TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > French > Conditional Mood
The Conditional Mood
The conditional is often referred to as a tense, however it is technically a mood. This means that it can be used in several different tenses. At GCSE, however, you are only expected to use it in the present tense.
To form the conditional, you take the infinitive of the verb. Then add the imperfect ending of avoir in the imperfect tense.
Imperfect endings
| (je)
| -ais
|
| (tu)
| -ais
|
| (il/elle/on)
| -ait
|
| (nous)
| -ions
|
| (vous)
| -iez
|
| (ils/elles)
| -aient
|
The conditional signifies that the subject should or would do the action.
eg.
- j'aiderais à mettre à jour le wiki (I would help to update the wiki)
- Je devrais faire mes devoirs (I should do my homework)
Some irregular verbs in the conditional present
avoir :
- j'aurais
- tu aurais
- il/elle/on aurait
- nous aurions
- vous auriez
- ils auraient
aller :
- j'irais
- tu irais
- il/elle/on irait
- nous irions
- vous iriez
- ils iraient
Être :
- je serais
- tu serais
- il/elle/on serait
- nous serions
- vous seriez
- ils/elles seraient
devoir :
- je devrais
- tu devrais
- il/elle/on devrait
- nous devrions
- vous devriez
- ils/elles devraient
The Perfect Conditional (beyond GCSE syllabus)
The perfect conditional translates as 'would have...' so to form the perfect conditional, take the conditional form of the auxiliary verb and form the rest of the verb as usual.
eg.
- J'aurais aidé le professeur (I would have helped the teacher).
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