How do I form the conditional mood in French?

The conditional mood is one of the more straightforward tenses to conjugate in the French language. It is the equivalent of using ‘would’ in English. For example, ‘I would go’ – ‘j’irais’. To form the conditional mood in French, you need to know the verb endings: Je –ais Tu –ais Il/Elle/On –ait Nous – ions Vous – iez Ils/Elles – aient

For the verb stem, that is, the section of the verb that comes before the ending, the infinitive is often used, with the ending added onto the end. The infinitive is the verb in its root form, before it has undergone any transformation. For example I would eat: Je mangerais They would talk: Ils parleraient She would go out: Elle sortirait However, as it is French, it goes without saying that there are exceptions for this rule. Although the endings of the conditional never vary from the above, there are some irregular verb stems. The most common of these include: Aller – ir Pouvoir - pourr Voir – verr Vouloir - voudr Avoir – aur Être- ser Devoir - Devr For example : I would have: j’aurais She would want: Elle voudrait They should: Ils devraient We could: Nous pourrions Luckily, the conditional mood is something of a hybrid of tense – the endings are the same as the imperfect, and the verb stems (regular and irregular) are the same as the future tense. So, it is only logical to learn these other two tenses as well as the conditional!