The conditionnel passé

Mode

Indicatif

Level

B1

Shape

Compound

Negation

ne … pas

Verbs in Phonique

700+

In the app

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The conditionnel passé is would have: the thing that did not happen. It is the tense of regret, reproach and the road not taken, and it is built from parts you already have.

How it’s formed

The conditionnel présent of the auxiliary, then the past participle:

avoir or être in the conditional + past participle

So j’aurais + parlé → j’aurais parlé. Je serais + venu → je serais venu. As with every compound tense, the auxiliary is whichever one the verb takes, and the participle is unchanged.

The negative wraps the auxiliary alone: je n’aurais pas parlé, je ne serais pas venu.

Agreement

Être verbs agree with the subject, exactly as in every other compound tense:

Je serais allé if you’re male, je serais allée if female - and the plural forms split the same way.

When to use it

1. Unreal past - the regret construction. Si j’avais su, je ne serais pas venu. - If I had known, I wouldn’t have come.
2. Reproach. Tu aurais pu me le dire. - You could have told me. Tu aurais dû demander. - You should have asked.
3. Unverified reports. Le suspect aurait quitté le pays. - The suspect reportedly left the country.
4. A future-in-the-past that didn’t come off. Il a dit qu’il serait parti avant midi.

Common mistakes

Common questions

Is this just "would have" in French?

Yes, and the mapping is close. J’aurais parlé is “I would have spoken”; je serais venu is “I would have come”. If the English sentence has “would have” in it, this is almost always the tense you want.

Which si clause goes with it?

Si + plus-que-parfait. Si j’avais su, je ne serais pas venu - if I had known, I wouldn’t have come. The si half never takes a conditional, in this pair or any other.

How is it different from the conditionnel présent?

Time. The présent is a hypothesis about now or the future - je viendrais (I would come). The passé is a hypothesis about the past that did not happen - je serais venu (I would have come, but I didn’t). The past one always carries a note of regret or reproach.

Why do news reports use it?

To report something unverified. Le suspect aurait quitté le pays means “the suspect is said to have left the country” - the journalist is attributing the claim rather than asserting it. It’s a standard register in French media.