Foreign Languages
Conditionnel présent.
Definition
The conditionnel présent is the French conditional tense, used to express what someone would do, make polite requests, or describe hypothetical situations. It is formed by adding imparfait endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient) to the future tense stem.
Examples
Real-world.
- 1 'Je voudrais un café' (I would like a coffee) — polite request using 'vouloir.'
- 2 'Si j'avais le temps, je voyagerais' (If I had time, I would travel).
- 3 'Pourriez-vous m'aider?' (Could you help me?) — formal polite question.
Key Fact
Formation: future stem + imparfait endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient). Irregular stems are the same as futur simple (e.g., avoir → aur-, être → ser-).