What is, and how do I form the conditional tense?

The conditional tense (le conditionnel) is used to descibe a situation in the future that may or may not happen. It is normally translated as as ‘would’ in English. For example, je voudrais aller… ‘I would like to go’. The conditional is formed by taking the future stem (which is normally the infinitive- the unconjugated verb such as regarder, manger etc) and then you add on the conditional endings- which are the same as the imperfect! The endings are: ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. So regarder in the conditional would be: regarderais, regarderais, regarderait etc However- there are some irregular stems that you simply have to learn!