📖LearnModule 10 · Lesson 7 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridgeUnit 2 · L'hypothèse, les trois niveaux
Si + imparfait — l'imaginé
Module 10 of the free French course (CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge), lesson 7 of 30: Level two is the thing that is unlikely. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 7.
The words
French
English
Say it
si j'avais le choix
if I had the choice
see zhah-veh luh SHWAH
je vivrais à la campagne
I would live in the country
zhuh vee-vreh ah lah kah(n)-PAHN-yuh
si on allait au restaurant ?
shall we go out to eat?
see oh(n) nah-leh oh rehs-toh-RAH(n)
le choix
the choice
luh SHWAH
la campagne
the countryside
lah kah(n)-PAHN-yuh
peu probable
unlikely
puh proh-BAHBL
la suggestion
the suggestion
lah sewg-zhehs-TYOH(n)
rêver
to dream
reh-VAY
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Level two is the thing that is unlikely, or simply imagined. Si + imparfait, then the conditionnel présent: si j'avais le choix, je vivrais à la campagne.
Et aussi · And also
French uses it constantly for polite suggestions too: si on allait au restaurant? — shall we go out to eat? An imparfait with a question mark and no main clause at all.
Attention · Watch out
si on allait au restaurant ? is a suggestion: si + imparfait with a question mark and no main clause. It is not a past 'if we went'.
venir, conditionnel — the table
je viendrais · tu viendrais · il/elle viendrait · nous viendrions · vous viendriez · ils/elles viendraient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with si j'avais le choix.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out venir, conditionnel in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.