FSF3U The Conditionnel Passé: Notes and Practice

So far the conditionnel has let you imagine the present and the future: what you would do. But a lot of what people talk about is a past that never happened: I would have called you. We would have won without that penalty. You would have loved that concert. For that, French has a compound tense, the conditionnel passé: the French would have. You already know both of its parts. It is built exactly like the passé composé, except that the helping verb avoir or être is in the conditionnel instead of the présent: j'ai parlé (I spoke) → j'aurais parlé (I would have spoken). Once you can form it, you unlock three things: imagining a different past, reading news reports that describe events nobody has confirmed, and (in the next two lessons) si clauses about the past and the language of regret.

Formation: two words, like the passé composé

Subject	avoir verbs (parler)	être verbs (partir)	English
je / j'	j'aurais parlé	je serais parti(e)	I would have spoken / left
tu	tu aurais parlé	tu serais parti(e)	you would have spoken / left
il / elle / on	il aurait parlé	elle serait partie	he would have spoken / she would have left
nous	nous aurions parlé	nous serions parti(e)s	we would have spoken / left
vous	vous auriez parlé	vous seriez parti(e)(s)	you would have spoken / left
ils / elles	ils auraient parlé	elles seraient parties	they would have spoken / left

The auxiliary is the conditionnel présent of avoir (aur- + ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient) or être (ser- + the same endings). The past participle is the one you already use in the passé composé.

Fig 1Anatomy of the conditionnel passé: the conditionnel of avoir or être plus a past participle, two examples split into their parts with the agreement of parties traced back to elles, the full auxiliary conjugations, and three uses.

Avoir or être? The same choice as in the passé composé

Most verbs take avoir. Être is used with the verbs of movement and change of state you know from the passé composé (aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, tomber, rester, naître, mourir, devenir, revenir, rentrer, retourner, passer) and with every pronominal verb (se lever, s'amuser, se tromper): Nous serions arrivés plus tôt. Tu te serais bien amusé. As in the passé composé, monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, passer and retourner switch to avoir when they have a direct object: J'aurais sorti les poubelles (I would have taken out the garbage).

Agreement of the past participle

Situation	Rule	Example	English
with être	agrees with the subject	Elles seraient venues avec nous.	They (f.) would have come with us.
with avoir, no object before	no agreement	Ma sœur aurait choisi le rouge.	My sister would have chosen the red one.
with avoir, direct object pronoun before	agrees with that object	Les photos ? Je les aurais prises avec mon téléphone.	The photos? I would have taken them with my phone.
pronominal verb	usually agrees with the subject	Elle se serait levée à 5 h.	She would have got up at 5 a.m.
pronominal verb + body part or other direct object	no agreement (se is an indirect object)	Elle se serait lavé les mains.	She would have washed her hands.

These are the same agreement rules as in the passé composé; only the form of the auxiliary is new.

Three uses, plus a preview

Use	French	English
Would have: an imagined past result	Sans cette pénalité, nous aurions gagné. / À ta place, j'aurais accepté.	Without that penalty, we would have won. / If I were you, I would have accepted.
Unconfirmed past event (news)	Selon des témoins, le conducteur aurait brûlé un feu rouge.	According to witnesses, the driver allegedly ran a red light.
Future seen from the past, already complete	Elle a promis qu'elle aurait fini le projet avant vendredi.	She promised she would have finished the project before Friday.
Softened wish or request (preview of lesson 5)	J'aurais aimé venir. / J'aurais voulu vous poser une question.	I would have liked to come. / I wanted to ask you a question (very polite).

The third use is reported speech: the futur antérieur in the original words (« J'aurai fini avant vendredi. ») becomes the conditionnel passé after a past reporting verb.

Reading the news: a fact or a claim?

Incendie dans un entrepôt de Hamilton
Un incendie a détruit un entrepôt du secteur industriel de Hamilton dans la nuit de mardi à mercredi.
Personne n'a été blessé, ont confirmé les pompiers.
Selon un voisin, l'incendie aurait commencé vers 2 h du matin dans un camion stationné près du bâtiment.
D'après certaines sources, l'entrepôt n'aurait pas respecté les normes de sécurité.
L'enquête devrait durer plusieurs semaines.

Translation: Fire in a Hamilton warehouse. A fire destroyed a warehouse in Hamilton's industrial area overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. No one was injured, firefighters confirmed. According to a neighbour, the fire reportedly started around 2 a.m. in a truck parked near the building. According to some sources, the warehouse allegedly did not meet safety standards. The investigation is expected to last several weeks. Sort the sentences by tense. The passé composé (a détruit, a été blessé, ont confirmé) gives facts the journalist stands behind, with an official source. The conditionnel passé (aurait commencé, n'aurait pas respecté) marks claims that come from a neighbour or unnamed sources and have not been confirmed. The last sentence uses the conditionnel présent of devoir for an expectation (should, is expected to). When you read or listen to the news, the tense alone tells you how much the reporter is vouching for each statement.

Aurais fini or avais fini?

The conditionnel passé and the plus-que-parfait both use avoir or être + past participle, and learners mix them up. J'avais fini (imparfait of avoir) means I had finished: something that really happened before another past event. J'aurais fini (conditionnel of avoir) means I would have finished: something that did not happen, or that is only reported. Listen for the r sound: aurais, serais signal the conditionnel (j'aurai, je serai, with no s, are the futur antérieur, I will have).

Word order inside the tense

Object pronouns and ne go before the auxiliary; pas and short adverbs go between the auxiliary and the participle: Je ne l'aurais pas fait (I wouldn't have done it). Tu aurais bien aimé ce spectacle (You really would have liked that show). Il serait déjà parti (He would already have left).

A literary form you may meet

In older or very formal texts you may see a second form of the conditionnel passé that looks like the subjonctif: Il eût été préférable de partir means the same as Il aurait été préférable de partir (It would have been better to leave). You only need to recognise it; in your own writing, use aurait or serait.

The Conditionnel Passé

Key things to remember

Formation: two words, like the passé composé

Agreement of the past participle

Three uses, plus a preview

Reading the news: a fact or a claim?

Worked examples

Where marks get lost

Flashcards 7

Practice