The present conditional — conditionnel

In one line

The future stem + the imparfait endings. And its first use is politeness, not conditions.

The table

How it is built — two pieces you already know

-re verbs drop the final e: prendre → prendr + ais.

This is English "would", folded into the verb. je parlerais = "I would speak", il viendrait = "he would come". English uses one unchanging helper for every person; French changes the ending — but the meaning maps across almost perfectly, including the politeness use below.

Three uses

In daily life the first use outweighs the other two combined. je voudrais is the polite way to ask for anything.

English does exactly this — "I would like" instead of "I want" — so the instinct transfers directly. Je veux un café is as blunt in French as "I want a coffee" is in English.

The irregular stems — the same as the future

If you know the future stems, the conditional is free.

Exceptions

The si rule matches English and you already obey it. English does not say "if I would have known" in careful usage either — it says "if I had known". French applies the same ban without exception: the si clause takes the imperfect or pluperfect, and the conditional goes in the other half.

Examples

Common mistakes

Future versus conditional