Conditional tenses in French are used to express actions that would occur if certain conditions were met, much like the English "would" or "could." They help convey possibility, politeness, and hypothetical scenarios. French has two main conditional tenses:
- Présent du conditionnel: Describes what would happen under certain conditions (e.g., Je voyagerais si j’avais de l’argent - I would travel if I had money).
- Passé du conditionnel: Describes what would have happened if conditions had been met (e.g., J’aurais voyagé si j’avais eu de l’argent - I would have traveled if I had had money).
Conditional tenses express hypotheticals, politeness, and situations dependent on a condition.
Présent du conditionnel and Passé du conditionnel are the two main French conditional tenses.