Past Conditional (Conditionnel
Passé)
The conditional is a mood, which means that it serves to express the
attitude or impression of the speaker. The past conditional is used to
express hypothetical or "contrary to fact" statements:
-
Elle m'a dit qu'elle aurait voulu venir nous voir.
She told me that she would have liked to come
and see us.
-
À votre place, j'aurais fait la même chose.
In your position, I would have done the same
thing.
More often than not, the past conditional is used in si constructions
expressing possible or hypothetical situations. These sentences follow
a relatively inflexible pattern entailing a "si-clause" and a "result
clause" (si + pluperfect followed by past conditional), cf.:
-
Si j'avais eu le temps, j'aurais fait mes devoirs.
If I had had the time, I would have done my homework.
See also Si-Constructions,
Pluperfect
(use).
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