Using "si" + L'Imparfait in hypothetical sentences with Le Conditionnel Présent

Take the fastest path to fluent French

Here's a hypothetical situation in English:

If we won the lottery, we would buy a house.

-> Here you can see that if is followed by a verb in the Simple Past (won), while the other clause uses the Conditional Present (would buy).

Now look at the French:

Si on gagnait au loto, on achèterait une maison.

-> Here you see that in French, si is followed by a verb in L'Imparfait (gagnait), while the other clause uses Le Conditionnel Présent (achèterait).

Hypothetical sentences in French

Here are more examples: 

Si on gagnait au loto, on achèterait une maison.If we won the lottery, we would buy a house.

Si tu venais avec moi, tu ne le regretterais pas.If you came with me, you wouldn't regret it.

Je ne saurais pas quoi faire si j'étais toi.I wouldn't know what to do if I were you.

Si j'étais riche, j'achèterais un appartement à Paris.If I were rich, I would buy an apartment in Paris.

Note that to express hypotheses in French, you'll use L'Imparfait after si, and Le Conditionnel Présent in the other part of the sentence.

 

Also, there are two ways to order the clauses:

- Si clause [+ L'Imparfait] + clause in Le Conditionnel 

or

- Clause in Le Conditionnel + si clause [+ L'Imparfait]



ATTENTION: 

You can never use Le Passé Composé nor other past tenses in this context.


See other uses of L'Imparfait:
Expressing continuing action with the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait)

Expressing past habits or repeated actions with the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait)

And to see how to conjugate in L'Imparfait
Conjugate regular verbs in the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait) and Conjugate être in the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait)

Want to make sure your French sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Examples and resources

Si tu venais avec moi, tu ne le regretterais pas.If you came with me, you wouldn't regret it.
Je ne saurais pas quoi faire si j'étais toi.I wouldn't know what to do if I were you.
Si tu faisais tes devoirs le vendredi, tu serais libre le reste du weekend.If you did your homework on Fridays, you would be free the rest of the weekend.
S'ils économisaient plus, ils pourraient se permettre des vacances.If they saved more, they could afford holidays.
Si on gagnait au loto, on achèterait une maison.If we won the lottery, we would buy a house.
Si j'étais riche, j'achèterais un appartement à Paris.If I were rich, I would buy an apartment in Paris.
Si j'étais toi, je passerais mon tour.If I were you, I'd skip my turn.
Clever stuff happening!