Le conditionnel présent
The conditionnel is French's 'would' tense. Je voudrais = I would like. J'aimerais = I'd love to. Tu pourrais m'aider? = could you help me? It does two jobs: making things polite (Je voudrais un café, please-style) and talking about hypotheticals (Si j'avais le temps, je viendrais = if I had time, I'd come). The form is easy because you already know the pieces.
How to form it — futur stems + imparfait endings
Take the stem from the futur simple (lesson 21) — for regular verbs that's just the infinitive. Add the imparfait endings (lesson 18): -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. parler → je parlerais, tu parlerais, il parlerait, nous parlerions, vous parleriez, ils parleraient. Compare: je parlerai (futur simple, 'I will speak') vs je parlerais (conditionnel, 'I would speak'). One letter — s — and a totally different meaning.
Same irregular stems as the futur simple
Every irregular stem from lesson 21 reappears here. avoir → aur-: j'aurais. être → ser-: je serais. aller → ir-: j'irais. faire → fer-: je ferais. pouvoir → pourr-: je pourrais. savoir → saur-: je saurais. venir → viendr-: je viendrais. voir → verr-: je verrais. vouloir → voudr-: je voudrais. devoir → devr-: je devrais. falloir → il faudrait. Learn the stems once, get two tenses out.
Use 1: politeness
The everyday workhorse use. Je veux un café sounds like a demand. Je voudrais un café sounds polite — closer to 'I'd like a coffee'. The conditionnel softens any request. Je voudrais réserver une table = I'd like to reserve a table. Pourriez-vous m'aider? = Could you help me? Vous auriez l'heure? = Would you have the time? J'aimerais voir le menu = I'd like to see the menu. In any restaurant or shop, switch to conditionnel by default.
Use 2: hypotheticals — the si + imparfait, conditionnel pattern
To say 'if X happened, Y would happen', French uses si + imparfait in the if-clause, and conditionnel in the result. Si j'avais le temps, je viendrais = if I had time, I would come. Si j'étais riche, j'achèterais une maison = if I were rich, I'd buy a house. Si tu venais, on serait contents = if you came, we'd be happy. Compare with the present-tense rule from lesson 21 (Si tu viens, je serai content — real possibility) — when it's hypothetical/contrary-to-fact, jump to imparfait + conditionnel.
Use 3: softened opinions and uncertain news
Je dirais que… = I would say that… (a softer 'I think'). On pourrait peut-être… = we could perhaps… (gentle suggestion). News reporting also uses conditionnel for unconfirmed information: Le président serait à Paris = the president is reportedly in Paris. You don't need to produce that last one yet, but you'll see it in headlines.
Negation and questions
Same as ever. Negation: ne + verb + pas. Je ne voudrais pas déranger = I wouldn't want to bother. Tu ne pourrais pas venir? = couldn't you come? Questions: rising tone (Tu viendrais?), est-ce que (Est-ce que tu viendrais?), or — very polite — inversion: Voudriez-vous un café? = would you like a coffee? Inversion in the conditionnel sounds elegant and is common in service contexts.
