📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 8 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 2 · Le regret et le reproche
Si j'avais su
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 8 of 30: The third si-construction is the unreal past: si plus the plus-que-parfait. 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 8.
The words
French
English
Say it
si j'avais su
if I had known
see zhah-veh SEW
je ne serais pas venu
I would not have come
zhuh nuh suh-reh pah vuh-NEW
irréel
unreal
ee-ray-EHL
le passé lointain
the distant past
luh pah-say lwa(n)-TA(n)
changer le passé
to change the past
shah(n)-zhay luh pah-SAY
impossible
impossible
a(n)-poh-SEEBL
le hasard
chance
luh ah-ZAHR
finalement
in the end
fee-nahl-MAH(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 third si-construction is the unreal past: si plus the plus-que-parfait, then the conditional past. Si j'avais su, je ne serais pas venu — if I had known, I would not have come.
Et aussi · And also
It is the one you use when it is genuinely too late, and it is the most quoted line in French regret: si j'avais su! The si-half never takes a conditional — that is the rule that survives every level.
Attention · Watch out
si j'avais su, je ne serais pas venu: the si-half takes the plus-que-parfait, never the conditionnel passé. si j'aurais su is the error this lesson exists to prevent.
savoir, conditionnel passé — the table
je aurais su · tu aurais su · il/elle aurait su · nous aurions su · vous auriez su · ils/elles auraient su
partir, conditionnel passé — the table
il serait parti · elle serait partie · ils seraient partis · elles seraient parties
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 su.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out savoir, conditionnel passé and partir, 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.