📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 11 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 3 · L'hypothèse et le regret
Si j'avais su — l'hypothèse dans le passé
Module 11 of the free French course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 11 of 30: B1 gave you si + imparfait + conditionnel for an unreal NOW. On this page: 7 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 11.
The words
French
English
Say it
si j'avais su
if I had known
see zhah-veh SEW
je serais venu
I would have come
zhuh suh-reh vuh-NEW
j'aurais accepté
I would have accepted
zhoh-reh ahk-sep-TAY
autrement
otherwise
oh-truh-MAH(n)
le hasard
chance, coincidence
luh ah-ZAHR
par hasard
by chance
pahr ah-ZAHR
prévenir
to warn, to let (someone) know
prayv-NEER
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
B1 gave you si + imparfait + conditionnel for an unreal NOW. Step it back one tense each and you get the unreal PAST: si j'avais su, je serais venu. If I had known, I would have come.
Et aussi · And also
Si j'avais su is one of the most-used sentences in French. It is regret, compressed into four words.
Attention · Watch out
si j'avais su, je serais venu: plus-que-parfait after si, conditionnel passé in the main clause. par hasard is by chance; prévenir is to warn, not to prevent.
parler, conditionnel passé — the table
je aurais parlé · tu aurais parlé · il/elle aurait parlé · nous aurions parlé · vous auriez parlé · ils/elles auraient parlé
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with si j'avais su.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out parler, conditionnel passé 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.