Gap-fill
Si j’avais su: fill in a different past in French
Complete a missed-meeting story with si + plus-que-parfait and the past conditional. Practise both auxiliaries, negatives and feminine agreement.
- B1
- 10 gaps
- Translation included
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
To imagine a different past, use si + plus-que-parfait, then the past conditional: Si j’avais su, je serais venue. That means “If I had known, I would have come”, spoken here by a woman.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Study first: change the auxiliary’s tense
| Verb | Past condition | Past result |
|---|---|---|
| recevoir | si j’avais reçu | j’aurais reçu |
| répondre | si elle avait répondu | elle aurait répondu |
| partir | si Léa était partie | Léa serait partie |
| arriver | si elles étaient arrivées | elles seraient arrivées |
Si Léa était partie plus tôt, elle serait arrivée à l’heure.
If Léa had left earlier, she would have arrived on time.
Both participles agree with Léa. The condition has imparfait être; the result has conditional être.
Elle n’aurait pas attendu si elle avait reçu notre réponse.
She would not have waited if she had received our reply.
The result comes first. In the negative, n’ … pas surrounds the auxiliary aurait.
In the story, Léa missed a meeting because she saw a message too late. Fill each gap with the complete verb group in brackets. Every condition uses the plus-que-parfait; every imagined result concerns that past morning and takes the past conditional. Léa and Inès are women, so check the endings after être.
Si tu m’avais invitée, je serais venue.
If you had invited me, I would have come.
A woman is speaking. With avoir, invitée agrees with the direct object m’ placed before the verb. With être, venue agrees with the woman who would have come.
Le message de la veille
Hier, j’ai manqué une réunion avec Inès. Son message était arrivé la veille, mais je ne l’ai lu qu’à midi. Si j’(lire · plus-que-parfait) ce message à temps, j’(répondre · conditionnel passé) tout de suite.
Si je (ne pas oublier · plus-que-parfait) de vérifier mes messages, je (partir · conditionnel passé) à huit heures. Si j’(prendre · plus-que-parfait) le train précédent, je (arriver · conditionnel passé) avant le début de la réunion.
Inès m’a dit : « Si tu m’(appeler · plus-que-parfait) ce matin, j’(attendre · conditionnel passé) à l’accueil. » Le soir, nous en avons reparlé. Si nous (confirmer · plus-que-parfait) l’heure ensemble, nous (éviter · conditionnel passé) ce malentendu.
Read it in English
Yesterday, I missed a meeting with Inès. Her message had arrived the evening before, but I only read it at noon. If I had read that message in time, I would have replied straight away.
If I hadn’t forgotten to check my messages, I would have left at eight. If I had taken the earlier train, I would have arrived before the meeting began.
Inès told me: “If you had called me this morning, I would have waited at reception.” That evening, we talked about it again. If we had confirmed the time together, we would have avoided that misunderstanding.
How do you form si + plus-que-parfait + conditionnel passé?
Si j’avais accepté ce poste, j’habiterais à Lyon aujourd’hui.
If I had accepted that job, I would be living in Lyon today.
The condition concerns a past decision; the result concerns today, so habiterais is the present conditional.
Compare the time of the two results: “would have arrived” belongs to the missed morning; “would be living” describes life now. The story practises the first pattern. A past condition can introduce either time frame; the result tells you which one the speaker means.