Giáo trình động từ tiếng Pháp - Part IV Looking Ahead: The Future and the Conditional Tenses -

Chapter 18

Trying the Past Conditional Tense:

Could Have and Would Have

In This Chapter

Forming the past conditional tense

Using the past conditional

You use the past conditional tense in all those situations when you could just kick your￾self because you should have said this or should have done that. For example, you may

say I should have locked the door when a thief takes your car stereo or I should not have

locked the door when you lock your keys inside your car. You may tell your friend you should

have gone out with him or you may say she shouldn’t have said that if you’re trying to make

someone feel better. In all those instances, you’re using the past conditional tense.

The past conditional often expresses a missed opportunity in the past, an uncertainty, or a

regret. For example, Elle aurait voulu voyager mais elle n’avait pas assez d’argent means She

would have liked to travel but she didn’t have enough money. In English, the past conditional is

translated as would have done something. Furthermore, in English it’s used to express what

would have or would not have occurred if something had happened or had not happened.

In this chapter, I show you how to form the past conditional tense and then how to use it. I

offer plenty of exercises so that you can practice these concepts.

Creating the Past Conditional

You form the past conditional by putting the auxiliaries avoir (to have) and être (to be) in

the conditional tense and adding the past participle of the verbs. Check out the following

tables that conjugate the auxiliaries in the conditional form.

avoir (to have)

j’aurais nous aurions

tu aurais vous auriez

il/elle/on aurait ils/elles auraient

être (to be)

je serais nous serions

tu serais vous seriez

il/elle/on serait ils/elles seraient

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