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You may already know how to form the Future tense and a number of irregular Future stems (you might want to review them before moving on). The Conditional tense ("would...") is based on the Future's stem. The only difference is in the endings.
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Endings |
PARLER- |
| je |
-ais |
parlerais |
| tu |
-ais |
parlerais |
| il |
-ait |
parlerait |
| nous |
-ions |
parlerions |
| vous |
-iez |
parleriez |
| ils |
-aient |
parleraient |
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Endings |
ATTENDR- |
| je |
-ais |
attendrais |
| tu |
-ais |
attendrais |
| il |
-ait |
attendrait |
| nous |
-ions |
attendrions |
| vous |
-iez |
attendriez |
| ils |
-aient |
attendraient |
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Endings |
VIENDR- |
| je |
-ais |
viendrais |
| tu |
-ais |
viendrais |
| il |
-ait |
viendrait |
| nous |
-ions |
viendrions |
| vous |
-iez |
viendriez |
| ils |
-aient |
viendraient |
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Endings |
SORTIR- |
| je |
-ais |
sortirais |
| tu |
-ais |
sortirais |
| il |
-ait |
sortirait |
| nous |
-ions |
sortirions |
| vous |
-iez |
sortiriez |
| ils |
-aient |
sortiraient |
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Endings |
IR- |
| je |
-ais |
irais |
| tu |
-ais |
irais |
| il |
-ait |
irait |
| nous |
-ions |
irions |
| vous |
-iez |
iriez |
| ils |
-aient |
iraient |
The Conditional is used in the following cases:
1. To make polite requests.
| Je voudrais acheter un billet. |
| I would like to buy a ticket. |
| Pourriez-vous m'aider? |
| Could you help me? |
2. When used with the verb devoir to mean "ought to" or "should."
| Vous devriez vous préparer |
| You ought to prepare yourself. |
| Tu devrais comprendre. |
| You ought to/should understand. |
| Elle devrait appeler les pompiers. |
| She ought to call the fire department. |
3. Nearly any time you would use "would" in English:
| Je voudrais une bière, s'il vous plaît |
| I would like a beer, please. |
| Je ne dirais pas ça. |
| I wouldn't say that. |
| Si j'avais le temps, j'irais danser ce soir. |
| If I had time, I'd go dancing tonight. |
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