📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 14 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 3 · L'hypothèse et le regret
Les souhaits impossibles
Module 11 of the free French course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 14 of 30: Wishes about a past that cannot change: j'aurais aimé être musicien. 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 14.
The words
French
English
Say it
j'aurais aimé
I would have liked
zhoh-reh ay-MAY
si seulement
if only
see suhl-MAH(n)
plus jeune
younger
plew ZHUHN
le musicien
the musician
luh mew-zee-SYA(n)
l'occasionfeminine — the article elides to l'
the opportunity
loh-kah-ZYOH(n)
manquer une occasion
to miss an opportunity
mah(n)-kay ewn oh-kah-ZYOH(n)
désormais
from now on
day-zor-MEH
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
Wishes about a past that cannot change: j'aurais aimé être musicien. J'aurais voulu vous connaître plus tôt. Si seulement j'avais commencé plus jeune!
Et aussi · And also
Si seulement + plus-que-parfait is the purest form — no main clause needed, because everyone can finish the sentence.
Attention · Watch out
si seulement + plus-que-parfait stands alone: si seulement j'avais commencé plus jeune ! And désormais means from now on, never 'therefore'.
faire, conditionnel passé — the table
je aurais fait · tu aurais fait · il/elle aurait fait · nous aurions fait · vous auriez fait · ils/elles auraient fait
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with j'aurais aimé.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out faire, 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.