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How to form and use the past conditional in French?

By: Agnés Finot Fri Aug 30 2024

Verbs, Conditional Mood

The past conditional (le conditionnel passé) is a compound tense used to state conditions in the past; it is formed with the auxiliary avoir(to have) or être(to be), conjugated in the French present conditional , along with a past participle.

The conditional is a mood, and in the past tense it is used to express hypothetical statements, to say what would have happened or might have happened in the past. It is the equivalent of “would have,” “could have,” or “should have” + the past participle. For example:

J’aurais mangé plus tôt.

I would have eaten earlier.

In this post, we’ll cover how to form the past conditional in French, along with when to use it. Let’s get started!

How to form the past conditional in French?

To form the past conditional, you will follow the rules for compound tenses in French, using an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) and a past participle. You likely already know one of the most common French compound tenses: the passé composé. Like the passé composé, the past conditional in French follows many of the same compound tense rules.

Take a look at the passé composé and past conditional side by side. Can you see the difference?

Passé composé
j’ai compris( I understood)
elle est partie(she left)
nous sommes venus(we came)
elles sont sorties(they (fem.) went out)

Past conditional
j’aurais compris(I would have understood)
elle serait partie(she would have left)
nous serions venus(we would have come)
elles seraient sorties(they would have gone out)

Typically, only the conjugation of the auxiliary verb changes between compound tenses. To form the past conditional in French, the auxiliary verb is conjugated in the present conditional tense.

auxiliary avoir / être
(conjugated in the present conditional)

past participle

Here are the three steps to form the conditionnel passé(past conditional).

Step 1 - Choose if you are using the auxiliary avoir(to have) or être (to be):
reflexive verbs in French, verbs of movement like aller(to go), venir(to come), or partir(to leave), and some verbs of change of state/condition, like devenir(to become), or partir(to leave), take the auxiliary être. All other verbs will use avoir. Learn the French verbs which require the auxiliary être and you'll be well on your way to conjugating the past conditional!

Step 2 - Conjugate the auxiliary in the French present conditional:

Avoir conjugation
j’aurais (I would have)
tu aurais(you would have)
il, elle, on aurait(he/she/we (inf.) would have)
nous aurions(we would have)
vous auriez(you would have)
ils, elles auraient(they would have)

Être conjugation
je serais(I would be)
tu serais(you would be)
il, elle, on serait(he/she/we (inf.) would be)
nous serions(we would be)
vous seriez (you would be)
ils/elles seraient(they would be)

Tip

To help you sound like a native, remember the following:

aurais, aurait, and auraient are all pronounced /oray/.
serais, serait, and seraient are all pronounced /seuhray/.
You might want to insist a little on the ee sound at the end of aurions, auriez, serions, and seriez to make sure people know you are using the conditional and not the future tense! 😊

Step 3 - Add the past participle of the verb:
The past participle follows the same rules of agreement in French as in all compound tenses. Here is a recap of the main rules:
- With être, the past participle agrees in number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine) with the subject.
  Elle serait partie à 18h.
  She would have left at 6 pm.
  Les invités seraient montés au troisième étage.
  The guest would have gone up to the fourth story.
  Toutes les feuilles se seraient envolées avec le vent.
  All the leaves would have flown away with the wind.
  → Check out our list of all of the irregular past participles in French!
- Generally, there is no agreement of the past participle with the auxiliary avoir, unless the direct object is placed before the verb.
  direct object
  Pauline aurait acheté cette bague ancienne chez un antiquaire.
  Pauline would have bought this ancient ring from an antique dealer.
  → There is no agreement on acheté because cette bague ancienne follows the verb.
  La bague ancienne que Pauline aurait achetée chez un antiquaire vaut 600 €.
  The ancient ring that Pauline would have bought from an antique dealer is worth 600€.
  → There is agreement on achetée because la bague ancienne comes before the verb.
  Tip
  The direct object can also be a French direct object pronoun:
  Vous auriez pris ces photos hier. → Vous les auriez prises hier.
  You would have taken these pictures yesterday. → You would have taken them yesterday.

Important

How do you form a question in the past conditional using an inversion?

auxiliary

subject pronoun

past participle

Serait-il parti à pied ?

Would he have left on foot?

How about forming a negative inverted question?

auxiliary

subject pronoun

pas

past participle

N'auriez-vous pas aimé cette comédie romantique ?

Wouldn't you have liked this romantic comedy?

Now that you know how to form the past conditional, let’s look at when you should use it.

When to use the past conditional in French?

Use the past conditional to express regrets, reproach, and imaginary scenarios in the past that can no longer happen, or to describe hypothetical situations using si(if). When you use the conditional in this tense, there is a sense of helplessness, regret, or relief, as there is nothing you can do to change what happened or didn't happen.

Let’s have a look at the uses in more detail.

With a hypothetical si(if) construction in French, to mark a condition: if something had happened in the past, then another event could have occurred.
si
pluperfect
past conditional
Si tu avais étudié plus, tu aurais eu de meilleurs résultats à ton examen.
If you had studied more, you would have had better results on your exam.
Si nous étions arrivés plus tôt, ils ne seraient pas partis sans nous !
If we had arrived earlier, they wouldn’t have left without us!
Tip
The French plus-que parfait(pluperfect) tense is another compound tense formed with an auxiliary verb conjugated in the French imperfect tense.
Have you noticed?
The French negation phrase ne...pas goes on either side of the auxiliary!
To express regrets, to mention an event that could have happened…or not have happened
past conditional
J'aurais pu gagner, mais je n’ai pas joué
I could have won, but I didn’t play!
Vous n’auriez pas déménagé tous vos meubles avec seulement votre voiture.
You wouldn’t have moved all your furniture with your car only.
To wish you would have done or not done something
Elle aurait voulu faire des études de journalisme.
She would have liked to study journalism.
Je n'aurai pas dû poursuivre ma carrière après la naissance de mes enfants.
I should not have continued my career after my children were born.
Nous aurions préféré habiter à la campagne.
We would have preferred to live in the countryside.
To express reproach or reprimand someone for something they could/should have done, using devoir(must, to have to) and pouvoir (can, to be able to)
Tu n'aurai pas dû distribuer tous ces prospectus ?
Shouldn’t you have handed out all of these leaflets?
Vous auriez pu ramasser les crottes de votre chien ! 💩
You could have picked up your dog’s mess!
Tip
Pouvoir can’t be used in the past conditional in a negative form to express reproach.
To make assumptions or show uncertainty when reporting a fact asserted by someone else. This is especially the case with journalists and reporters who may be awaiting confirmation or may not agree with the facts.
L’accident aurait eu lieu entre deux heures et trois heures du matin.
The accident must have taken place between 2 am and 3 am.
Tip
Note that in this case, you wouldn’t use the past conditional in English, but rather “must have” or “may have.”
To use reported speech in French that is presented in the past conditional, keep it in the past conditional!
Direct speech:
On aurait aimé vous accompagner !
We would have liked to come with you!
Indirect speech:
Ils ont dit qu’ils auraient aimé nous accompagner.
They said they would have liked to come with us.
If the direct speech is presented in the French future perfect, then the reported speech will be in the past conditional.
Direct speech:
future perfect
“J’enverrai un texto dès que je serai rentrée"
I’ll send a text as soon as I get home.
Indirect speech:
Elle a dit qu’elle enverrait un texto dès qu’elle serait rentrée.
She said she would send a text as soon as she got home.

Before reviewing the main points, would you like to test your knowledge of the French past conditional?

Let’s recap

When using the past conditional in French, keep the following tips in mind:

Use the past conditional when you want to say something “would have,” “could have,” or “should have” happened in the past.
Most of the time, you will use it with a si clause.
Conjugate the past conditional the same way you would construct the passé composé, except the auxiliary (être or avoir) must be conjugated in the present conditional.
The past participle agrees with the subject when you are using the auxiliary être.
There is no agreement of the past participle with the auxiliary avoir, except if the direct object is before the verb or using a direct object pronoun.

Downloadable Resources

Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.

How to form and use the past conditional in French~ French verbs that take the auxilary être Table The passé composé-How to form and use it in French~List of French verbs that have an irregular past participleHow to form and use the past conditional in French~Activities

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How to form and use the past conditional in French?

Table of Contents

How to form the past conditional in French?

Tip

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Important

When to use the past conditional in French?

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Let’s recap

Downloadable Resources

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