B1 · The future · about 4 minutes
The conditional
«Would», built out of two things you have already learnt.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need1
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- simplesimple, easy
Missing a word? Look it up in the dictionary
Understand
RememberFuture stem plus imparfait ending: nothing new to learn.
- When
If and would — Here the condition decides the form, not the position on the clock.
- Signal words
- je voudrais
- pourriez-vous
- si
- à ta place
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) tense marker person ending
| I would like | je voudrais |
| you could | tu pourrais |
| one would have to | il faudrait |
| we would like | nous aimerions |
| you should | vous devriez |
| they would be | ils seraient |
This tense with other verbs
Tap a verb or type your own — the table opens at this tense, in the same colours.
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Future stem plus imparfait ending.
Je serais content de venir.I would be glad to come.
A polite request goes in the conditional.
Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît.I would like a coffee, please.
Advice uses devoir in the conditional.
Tu devrais te reposer.You should get some rest.
After si comes the imparfait, never the conditional.
Si j’avais le temps, je viendrais.If I had the time, I would come.
Example sentences
Pourriez-vous m’aider ?Could you help me?
Ce serait plus simple comme ça.It would be simpler that way.
À ta place, je partirais tôt.In your place, I would leave early.
1 more example sentences
Il faudrait réserver une table.We ought to book a table.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
After si there is no conditional — the rule broken most often, by native speakers too. It is si j'avais le temps with the imparfait, never si j'aurais. English protects you here, because «if I would have the time» is wrong in English as well; the danger is that French sounds as though it wants a matching form on both sides, and it does not.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
One lesson, one clear goal: you pass with 80% right on the first try. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
Your progress
What your lesson on this topic shows:
The lesson decides this, not a button: passed at 80% on the first try, mastered when you pass it again on another day.
Next on the path: 83 · Mustn’t and needn’tBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The conditional takes the stem of the future and the endings of the imparfait: je parlerais, je serais, j'irais. Nothing on this page is new material — it is two known pieces welded together.
It does three jobs: asking politely (je voudrais), saying something unreal (ce serait bien) and reporting something unconfirmed. English uses «would» for the first two and something vaguer for the third, so the mapping is close: je voudrais is «I would like», word for word.
That first use matters more than it looks. Je voudrais un café is not hesitant, it is polite, and it is what people actually say in a shop — exactly as an English speaker says «I'd like a coffee» rather than «I want a coffee». The instinct transfers whole.
The verbs on this page, in every form: être · venir · avoir · devoir · pouvoir · falloir · partir · aider