French Grammar in Context

2 FORMATION

The past conditional is formed by using the present conditional of avoiror êtreand the past
participle of the verb.

e.g. J’aurais pu(line 10)

Je me serais suicidée(lines 11–12)

je serais... j’aurais...

tu serais tu aurais

il/elle serait il/elle aurait

nous serions nous aurions

vous seriez vous auriez

ils/elles seraient ils/elles auraient

Other points to note in the text

• Omission of the article: Enfant d’une secte(line 1) (see Chapter 13)


• Pronominal verb: Je me serais suicidée(lines 1–2, 11–12) (see Chapter 20)

Discover more about the past conditional

a The past conditional can express a possible action in the past.

e.g. Cela aurait bien pu être le cas(It could well have been the case)

b The past conditional is frequently used in the media to indicate unconfirmed facts in the past.

e.g. Ceux qui auraient lancé les fusées n’ont pas eu le droit de se défendre au tribunal(Those who

have allegedly thrown the rockets were not allowed to defend themselves in court)

c The past conditional can express regret or reproach.

e.g. J’aurais aimé être artiste(I would have liked.. .)

Vous auriez pu m’en parler plus tôt(You could have mentioned it before)

See for further information: Same references as for the present conditional, above

Tenses after si

1 USAGE

a In most cases siintroduces a condition on which the action mentioned in the main clause is
dependent. See above: The present conditional in the textb and The past conditional in the
text.In all such cases the sequence of tenses is as follows:

The conditional (present and past) 39