Imparfait or conditional? Compare parlais and parlerais

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Tell je parlais from je parlerais with a stem table, a conversation and five questions on past routines, polite requests and si clauses.

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In short

The imparfait and present conditional share six endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. The imparfait usually takes the present nous stem; the conditional takes the future stem: je parlais / je parlerais.

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Two friends talk quietly beside a French riverside café as the light softens, one in office clothing with a plain bag after a long workday.
The friends imagine si je finissais plus tôt. Illustration: Atelier

What is the difference between the imparfait and the conditional?

Read the whole form
InfinitiveImparfaitConditional
parlerje parlaisje parlerais
finirje finissaisje finirais
êtrej’étaisje serais
avoirj’avaisj’aurais
faireje faisaisje ferais
vouloirje voulaisje voudrais
pouvoirje pouvaisje pourrais

For parler, compare parl- + -ais with parler- + -ais. For finir, compare finiss- with finir-. The conditional stem ends in r, but adding an r anywhere in an imparfait form is no recipe: voulais becomes voudrais, and étais becomes serais.

Je travaillais moins.I used to work less.

Focus: A routine in a past period

À cette époque, je travaillais moins.
At that time, I used to work less.

Je travaillerais moins.I would work less.

Focus: An imagined result

Si je pouvais, je travaillerais moins.
If I could, I would work less.

Two friends imagine a change

Et si on changeait de rythme ?
  1. Nora

    Avant, je finissais à cinq heures. Maintenant, je travaille jusqu’à huit heures.

    I used to finish at five. Now I work until eight.

  2. Samir

    Tu pourrais demander un autre horaire.

    You could ask for different hours.

  3. Nora

    Oui. Si je finissais plus tôt, je verrais mes amis plus souvent.

    Yes. If I finished earlier, I would see my friends more often.

  4. Samir

    À ta place, je parlerais à ma responsable.

    If I were you, I would speak to my manager.

In Nora’s last line, finissais is imparfait inside a present hypothesis: “if I finished earlier”. Verrais is conditional in the imagined result. This si + imparfait, conditional pattern shows why “imparfait always means past” is too narrow.

Can the imparfait make a request polite?

Je voulais vous poser une question.

I wanted to ask you a question.

Voulais stays imparfait even when the speaker is opening a request now.

Je voudrais vous poser une question.

I would like to ask you a question.

Voudrais is conditional. Both openings can sound courteous.

Question 1No account needed
Which is the conditional of vouloir with je?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

je voudrais. Voudrais uses the future stem voudr- and the shared ending -ais.

Question 2No account needed
Complete this past routine with finir.À cette époque, je ___ à cinq heures.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

finissais. The past routine uses the imparfait stem finiss- plus -ais.

Question 3No account needed
Complete the imagined result with voir.Si je finissais plus tôt, je ___ mes amis.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

verrais. In this hypothesis, si je finissais leads to the conditional result je verrais.

Question 4No account needed
Which form is imparfait, even when it opens a request?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

je voulais. Voulais is imparfait; conversational courtesy does not change the form’s name.

Question 5No account needed
Choose the conditional form of être with nous.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

nous serions. Serions combines the future stem ser- with the ending -ions.

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