Words in conditional

Question

Hi

I came across these three sentences and I was wondering why I got them wrong?

The president is reportedly in Brazil today

Le président serait au Brasil aujourd'hui is the answer I'm confused as to why is reportedly is using serait?

The director will reportedly sign the contract le director signerait let contrat is the answer again why is will reportedly using signerait?

It would be prettier if there were more flowers

Ce serait s'il y avait plus de fleurs is the answer again here they used serait as would be prettier. Why is that?

Thanks for the help in advance

Nicole

Accepted Answer

Your first two examples are interesting. I hadn't heard of this before, but apparently it's the "conditionnel de rumeur" or "conditionnel journalistique". It's used to express unconfirmed information, so it could be translated as "reportedly". I suppose it's a bit like reported speech, e.g. "I was told that the president would be in Brazil today".
You can find some more explanation here:
https://www.intermarkls.com/single-post/2015/02/10/The-French-They-Never-Taught-You-7-The-Conditional-Doesnt-Always-Mean-Would
But your last example is just the normal use of the conditional. The English "would be prettier" is translated as "serait plus joli". (You missed out "plus joli", but I guess that was just a typo). "Serait" is the conditional form of the verb "être".

Answer

Thank you for your help