1. Le Conditionnel
Saying what would be

2. Le Conditionnel
Just as the futur simple is a tense that describes what will happen;
The Conditionnel describes what would happen
In English, to form the conditional, you insert the helping verb « would » before the present tense verb.
- I go → present tense
- I would go → conditional (present tense with the helping verb « would » in front)

3. Le Conditionnel
In French, however, the conditional is formed by adding endings to the infinitive:
Je parle → I speak (present tense) Je parlerais → I would speak (conditionnel)
In other words, the English word « would » is included in the ending.

4. Forming le conditionnel
To form the conditional:
-ais -ions
Infinitive of the verb + -ais -iez ait -aient
parler → je parlerais
finir → tu finirais
For –re verbs, drop the final « e », before adding the endings
rendre → nous rendrions

5. Le verbes irréguliers avoir → j’aurai (futur simple)
Just like in the futur simple, there are irregular verbs in the conditional; however there is good news! The conditional has the exact same stems as the futur simple
avoir → j’aurai (futur simple)
j’aurais (conditionnel)
être → nous serons (futur simple)
nous serions (conditionnel)

6. You already know all these irregular stems from the futur simple, but here they are again:
aller → ir-
avoir → aur-
devoir → devr-
être → ser-
faire → fer-
pouvoir → pourr-
venir → viendr-
voir → verr-
vouloir → voudr-

7. Could and Should
In English, the word could is simply the combination: « Would + can » or « Would + to be able to »
Similarly, the word Should is the combination « Would + must » or « would + to have to »

8. À-vous I would eat You would talk He would do She would celebrate
One would light
We would come
You (pl.) could
They (m.) should