You now own all four tenses the French hypothesis system needs: présent, imparfait, plus-que-parfait and conditionnel. This lesson wires them together. There are exactly three patterns, and once you have them, you can talk about anything from a plan for tonight to a regret from ten years ago.
| Type | Si clause | Main clause | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 â real | si + prĂ©sent | futur | It might well happen |
| 2 â unreal present | si + imparfait | conditionnel prĂ©sent | It isn't so, but imagine |
| 3 â unreal past | si + plus-que-parfait | conditionnel passĂ© | It didn't happen; too late |
Never put a futur or a conditionnel after si meaning "if". Not si j'aurai, not si je voudrais. The future or conditional goes in the other clause. French keeps si clean: prĂ©sent, imparfait, or plus-que-parfait â those three and nothing else.
Use it for anything genuinely on the table: plans, threats, promises, weather.
Si j'ai le temps, je viendrai. â If I have time, I'll come.
S'il pleut demain, on restera Ă la maison. â If it rains tomorrow, we'll stay home.
Two variations worth knowing. The main clause can be an imperative â Si tu as faim, mange ! â or a present for a general truth: Si on chauffe l'eau Ă 100 degrĂ©s, elle bout. And note the elision: si + il becomes s'il, but si elle never contracts.
The condition is false right now, or very unlikely. This is the daydream, the polite suggestion, the "if I were you".
Si j'avais le temps, je viendrais. â If I had time, I'd come. (but I don't)
Si j'Ă©tais riche, j'achĂšterais une maison en Provence.
Si j'Ă©tais toi, je refuserais. â If I were you, I'd refuse.
French has no separate "were" form: si j'Ă©tais is simply the imparfait, used for everyone. The shorter Ă ta place ("in your position") does the same job with no si at all, and sounds more natural in speech.
The door is closed. This is regret, blame, and the endless post-mortem of what might have been.
Si j'avais eu le temps, je serais venu. â If I'd had time, I would have come.
Si tu m'avais Ă©coutĂ©, ça ne serait pas arrivĂ©. â If you'd listened to me, that wouldn't have happened.
Strip off the main clause and you are back to the regret formula from Lesson 1: Si seulement j'avais su ! Same grammar, half the sentence.
Real life does not respect the table. When a past condition has a present result, mix freely: keep the si clause in the plus-que-parfait and put the main clause in the conditionnel présent.
| French | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Si j'avais étudié la médecine, je serais médecin aujourd'hui. | If I had studied medicine, I'd be a doctor today. |
| Si elle n'avait pas raté son train, elle serait déjà là . | If she hadn't missed her train, she'd already be here. |
| Si j'étais plus organisé, j'aurais fini hier. | If I were more organised, I'd have finished yesterday. |
French uses the same little word for "if" and for "whether", and the tense rule applies to only one of them. After si meaning whether â in an indirect question â the futur and the conditionnel are perfectly legal.
| Sentence | Which si? | Legal? |
|---|---|---|
| Je me demande s'il viendra. | whether (indirect question) | â Futur allowed |
| Si j' | if (condition) | â Never |
| Elle a demandĂ© si je serais lĂ . | whether (reported question) | â Conditionnel allowed |
Quick test: if you can swap in "whether" in English, the tense rule does not apply.
French has a rich set of conditional conjunctions. Several take the subjunctive, which arrives in Lesson 5 â flag them now and you will meet them as old friends.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ă moins que | ah man KUH | unless (+ subjonctif) |
| Ă condition que | ah kohn-dee-syohn KUH | provided that (+ subjonctif) |
| pourvu que | poor-vĂŒ KUH | as long as / let's hope (+ subjonctif) |
| au cas oĂč | oh kah OO | in case (+ conditionnel) |
| sinon | see-NOHN | otherwise, if not |
| sans quoi | sahn KWAH | failing which |
| quitte Ă | keet AH | even if it means |
| le cas échéant | luh kah ay-shay-AHN | should the case arise (formal) |
In casual French you will hear type 2 used where the textbook wants type 1 â Si tu venais, ce serait sympa instead of Si tu viens, ce sera sympa â because the imparfait softens an invitation. You will also hear the non-standard si j'aurais from native speakers; it is stigmatised, and every French child is corrected for it.
Same three patterns. In informal QuĂ©bĂ©cois, though, the type-3 si clause is very often flattened to a conditionnel passĂ© on both sides: Si j'aurais su, j'aurais pas venu â instantly recognisable, heavily stigmatised in writing, and immortalised by the film La Guerre des tuques. Recognise it; do not reproduce it on an exam.
Put the verb into the futur simple.
Put the verb into the conditionnel présent.
Fill in the missing auxiliary or verb form.
Write 1, 2 or 3.
1. Which tense can never follow si meaning "if"?
2. Si j'avais étudié la médecine, je serais médecin aujourd'hui is:
3. Why is Je me demande s'il viendra correct?