← All grammar
Future & Conditional

The conditionnel passé

Advanced

The conditionnel passé (past conditional) describes what would have happened under different circumstancesthe French equivalent of "would have done". It's formed with the conditionnel présent of avoir or être plus the past participle: j'aurais fait (I would have done), elle serait venue (she would have come).

It's the standard result clause for a third-type si-clause, describing an unreal past condition: si j'avais su, je serais venu (if I had known, I would have come) — the si-clause itself uses the plus-que-parfait (avais su), while the result uses the conditionnel passé (serais venu). This pairing is fixed and doesn't mix with other tense combinations.