📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 6 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 2 · Le regret et le reproche
Le conditionnel passé
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 6 of 30: The conditional past is the tense of the thing that did not happen. 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 6.
The words
French
English
Say it
j'aurais aimé venir
I would have liked to come
zhoh-reh ay-may vuh-NEER
le conditionnel passé
the conditional past
luh koh(n)-dee-syoh-nehl pah-SAY
elle serait partie
she would have left
ehl suh-reh pahr-TEE
plus tôt
earlier
plew TOH
autrement
otherwise
oh-truh-MAH(n)
possible
possible
poh-SEEBL
l'occasionfeminine — the article elides to l'
the opportunity
loh-kah-ZYOH(n)
manquer une occasion
to miss a chance
mah(n)-kay ewn oh-kah-ZYOH(n)
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
The conditional past is the tense of the thing that did not happen. Build it the obvious way: the conditional of avoir or être, then the participle. J'aurais aimé venir — I would have liked to come.
Et aussi · And also
The être club keeps its helper and its agreement: elle serait partie plus tôt. Nothing new to learn except the meaning, which is one of the most useful in the language.
Attention · Watch out
The conditionnel passé is the conditional of avoir or être plus the participle: j'aurais aimé, elle serait partie. The être club keeps its agreement here too.
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
aller, conditionnel passé — the table
il serait allé · elle serait allée · ils seraient allés · elles seraient allées
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with j'aurais aimé venir.
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 and aller, 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.