Imagining alternatives in French: si j'avais, je pourrais

Level B1

Imagining alternatives in French: si j'avais, je pourrais

In this lesson you help a colleague whose car is stuck at the garage, and you suggest other ways to get to work. The idea is this: to imagine a solution that is not today's situation, French puts the condition after si in the imparfait and the result in the conditionnel: Si j'avais une voiture, je pourrais aller au bureau. One hypothesis per turn: you say it, your colleague answers, then you try the next one.

What you already know

You already describe how things were with the imparfait: Avant, j'avais une voiture. You suggest with on pourrait and tu devrais, as in On pourrait prendre le train. And for a real plan you use si with the present and the future: Si tu prends le train, tu seras au bureau à huit heures. This lesson keeps si, but the plan is no longer real: it is imagined.

At the café: Marc's car is at the garage

Marc's car is at the garage until Friday (jusqu'à vendredi) and the office is far (loin). Léa suggests one solution at a time; Marc says what is wrong with it, or makes one of his own, and she tries another. Listen to the whole conversation and notice the pair in every suggestion: avais, prenais, étais after si, then irais, serais, demanderais. Sophie is Marc's boss: she decides whether he can work from home.

The last line talks about yesterday: Si tu m'avais appelée hier, je t'aurais prêté ma voiture. That is the past that did not happen; just recognize it here, you will learn to build it later.

Si + imparfait, then the conditionnel

After si, the imparfait does not talk about the past here: it names a situation that is not the case now, or that you only imagine. Si j'avais une voiture means I have no car. Si tu prenais le bus is different: the bus is possible, and the imparfait offers the idea as a suggestion, not as a settled plan. The result is in the conditionnel: je pourrais aller au bureau, tu irais, nous serions. English says if I had, I could with a past form too, so the shape is familiar; what changes is that French also marks the result with its own ending, pourrais, irais, serions. You know the imparfait mostly with je and il/elle; after si it comes in every person, with the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient: tu avais, nous habitions, vous preniez. The stem comes from nous in the present: nous prenons → je prenais, ils prenaient; nous disons → elle disait. Être is the exception you already know: j'étais.

The two halves can change places; then there is no comma: Ils arriveraient plus tôt s'ils prenaient le train. Before il and ils, si becomes s'; before elle, je and the others it stays si. To suggest something to a friend, the most useful hypothesis is Si j'étais toi, je…: Si j'étais toi, je demanderais à Sophie aujourd'hui.

Si sujet + imparfait, sujet + conditionnel

The conditionnel of être, avoir, aller and regular verbs

The conditionnel has one recipe for every verb: the stem of the futur simple plus the endings of the imparfait, -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Compare: tu seras is the real plan, tu serais the imagined one. For a regular -er or -ir verb the stem is the infinitive: travailler → je travaillerais, finir → je finirais; a regular verb in -re loses its final e: attendre → j'attendrais. Être, avoir and aller keep the irregular stems of their future: ser-, aur-, ir-. Pouvoir, which you already use in on pourrait, does the same with pourr-: je pourrais, tu pourrais. Je and tu sound the same (serais); nous and vous add -ions and -iez, as in nous serions, vous seriez. Read the table, then say each form with its pronoun; the table has no audio, so hear serais, aurais, irais and serions in the examples above.

êtreavoirallertravailler
je / j'seraisauraisiraistravaillerais
tuseraisauraisiraistravaillerais
il / elleseraitauraitiraittravaillerait
nousserionsaurionsirionstravaillerions
vousseriezauriezirieztravailleriez
ils / ellesseraientauraientiraienttravailleraient

One hypothesis per turn, and no conditionnel in the si condition

In a conversation, make one hypothesis, then wait for the answer: À neuf heures, c'est trop tard. Si je travaillais à la maison cette semaine, je finirais plus tôt. If the answer is no, say the next one: Et si elle disait non, je louerais une voiture. In a condition, the verb after si is never in the conditionnel: si j'avais, not si j'aurais. The conditionnel goes in the other half, whether it comes first or second: Ils arriveraient plus tôt s'ils prenaient le train.

Your turn: suggest another solution

Your friend Emma pays too much for her flat, and it is far from the office. Talk to her, as tu. Before reading the sentences, try to say in French: if I were you, I'd look for (chercher) a smaller flat (un appartement plus petit); if you lived near the office (près du bureau), you'd walk to work (à pied); if you had a car, you could live in the countryside (à la campagne); if we rented a house together (ensemble), we'd have a garden (un jardin); if you asked Marc, he'd help you (aider). Then check the sentences in the same order and listen to each one.

Summary: an imagined condition, a result in the conditionnel

Si + imparfait for the condition you imagine, conditionnel for what would follow: Si j'avais une voiture, je pourrais aller au bureau. Être, avoir and aller give serais, aurais, irais; a regular -er or -ir verb adds the imparfait endings to its infinitive. Si j'étais toi, je… is your formula to suggest another solution, one hypothesis per turn.

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