The conditionnel passé in french

06 oct. 2017 12:37 - language-swap

Niveau intermédiaire

Like indicative and subjunctive, the conditional is a mode. Like its name indicates, it is a mode that talks about conditions, hypothesis. It can be conjugated in two different tenses: the present conditional and the past conditional.
The past conditional is pretty easy to memorize since you have the auxiliaries “être” (to be) and “avoir” (to have) conjugated at the present conditional and the past participle of the verb concerned.
Let's see:


AVOIR AVOIR MANGER ETRE ETRE TOMBER
Aurais Aurais mangé Serais Serais tombé
Aurais Aurais mangé Serais Serais tombé
Aurait Aurait mangé Serait Serait tombé
Aurions Aurions mangé Serions Serions tombés
Auriez Auriez mangé Seriez Seriez tombés
Auraient Auraient mangé Seraient Seraient tombés

To know how to put the verbs in their past participle form, you can check the lesson on it.
However here is some tips:
the verbs finishing in -é are the verbs of the first group (couper, coupé)
the verbs finishing in -i are the verbs finishing in -IR (franchir, franchi)
the verbs finishing in -u are the verbs finishing in -Re (attendre, attendu – entendre, entendu)
the verbs composed with the verb prendre finish in -is (prendre, pris – surprendre, supris – reprendre, repris)

/!\ Warning, remember that the past participle has to agree with the noun when used with the auxiliary “être” or when the direct object is put before the verb with the auxiliary “avoir”.
In order to know which auxiliary you should use, see the lesson on the choice of the auxiliaries “le choix des auxiliaires au passé composé”.