do you use the Conditionnel Présent?
- A polite request or suggestion
- Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît
- I would like a coffee, please.
- Hypothetical situations
- Si j’avais plus d’argent, j’achèterais une maison
- If I had more money, I would buy a house
- Future actions from a past perspective
- Il a dit qu’il viendrait nous voir demain
- He said he would come see us tomorrow
Conjugating the Conditionnel Présent
The further you come in French verb conjugating, the easier it gets. With the conditionnel Présent, the conjugation is the same for all regular conjugating -er and -ir verbs. So the conjugations for parler (to speak) is the same as for finir (to finish). Only the conjugation for regular conjugating -re verbs differs slighty because the
Conjugating -er and -ir verbs for the Conditionnel Présent
| Pronoun | Infinitive + suffix | Parler (To speak) | Finir (To finish) | Aimer (To love) |
| Je | + ais | parlerais | finirais | aimerais |
| Tu | + ais | parlerais | finirais | aimerais |
| Il/Elle/On | + ait | parlerait | finirait | aimerait |
| Nous | + ions | parlerions | finirions | aimerions |
| Vous | + iez | parleriez | finiriez | aimeriez |
| Ils/Elles | + aient | parleraient | finiraient | aimeraient |
Conjugating -ir verbs for the Conditionnel Présent
For ir-verbs the take the infinitive minus the last e. So with repondre (to answer), you get repondr.
| Pronoun | Verb stem + suffix | Répondre (To answer) | Vendre (To sell) | Attendre (To wait) |
| Je | + ais | répondrais | vendrais | attendrais |
| Tu | + ais | répondrais | vendrais | attendrais |
| Il/Elle/On | + ait | répondrait | vendrait | attendrait |
| Nous | + ions | répondrions | vendrions | attendrions |
| Vous | + iez | répondriez | vendriez | attendriez |
| Ils/Elles | + aient | répondraient | vendraient | attendraient |
More examples of the Conditionnel Présent
- Parler (To speak):
- Si j’avais l’occasion, je parlerais couramment français
- (If I had the opportunity, I would speak French fluently)
- Tu parlerais mieux si tu pratiquais tous les jours
- (You would speak better if you practiced every day.)
- Elle parlerait de ses voyages pendant des heures
- (She would talk about her travels for hours.)
- Finir (To finish):
- Nous finirions le travail plus tôt si nous étions mieux organisés
- (We would finish the work earlier if we were better organized.)
- Si j’avais plus de temps, je finirais ce livre ce soir
- (If I had more time, I would finish this book tonight.)
- Ils finiraient leurs devoirs plus rapidement s’ils se concentraient davantage
- (They would finish their homework faster if they focused more.)
- Aimer (To love):
- Si j’avais de l’argent, j’aimerais voyager à travers le monde
- (If I had money, I would love to travel around the world.)
- Vous aimeriez ce film, il est très émouvant
- (You would love this movie, it’s very moving.)
- Si elle avait le choix, elle aimerait vivre près de la plage
- (If she had the choice, she would love to live near the beach.)
- Répondre (To answer):
- Si tu l’appelais, elle répondrait à tes questions
- (If you called her, she would answer your questions.)
- Nous répondrions à tous les e-mails dès que possible
- (We would answer all emails as soon as possible.)
- Si j’avais su, j’aurais répondu différemment
- (If I had known, I would have answered differently.)
- Vendre (To sell):
- Ils vendraient leur maison s’ils trouvaient un acheteur sérieux
- (They would sell their house if they found a serious buyer.)
- Si le prix était plus bas, nous vendrions plus de produits
- (If the price were lower, we would sell more products.)
- Je vendrais ma voiture si je vivais en ville
- (I would sell my car if I lived in the city.)
- Attendre (To wait):
- Si nous avions su, nous n’aurions pas attendu si longtemps
- (If we had known, we wouldn’t have waited so long.)
- Tu attendrais son appel toute la journée si tu le pouvais
- (You would wait for his call all day if you could.)
- Si elle arrivait tôt, je n’attendrais pas trop longtemps
- (If she arrived early, I wouldn’t wait too long.)