French

Forming the Past Conditional Tense
The Verb Devoir in the Conditional Tense
Activité 15

Forming the Past Conditional Tense by Bruce Sallee and David Hebert

The similarities between the conditional and future tenses extend to the past, too. Like the construction of the future perfect, the past conditional tense uses the present conditional conjugation of the auxiliary verb, whether it is avoir or être. The appropriate past participle is then added, and any necessary agreements are made. For more information on the agreement of past participles, refer to Chapter 12.

Avoir

Remember that past participles used with avoir must agree in gender and number with any preceding direct object pronouns. Refer to Chapter 12 for more information.

Table 15-6

Conditionnel Conjugation of Avoir

Singular	Plural
j'aurais	nous aurions
tu aurais	vous auriez
il/elle aurait	ils/elles auraient

Être

Remember that past participles used with être must agree with the preceding subject pronoun; object pronouns do not modify the past participle when used with être as the auxiliary verb.

Table 15-7

Conditionnel Conjugation of Être

Singular	Plural
je serais	nous serions
tu serais	vous seriez
il/elle serait	ils/elles seraient

Here are some examples. Listen to the CD for their pronunciation:

TRACK 70

<tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="60%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="40%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p><emphasis>Tu serais venu</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>You would have come.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><emphasis>Elle serait allée</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>She would have gone.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><emphasis>Ils seraient nés</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>They would have already been born.</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table>  <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/french/forming-the-conditional-tense/the-past-conditional-tense.htm" title="The Past Conditional Tense">The Past Conditional Tense</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/french/forming-the-conditional-tense/the-verb-devoir-in-the-conditional-tense.htm" title="The Verb Devoir in the Conditional Tense">The Verb Devoir in the Conditional Tense</a> 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