How to Conjugate Conditional Form?

Conjugating verbs in the conditional form in French typically involves adding specific endings to either the verb's infinitive or an irregular stem. This tense is primarily used to express hypothetical situations, politeness, or advice.

Regular Conditional Conjugation

For the majority of verbs, forming the conditional tense is straightforward: you simply attach the conditional endings directly to the entire infinitive form of the verb. These endings are consistent across all regular verbs, regardless of whether they end in -er, -ir, or -re. Interestingly, these endings are identical to those used for the imperfect tense.

The conditional endings are:

• -ais (for je and tu)
• -ait (for il, elle, on)
• -ions (for nous)
• -iez (for vous)
• -aient (for ils, elles)

Let's look at examples for regular verbs like parler (to speak), finir (to finish), and vendre (to sell):

Irregular Conditional Conjugation

While the endings remain constant, a small number of verbs are irregular in the conditional tense. For these verbs, the endings are added to an irregular stem root instead of the full infinitive. You'll need to memorize these irregular stems.

Here are some common irregular verbs and their conditional stems:

• aller (to go) → ir-
• avoir (to have) → aur-
• être (to be) → ser-
• faire (to do/make) → fer-
• venir (to come) → viendr-
• savoir (to know) → saur-
• voir (to see) → verr-
• vouloir (to want) → voudr-
• devoir (to have to) → devr-
• pouvoir (to be able to) → pourr-

Once you know the irregular stem, you apply the same conditional endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Let's look at examples for irregular verbs like avoir (to have), être (to be), and aller (to go):

Understanding these rules and practicing with both regular and irregular verbs will allow you to confidently form the conditional tense in French.