Chapter 17Could-ing and Would-ing with the Present Conditional Tense In This Chapter Creating the conditional tense Trying the conditional You likely use the present conditional tense al
Trang 1Chapter 17
Could-ing and Would-ing with the
Present Conditional Tense
In This Chapter
Creating the conditional tense
Trying the conditional
You likely use the present conditional tense all the time, whether you realize it or not
Perhaps you and your friends sit around and talk about not what you do (present tense), did do (past tense), or will do (future tense) but about what you would do (condi-tional tense) Examples in English include sentences like I would go out with him, We would
go to the movies if anything good were playing, You would tell her what you think, and They
would throw a great party.
So, the conditional is a mood that expresses a possibility, a supposition, or a wish You also
use it to make polite requests or suggestions, as in Would you allow me to accompany you?
or I would choose the yellow dress The conditional has two tenses: present and past This
chapter concentrates on the present conditional; see Chapter 18 for more on the past
condi-tional As you can tell from the examples, the conditional tense is translated as would in
English (But don’t confuse the conditional tense with the imperfect tense that I talk about
in Chapter 11 The imperfect can express the would of the past, as in When I was young, I
would go fishing with my grandfather, meaning that I used to go fishing with my grandfather.)
At first, you may be able to get by without the present conditional in French But this tense makes you more polite, makes your writing more interesting, and spices up your
conversa-tion Read through this chapter and master the ability to tell the world what you would do.
Forming the Conditional
The conditional tense allows you to express your opinions, likes, and dislikes more politely, and to make suggestions without seeming too imposing You may even call it the diplomatic
tense Furthermore, you use the conditional tense in hypothetical sentences as in If it were
not raining, we would go to the beach.
You form the conditional by taking the infinitive of most verbs (the infinitive provides the stem) and adding endings If you read Chapter 15, you see that you form the future tense the same way The conditional and the future tenses share a stem, but the endings are different
The endings of the future tense are derived from the verb avoir (to have), whereas the
end-ings for the conditional match the endend-ings for the imperfect tense (see the following table) The conditional tense is a composite of the future and the imperfect; it has the same stem
as the future tense and the endings of the imperfect tense (If you need more information on the future tense, see Chapter 15; for details on the imperfect tense, see Chapter 11.)
Trang 2Imperfect and Conditional Verb Endings
The conditional stem always ends in r; therefore, remember to drop the e from -re
verbs Check out the following examples on how to conjugate regular verbs in the present conditional tense
parler (to speak)
il/elle/on parlerait ils/elles parleraient
Il parlerait au directeur (He would speak to the director.)
finir (to finish)
il/elle/on finirait ils/elles finiraient Nous finirions avant huit heures (We would finish before eight o’clock.)
vendre (to sell)
il/elle/on vendrait ils/elles vendraient
Je vendrais ma voiture (I would sell my car.)
Now you can practice forming the conditional tense Put the following verbs in the present conditional
Q.Je (demander) des renseignements
A.Je demanderais des renseignements (I would ask for information.)
1 Vous _ (voyager).
2 Sarah _ (écrire) des poèmes.
3 Nous _ (rendre) les vidéos.
4 M et Mme Nadal _ (choisir) du champagne.
5 Tu _ (s’inscrire) à l’université.
Trang 36 Julien _ (obéir) au conseiller.
7 Je _ (poser) des questions.
8 Mlle Cottin, _ (aimer)-vous du café?
9 Amélie _ (préférer) la vanille au chocolat.
10 Mes amis et moi _ (sortir) ce soir.
Considering spelling-change -er verbs
With some -er infinitives, you can add either an accent grave (see Table 17-1) or
double the consonant (see Table 17-2) in order to form the conditional stem (as well
as the future tense) Also, verbs whose infinitive form ends in -yer change to -ier before adding the endings (see Table 17-3) (The only exception is the verb envoyer
[to send], whose future and conditional stem is enverr-.) Check out the following
tables for lists of these verbs
Table 17-1 Adding the Accent Grave (è) to Spelling-Change
Verbs in the Conditional Tense
mèner-Table 17-2 Doubling the Consonant of Spelling-Change
Verbs in the Conditional Tense
jetter-(s’) appeler (to call [oneself], to name) (s’)
appeller-Table 17-3 Changing -yer to -ier with Spelling-Change
Verbs in the Conditional Tense
Trang 4nettoier-Tu essaierais les escargots (You would try the snails.) The following verbs don’t have a stem change in the conditional tense: préférer (to
prefer ), espérer (to hope), and répéter (to repeat).
Nous préférerions le vin blanc (We would prefer the white wine.)
Conjugate the infinitive into the present conditional tense in the following practice problems
Q.Il _ (amener) sa petite amie
A.Il amènerait sa petite amie (He would bring his girlfriend.)
11 Nous _ (acheter) des disques compacts.
12 Tu _ (nettoyer) ton appartement.
13 Les étudiants _ (répéter) le dialogue.
14 Vous _ (épeler) des mots difficiles.
15 Les enfants _ (jeter) des cailloux.
16 Nous _ (espérer) rester.
17 Elle _ (employer) l’ordinateur.
18 Vous _ (amener) vos parents.
19 Marc _ (acheter) des baguettes.
20 Je _ (mener) la discussion.
Creating the conditional with irregular verbs Some verbs have an irregular stem Despite this irregularity, however, you still form the conditional the same way by adding the same endings Table 17-4 shows these irregular verbs in alphabetical order with the irregular stems and the verbs’ English translations
Table 17-4 Irregular Conditional Tense Verbs
Trang 5enverr-Irregular Verb Conditional Tense Stem
voudr-Nous tiendrions le drapeau (We would hold the flag.)
Form the conditional tense of the verbs in parentheses
Q.Je _ (être) ravi de vous voir
A.Je serais ravi de vous voir (I would be delighted to see you.)
21 _ (pouvoir)-vous m’aider?
22 Je _ (acheter) des vêtements.
23 Mathieu, tu _ (devoir) être prudent.
24 Nous _ (faire) la cuisine.
Using the Conditional
The conditional tense is very versatile — you use it on a daily basis The conditional tense helps you avoid some faux pas and shows your good manners You use the con-ditional in order to be polite, to make suggestions, or to hypothesize In this section, I show you how to use the conditional step by step I also provide problems for you to practice these concepts
Trang 6Being polite, expressing a wish, and offering suggestions
First and foremost, you use the conditional tense to make polite requests or
sugges-tions The most common verbs that are used this way are vouloir (to want to), aimer (to like, to love), pouvoir (to be able to), and devoir (to owe, to have to) For example,
if you’re at a restaurant or a café and you’re ordering, using the conditional is much more polite than the present tense
Je voudrais/j’aimerais un Orangina (I would like an Orangina.) Pourriez-vous me prêter votre stylo? (Could you lend me your pen?) For offering suggestions, use the verb devoir (to have to) in the conditional followed
by the infinitive Devoir in the conditional means should in English.
Tu devrais faire attention (You should pay attention.)
Try being polite or making suggestions by using the present conditional tense Translate
the following sentences into French You can use either est-ce que or inversion (In the
Answer Key, I use inversion whenever possible.)
Q.Could they accompany us?
A.Est-ce qu’ils pourraient nous accompagner? Or, Pourraient-ils nous accompagner?
25 Would you like some coffee?
26 They should not smoke
27 Could you help me?
28 She should stay in bed
Wondering if: The hypothetical You also use the conditional in the second hypothetical sentence’s result clause when
you’re using the imperfect in the si (if) clause In other words,
Si + imperfect yields the present conditional in the result clause.
The following examples show how to use the conditional with a hypothetical sentence
S’il pleuvait, je porterais un imperméable (If it were raining, I would wear a
raincoat.)
Si nous avions du temps, nous partirions ce weekend (If we had/were to have
time, we would leave or get away this weekend.)
Trang 7You can switch the two clauses by starting your sentence with the result clause and
following it with the si clause What you can’t do is switch the verb tenses.
Ils réussiraient aux examens, s’ils étudiaient (They would pass the exams if they
studied/were to study.) Now it’s your turn to practice some hypothetical sentences I fill in the imperfect
tense after the si clause, and you fill in the conditional tense in the result clause.
Q.S’il faisait beau, nous _ (pouvoir) pique-niquer
A.S’il faisait beau, nous pourrions pique-niquer (If it were nice out, we would be able to
have a picnic.)
29 Si tu n’étais pas en retard, tu _ (ne pas manquer) le train.
30 Vous _ (voir) l’exposition si vous alliez au musée.
31 S’ils pouvaient voyager, ó _ (aller)-ils?
32 S’il neigeait, les enfants _ (faire) un bonhomme de neige.
33 Je _ (être) décu si je ratais mon bac.
Conditional with indirect discourse
The last way you can use the conditional tense is in an indirect discourse, such as
when the main verb is in the past tense, and then you use the conditional to express the future In indirect discourse one person repeats or cites the words of another
For example: Marc said that he would come to the opera Marc a dit qu’il viendrait à
l’opéra.
Ils ont admis qu’ils ne sauraient pas quoi faire (They admitted that they would
not know what to do.) The following sentences are in indirect discourse Put the verb in parentheses in the conditional
Q.Mélanie a dit qu’elle _ (venir) sa maison
A.Mélanie a dit qu’elle vendrait sa maison (Melanie said that she would sell her house.)
34 Olivier m’a dit qu’il _ (venir) me voir dimanche.
35 Ils ont affirmé qu’ils _ (pouvoir) réparer la voiture.
36 Céline a expliqué qu’elle _ (suivre) des cours de finance.
37 Les enfants avaient annoncé qu’ils _ (jouer) dans le parc.
38 Sébastien a declaré qu’il _ (partir) bientơt.
Trang 8Answer Key
In this section, you can find the answers to the exercises in this chapter Compare your answers to the correct ones
a Vous voyageriez (You would travel.)
b Sarah écrirait des poèmes (Sarah would write poems.)
c Nous rendrions les vidéos (We would give back the videos.)
d M et Mme Nadal choisiraient du champagne (Mr and Mrs Nadal would choose champagne.)
e Tu t’inscrirais à l’université (You would register at the university.)
f Julien obéirait au conseiller (Julien would obey the counselor.)
g Je poserais des questions (I would ask questions.)
h Mlle Cottin, aimeriez-vous du café? (Miss Cottin, would you like some coffee?)
i Amélie préférerait la vanille au chocolat (Amélie would prefer vanilla to chocolate.)
j Mes amis et moi sortirions ce soir (My friends and I would go out this evening.)
k Nous achèterions des disques compacts (We would buy CDs.)
l Tu nettoierais ton appartement (You would clean your apartment.)
m Les étudiants répéteraient le dialogue (The students would repeat the dialog.)
n Vous épelleriez des mots difficiles (You would spell difficult words.)
o Les enfants jetteraient des cailloux (The children would throw pebbles.)
p Nous espérerions rester (We would hope to stay.)
q Elle emploierait l’ordinateur (She would use the computer.)
r Vous amèneriez vos parents (You would bring your parents.)
s Marc achèterait des baguettes (Marc would buy some baguettes.)
t Je mènerais la discussion (I would lead the discussion.)
u Pourriez-vous m’aider? (Would you be able to help me?)
v J’achèterais des vêtements (I would buy clothes.)
w Mathieu, tu devrais être prudent (Mathieu, you should be careful.)
x Nous ferions la cuisine (We would cook.)
y Voudriez-vous du café? Or, Voudrais-tu du café?
Trang 9A Ils ne devraient pas fumer.
B Pourriez-vous m’aider? Or, Pourrais-tu m’aider?
C Elle devrait rester au lit.
D Si tu n’étais pas en retard, tu ne manquerais pas le train (If you were not late, you would not
miss the train.)
E Vous verriez l’exposition si vous alliez au musée (You would see the exhibit if you were to go
to the museum.)
F S’ils pouvaient voyager, ó iraient-ils? (If they could/were able to travel, where would they go?)
G S’il neigeait, les enfants feraient un bonhomme de neige (If it were snowing, the children would
make a snowman.)
H Je serais déçu si je ratais mon bac (I would be disappointed if I were to fail my bac
[baccalaureate].)
I Olivier m’a dit qu’il viendrait me voir dimanche (Olivier told me that he would come see me
on Sunday.)
J Ils ont affirmé qu’ils pourraient réparer la voiture (They affirmed that they would be able to
repair the car.)
K Céline a expliqué qu’elle suivrait des cours de finance (Céline explained that she would take
courses in finance.)
L Les enfants avaient annoncé qu’ils joueraient dans le parc (The children had announced that
they would play in the park.)
M Sébastien a declaré qu’il partirait bientơt (Sébastien declared that he would leave soon.)