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Le Conditionnel Passé

French Conditional Past

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2023-03-25

Le Conditionnel Passé is the past tense of the conditional mood, which expresses actions that would have or might have happened in the past. It's about missed opportunities and unrealized potential.

The English past conditional is formed with the verbs ''would have'' + the past participle of the main verb, while in French it's formed with avoir or être in le conditionel présent+ the past participle of the verb.

For example

Nous aurions vraiment aimé vous voir !We would have really liked to see you!

Je serais allé en Australie si j'avais eu les moyens.I would have gone to Australia if I could have afforded it.

Vous auriez eu peur, vous ?Would you have been scared, you?

Nous aurions perdu le match sans Zidane.We would have lost the game without Zidane.

See also: French Passé and All French tenses

Lessons with more detail on Le Conditionnel Passé

Ne ... pas = Not - with compound tenses (French Negations)
Conjugate verbs (+ être) in the conditional past in French (Le Conditionnel Passé)
Conjugate verbs with irregular past participles in the conditional past in French (Le Conditionnel Passé)
Conjugate regular -er, -ir, -dre verbs (+ avoir) in the conditional past in French (Le Conditionnel Passé)
Conjugate pouvoir in the conditional past in French = could have (Le Conditionnel Passé)
Conjugate devoir in the conditional past in French = should have (Le Conditionnel Passé)
Au cas où + conditional mood (Le Conditionnel) = in case in French
I'll be right with you...