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The present conditional tense, Le Conditionnel Présent, is used to express hypothetical situations, wishes and desires.
If I were rich, I would travel.
Learn how to conjugate verbs in Le Conditionnel Présent in French
In Le Conditionnel Présent, you always use the same stem as the one used in Le Futur Simple (Indicatif) followed with L'Imparfait (Indicatif) endings (-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient).
In practice, it works as follows:1 - -ER and -IR verbs retain their infinitives as stems
Est-ce que tu choisirais l'écharpe noire ou la bleue ?Would you choose the black scarf or the blue one?
2- -DRE and -RE verbs drop the -e at the end of their infinitives
Nous ne boirions que de l'eau si nous étions raisonnables.We would only drink water if we were reasonable.
3- Verbs with irregular stems in Le Futur Simple (Indicatif) keep the same irregular stem in Le Conditionnel Présent
Je voudrais une part de tarte aux pommes, s'il vous plaît.I would like a slice of apple tart, please.
Mélanie recevrait ses amies à dîner si elle ne vivait pas dans un studio.Mélanie would have her friends over for dinner if she didn't live in a studio.
Si nous gagnions au loto, nous achèterions une maison au bord de la mer.If we won the lottery, we would buy a house by the sea.
See also the following lessons on Le Conditionnel Présent:
Conjugate être in the conditional present in French (Le Conditionnel Présent)
Conjugate faire in the conditional present in French (Le Conditionnel Présent)
Conjugate aller in the conditional present in French (Le Conditionnel Présent)
Conjugate devoir in the conditional present in French = should (Le Conditionnel Présent)
Conjugate pouvoir in the conditional present in French = could (Le Conditionnel Présent)
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