French language Q&A Forum

Hi,

I had a doubt regarding this statement : 

Je pense que tu vendrais facilement ta maison.

Shouldn't statements with penser/croire etc only be followed by indicatif in the positive or subjonctif in the negative? In what cases can we use conditionnel? I would think this particular sentence should use vendre in the future tense. So:

Je pense que tu vendras facilement ta maison.

Please let me know.

Thanks and regards

Roopa

After all this time learning French l decide today to develop an English/French go-to chart for translation purposes. 

All of a sudden, the conditional tense sitting in the indicative mood in my little Bescherelle conjugaison book looks out of place. Why is it there, in a mood that expresses facts and certainties,  things that definitely happened?

 A little research in Bescherelle, on the web and here surface the fact that the Conditional in French is often classified as a mood unto itself (as in Lawless French) due to it's hypothetical expressions; and that more often, today, "pour des raisons de forme et de sens"(Bescherelle p.140), as a tense under the imperative. An example given for the latter  is that "aurait" , conditional present, equates the future present transposed into the past. So interesting! I had not seen this before. 

I wonder, what went into Lawless French's decision to classify the Conditional  as a mood apart instead of as under the Indicative mood? Either works , l am just curious.

In a sentence with a main clause and a si clause, the first uses the conditionell and the second the imparfait. For example, Je partirais si j'avais une voiture. Would it not make more sense to use the conditionelle for the si clause as well? After all, it also expresses a hypothetical situation. Why the different modes in the main clause and the si clause?

Thanks Aurelie. This is much easier to follow.

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

Hi

I have a question I'm learning about the inversion in the conditional present and I was wondering about these two sentences?

Why do you not conjugate passer? 

(Could we) passer Chez vous après le spectacle? Pourrions- nous is the answer

But with this sentence

(Would he) signer cette pétition? Signerait- il would be the answer 

I'm very confused and help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Nicole

This is the first lesson I've run across that is confusing, so that's pretty darn good!  There are no examples of third person plural except the irregular one, so a novice has no idea what the third person plural rule is for regular verbs.  Please update so make it clear that aient is indeed the ending for regular as well as irregular verbs (maybe by using a regular verb as the example since this page is supposed to be about regular verbs).  Thanks.

Are there verbs that don't follow the structured outline noted here - 'stem' from future simple conjugation, 'endings' from past imperfect conjugation? I think that I have not yet (early days) come across a verb that does not conjugate in the conditional in accordance with these simple 'rules' and having this clarified could/should/would make it much easier to remember. Even for irregular verbs it seems to me that if you know the imparfait and the future simple (both of which are also pretty consistent with 'endings' but not the stems) you have all you need to know the conditional. 

In a recent test, the answer required was "mes parent aimeraient ce qu'on se marie" and the response "'voudraient'' was not accepted. Aren't either regularly used to mean "'would like?" I think technically the former is would like and the latter is would want, but that seems pretty subtle. For example, in ordering food "'Je voudrais avoir  . . . .''

correct answer is:

“Nous commencerions à cinq heures si nos patrons nous laissait faire”.  

Pourquoi pas:  “si nos patrons nous laissait LE faire”.?