🕰️ The Time Traveler’s Guide to French Conditionals & Reported Speech
Imagine you have a magic remote control that lets you jump between different moments in time. French conditionals and reported speech are like that remote—they let you talk about things that might happen, could have happened, or what someone said at a different time!
🎬 Our Magical Metaphor: The Time Remote
Throughout this guide, we’ll use a magic TV remote as our helper:
- Play ▶️ = Present time (things happening now)
- Fast Forward ⏩ = Future (things that will happen)
- Rewind ⏪ = Past (things that already happened)
- What If? 🔮 = Imaginary situations
1️⃣ Si Clauses: First Conditional (Real Future)
🎯 What Is It?
The first conditional is like pressing Play ▶️ → Fast Forward ⏩.
It talks about real situations that will probably happen in the future.
Think of it this way: If it rains tomorrow, I will take my umbrella. Rain is possible. The umbrella is the result.
📐 The Formula
Si + PRESENT → FUTURE (Futur Simple)
🌟 Examples
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Si tu études, tu réussiras. | If you study, you will succeed. |
| Si il pleut, nous resterons à la maison. | If it rains, we will stay home. |
| Si elle arrive tôt, elle verra le film. | If she arrives early, she will see the movie. |
💡 Key Point
The “si” part uses PRESENT tense. The result part uses FUTURE tense.
🚨 Never use “futur” right after “si”! ❌ Si tu étudieras… (WRONG!) ✅ Si tu études… (CORRECT!)
2️⃣ Si Clauses: Second Conditional (Imaginary Present)
🎯 What Is It?
The second conditional is like pressing What If? 🔮 on your remote.
It talks about imaginary situations right now—things that aren’t true but you’re dreaming about.
Think of it this way: If I were a bird, I would fly. (But I’m not a bird!)
📐 The Formula
Si + IMPARFAIT → CONDITIONNEL PRÉSENT
🌟 Examples
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Si j’avais de l’argent, j’achèterais une voiture. | If I had money, I would buy a car. |
| Si tu étais ici, nous irions au cinéma. | If you were here, we would go to the movies. |
| Si elle pouvait voler, elle voyagerait partout. | If she could fly, she would travel everywhere. |
💡 The Conditionnel Présent
To form it, take the future stem + imparfait endings:
| Pronoun | Ending | Example (avoir) |
|---|---|---|
| je | -ais | j’aurais |
| tu | -ais | tu aurais |
| il/elle | -ait | il aurait |
| nous | -ions | nous aurions |
| vous | -iez | vous auriez |
| ils/elles | -aient | ils auraient |
3️⃣ Si Clauses: Third Conditional (Imaginary Past)
🎯 What Is It?
The third conditional is like pressing Rewind ⏪ + What If? 🔮.
It talks about imaginary past situations—things that didn’t happen, but you’re imagining what would have been different.
Think of it this way: If I had studied, I would have passed. (But I didn’t study, so I failed.)
📐 The Formula
Si + PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT → CONDITIONNEL PASSÉ
🌟 Examples
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Si j’avais su, je serais venu. | If I had known, I would have come. |
| Si tu avais étudié, tu aurais réussi. | If you had studied, you would have passed. |
| Si nous étions partis tôt, nous serions arrivés à temps. | If we had left early, we would have arrived on time. |
💡 Building the Pieces
Plus-que-parfait = avoir/être (imparfait) + past participle
- j’avais mangé (I had eaten)
- j’étais allé(e) (I had gone)
Conditionnel passé = avoir/être (conditionnel) + past participle
- j’aurais mangé (I would have eaten)
- je serais allé(e) (I would have gone)
4️⃣ Reported Speech (Le Discours Indirect)
🎯 What Is It?
Reported speech is like telling someone what’s on a recorded video. You’re not playing the original—you’re describing it.
Direct: Marie says, “I am happy.” Reported: Marie says (that) she is happy.
📐 The Basic Change
When you report what someone said, you often need to:
- Change the pronouns
- Change the verb tense (sometimes)
- Remove quotation marks
- Add “que” (that)
🌟 Examples with Present Reporting Verb
When the main verb is in present, tenses usually stay the same:
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| Il dit : « Je suis fatigué. » | Il dit qu’il est fatigué. |
| Elle dit : « J’aime le chocolat. » | Elle dit qu’elle aime le chocolat. |
🌟 Examples with Past Reporting Verb
When the main verb is in past, tenses shift back:
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| Il a dit : « Je suis fatigué. » | Il a dit qu’il était fatigué. |
| Elle a dit : « J’aime le chocolat. » | Elle a dit qu’elle aimait le chocolat. |
5️⃣ Sequence of Tenses (La Concordance des Temps)
🎯 What Is It?
This is the “time-matching rule.” When the main verb moves to the past, the other verbs must follow—like dancers following a lead!
📐 The Tense Shift Chart
| Original Tense | Becomes… |
|---|---|
| Présent → | Imparfait |
| Passé composé → | Plus-que-parfait |
| Futur simple → | Conditionnel présent |
| Futur antérieur → | Conditionnel passé |
🌟 Examples
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech (Past) |
|---|---|
| « Je mange. » | Il a dit qu’il mangeait. |
| « J’ai mangé. » | Il a dit qu’il avait mangé. |
| « Je mangerai. » | Il a dit qu’il mangerait. |
| « J’aurai fini. » | Il a dit qu’il aurait fini. |
💡 Time Words Change Too!
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| aujourd’hui → | ce jour-là |
| demain → | le lendemain |
| hier → | la veille |
| maintenant → | à ce moment-là |
🌟 Complete Example
Direct:
Marie a dit : « Demain, je partirai en vacances. »
Reported:
Marie a dit que le lendemain, elle partirait en vacances.
🎯 Quick Summary: Your Time Remote Guide
graph TD A["Si Clauses"] --> B["1st: Real Future"] A --> C["2nd: Imaginary Now"] A --> D["3rd: Imaginary Past"] B --> B1["Si + Présent → Futur"] C --> C1["Si + Imparfait → Cond. Présent"] D --> D1["Si + Plus-que-parfait → Cond. Passé"] E["Reported Speech"] --> F["Present reporting = No shift"] E --> G["Past reporting = Tense shifts back"]
🏆 You Did It!
You now understand:
- ✅ First conditional: Real things that might happen
- ✅ Second conditional: Daydreams about now
- ✅ Third conditional: “What if” about the past
- ✅ Reported speech: Telling what others said
- ✅ Sequence of tenses: Making times match
Remember: The magic remote helps you travel through French time. Just match your tenses, and you’ll always land in the right moment! 🚀
Now go practice—and soon you’ll be a French time-traveler! 🕰️🇫🇷