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Conjugation
Objective: Form the past conditional with the conditional auxiliary and past participle, and apply it to regret, alternative history, and unverified claims.
| Usage | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Regret | J'aurais dû partir plus tôt. | neutral |
| Missed opportunity | Nous aurions pu gagner. | neutral |
| Unverified claim | Le ministre aurait démissionné. | journalistic |
| Past hypothesis | Il aurait oublié le rendez-vous. | neutral |
| Alternative history | Si j'avais su, je serais venu. | neutral to formal |
The si clause of a Type 3 hypothesis takes the plus-que-parfait, and the past conditional never appears after the conjunction.
The form aurai belongs to the future perfect and places the action before a future reference point, while regret requires the conditional aurais.
A short fragment showing the modal devoir in the past conditional, ready to be attached to an infinitive.
A bare past-conditional fragment built on the auxiliary être, with the participle agreeing with the feminine subject.
The modal devoir in the past conditional expresses regret about a decision that was not made.
The modal pouvoir in the past conditional marks a missed opportunity.
The si clause takes the plus-que-parfait, and the main clause takes the past conditional.
7 exercises · about 11 minutes
The past participle of devoir carries a circumflex on the u, so dû must be written with the accent.
The si clause stays in the plus-que-parfait regardless of the main clause, so aurait pu becomes avait pu.
Vouloir que takes the subjunctive, so the subordinate verb becomes viennes rather than the conditional.
The journalistic use reports an unverified claim and keeps the reporter at a distance.
A short past hypothesis about an event that may have already taken place.
A common regret addressed to another person, built on the auxiliary avoir and the modal devoir.