Could have, Should have, Would have
When you want to say that you should have done something, could have done something, or would have done something in French you need to use the past conditional tense.
If you know how to form the passé composé, forming the French past conditional will be a breeze. In the passé composé one of the most important things to remember is when to use avoir as helping verb as opposed to using être as helping verb. The same is true when forming the past conditional.
To form the past conditional you follow all of the passé composé rules. The only difference is that you need to put the helping verb ÊTRE or AVOIR in the present conditional.
Scroll down to watch my video lesson on the French past conditional, and you can download a PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
Present conditional of ÊTRE & AVOIR – Use these as helping verbs
You’ll notice that I have highlighted the DEVOIR and POUVOIR forms in my video lesson as they’re very important in this particular tense.
The word “would” does not exist all by itself in the French language, and when you want to say you “would have” done something you must put the main verb in the past conditional.
ASTUCE DE JENNIFER
Review all of the passé composé rules and know the present conditional conjugations of the helping verbs ÊTRE and AVOIR by heart.
Video Lesson – French Past Conditional
