French grammar · Intermediate
The French Conditional Perfect: J'aurais Fait and What It Means
The conditional perfect (le conditionnel passé) describes a past that never happened: avoir or être in the conditional plus a past participle, as in j'aurais accepté, I would have accepted. Because unrealised pasts are where regret and blame live, this is also the tense that carries French's should have and could have.
J'aurais aimé te voir avant ton départ.
I would have liked to see you before you left.
What it is
Put avoir or être into the conditional, add a past participle, and you have a past that was available but was never taken up. J'aurais accepté means I would have accepted, with the clear implication that I did not. Everything else the tense does — regret, reproach, unconfirmed news — grows out of that one idea of a past left unrealised.
Si tu m'avais prévenu, je serais venu plus tôt. — If you'd let me know, I'd have come earlier.
How to spot it
Two words, and the first is a conditional form of avoir or être. Aurais, aurait, auraient, serais, serait, and seraient in front of a participle always mean this tense.
- Nous aurions préféré rester. — We'd have preferred to stay.
- Elle serait déjà arrivée. — She would already have arrived.
- Ils n'auraient rien dit. — They wouldn't have said anything.
- Tu aurais dû demander. — You should have asked.
The future perfect uses the same participle with the future of the auxiliary, so j'aurai fini and j'aurais fini differ by one silent letter and by a great deal of meaning.
Conditional Perfect Quick Reference
What the conditional perfect is doing in a sentence
| Use | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Unrealised past | would have | J'aurais accepté. — I would have accepted. |
| After si + pluperfect | if … had …, would have | Si j'avais su, je serais venu. — If I'd known, I'd have come. |
| Regret | should have | J'aurais dû l'appeler. — I should have called him. |
| Reproach | could have | Tu aurais pu me le dire. — You could have told me. |
| Wish about the past | would have liked | J'aurais voulu rester. — I'd have liked to stay. |
| Unconfirmed report | reportedly | Le suspect aurait fui. — The suspect reportedly fled. |
| Completed future in the past | would have, by then | Il pensait qu'elle serait déjà partie. — He thought she'd already have left. |
Common Conditional Perfect Examples in French
The conditional perfect across its four main jobs:
What Would Have Happened
- Sans toi, j'aurais abandonné.
- Without you, I'd have given up.
- À ta place, je n'aurais rien signé.
- In your position, I wouldn't have signed anything.
- Nous serions restés une nuit de plus.
- We'd have stayed one more night.
- Elle aurait réussi sans ce retard.
- She'd have succeeded but for that delay.
Not one of these events took place, and that is the whole content of the tense. The condition can be left implicit, as in sans toi.
Si Clauses About the Past
- Si j'avais su, je ne serais pas venu.
- If I'd known, I wouldn't have come.
- Si elle avait couru, elle aurait attrapé le train.
- If she'd run, she'd have caught the train.
- On aurait gagné si tu avais joué.
- We'd have won if you'd played.
- Si nous étions partis plus tôt, nous aurions évité les embouteillages.
- If we'd left earlier, we'd have avoided the traffic.
The si half takes the pluperfect and the other half takes the conditional perfect. Which clause comes first makes no difference.
Regret and Reproach
- J'aurais dû l'écouter.
- I should have listened to him.
- Tu aurais pu prévenir.
- You could have let us know.
- Elle n'aurait pas dû partir seule.
- She shouldn't have left on her own.
- Nous aurions voulu vous aider.
- We'd have liked to help you.
Aurais dû is should have, aurais pu is could have, aurais voulu is would have liked. Between them these three account for most everyday use of the tense.
Unconfirmed News
- Le suspect aurait quitté le pays.
- The suspect is said to have left the country.
- L'incendie aurait été provoqué par un court-circuit.
- The fire was reportedly caused by a short circuit.
- Deux personnes auraient été blessées.
- Two people are reported to have been injured.
French journalism uses the tense instead of allegedly or reportedly. No extra word appears: the tense alone flags the fact as unverified.
How the Conditional Perfect Is Built
A conditional auxiliary, an ordinary participle, and one small trap that costs a letter.
Conditional Auxiliary Plus Past Participle
Take aurais, aurais, aurait, aurions, auriez, auraient — or serais, serais, serait, serions, seriez, seraient — and put the participle after it. The participle is the same one the passé composé uses.
J'aurais compris plus tôt.
I'd have understood sooner.
aurais / serais + participle.
The Auxiliary Choice Never Changes
Whichever auxiliary a verb takes in the passé composé, it takes in every other compound tense too. Aller is an être verb in the passé composé and stays one here.
Elle serait tombée sans la rampe.
She'd have fallen without the handrail.
Same auxiliary as the passé composé.
Agreement Works Exactly as Elsewhere
With être the participle agrees with the subject; with avoir it agrees only with a direct object placed in front of the verb. Nothing about the conditional changes those rules.
Ils seraient partis avant midi.
They'd have left before noon.
être → agree with the subject.
The Si Clause Takes the Pluperfect
French never puts a conditional immediately after si in this structure. The condition goes into the pluperfect and the consequence into the conditional perfect, one tense in each half of the sentence.
Si j'avais eu le temps, je serais passé te voir.
If I'd had time, I'd have dropped in.
si + plus-que-parfait, then conditionnel passé.
One Letter Separates It from the Future Perfect
J'aurai fini is the future perfect and means I will have finished. J'aurais fini is the conditional perfect and means I would have finished. The -s is silent, so in speech only the context distinguishes them.
J'aurai fini demain ; j'aurais fini hier.
I'll have finished tomorrow; I would have finished yesterday.
aurai = will have, aurais = would have.
Common Mistakes with Conditional Perfect
Incorrect: Si j'aurais su, je serais venu. — If I'd known, I'd have come.
Correct: Si j'avais su, je serais venu. — If I'd known, I'd have come.
No conditional follows si in this structure. The condition takes the pluperfect and the conditional stays in the other clause. Native speakers make this one too, which is why it is so widely taught against.
Incorrect: J'aurais devoir partir. — I should have left.
Correct: J'aurais dû partir. — I should have left.
The word after the auxiliary has to be a past participle. Devoir gives dû, and the infinitive that follows belongs to the next verb along: j'aurais dû partir.
Incorrect: Elle aurait allée à Paris. — She would have gone to Paris.
Correct: Elle serait allée à Paris. — She would have gone to Paris.
Aller takes être in every compound tense. Picking the auxiliary works exactly as it does in the passé composé, and the participle then agrees with elle.
Incorrect: J'aurai voulu venir. — I'd have liked to come.
Correct: J'aurais voulu venir. — I'd have liked to come.
J'aurai is the future of avoir and gives will have; j'aurais is the conditional and gives would have. The -s is the whole difference and it is silent, so it has to be watched in writing.
Conditional Perfect Tables
All the conjugating happens in the auxiliary. Once you know avoir and être in the conditional, every verb in the language is available to you in this tense.
With avoir
The large majority of verbs. The participle sits there unchanged through all six persons.
| Pronoun | parler | finir | faire |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | aurais parlé | aurais fini | aurais fait |
| tu | aurais parlé | aurais fini | aurais fait |
| il / elle / on | aurait parlé | aurait fini | aurait fait |
| nous | aurions parlé | aurions fini | aurions fait |
| vous | auriez parlé | auriez fini | auriez fait |
| ils / elles | auraient parlé | auraient fini | auraient fait |
Aurais, aurait, and auraient are all pronounced the same way, so three of the six rows are homophones.
With être, where the participle agrees
Verbs of movement and change of state, plus every reflexive verb. The bracketed letters are what a feminine or plural subject adds.
| Pronoun | aller | partir | se lever |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | serais allé(e) | serais parti(e) | me serais levé(e) |
| tu | serais allé(e) | serais parti(e) | te serais levé(e) |
| il / elle / on | serait allé(e) | serait parti(e) | se serait levé(e) |
| nous | serions allé(e)s | serions parti(e)s | nous serions levé(e)s |
| vous | seriez allé(e)(s) | seriez parti(e)(s) | vous seriez levé(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | seraient allé(e)s | seraient parti(e)s | se seraient levé(e)s |
The reflexive pronoun goes in front of the auxiliary, never between the two words: je me serais levé, not *je serais me levé.
The three verbs of regret
Devoir, pouvoir, and vouloir in this tense are how French says should have, could have, and would have liked. An infinitive follows with no preposition.
| Pronoun | devoir (dû) | pouvoir (pu) | vouloir (voulu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | aurais dû | aurais pu | aurais voulu |
| tu | aurais dû | aurais pu | aurais voulu |
| il / elle / on | aurait dû | aurait pu | aurait voulu |
| nous | aurions dû | aurions pu | aurions voulu |
| vous | auriez dû | auriez pu | auriez voulu |
| ils / elles | auraient dû | auraient pu | auraient voulu |
Dû carries a circumflex in the masculine singular to distinguish it from the article du. In this construction it never agrees, so it is always dû.
Two Uses You Would Not Guess
One covers most of the tense's everyday work; the other looks like the opposite of what it means.
Reproach and regret with devoir, pouvoir, and vouloir
French has no separate should have or could have. It puts devoir or pouvoir into the conditional perfect and lets the tense supply the meaning.
- Tu aurais dû me le dire.
- You should have told me.
- J'aurais pu t'aider.
- I could have helped you.
- Il aurait fallu réserver.
- We should have booked.
- Vous n'auriez pas dû vous déranger.
- You shouldn't have gone to any trouble.
Il aurait fallu is the impersonal version and lets you say that something should have been done without naming who failed to do it.
The journalistic conditional
In news writing, the conditional perfect marks a past fact the writer is passing on without vouching for it. It replaces the English words allegedly and reportedly entirely.
- Le ministre aurait démissionné.
- The minister has reportedly resigned.
- Les négociations auraient échoué.
- The talks are said to have failed.
- Il aurait agi seul.
- He is thought to have acted alone.
Out of context these look like unrealised events. In a news report they mean nearly the opposite: probably true, not yet confirmed.
A completed future seen from the past
When a past sentence looks forward to something that would already be finished by a later point, the conditional perfect is the tense that does it.
- Il pensait qu'elle serait déjà partie.
- He thought she'd already have left.
- Elle a promis qu'elle aurait terminé avant midi.
- She promised she'd have finished before noon.
This is the past-tense counterpart of the future perfect: aurait terminé stands exactly where aura terminé would stand in a present-tense sentence.
Conditional Perfect FAQs
- How do you form the conditional perfect in French?
- Put avoir or être into the conditional and add the past participle: j'aurais parlé, elle serait partie, nous nous serions levés. The auxiliary is the same one the verb takes in the passé composé, and agreement follows the same rules.
- How do you say I should have in French?
- J'aurais dû, followed by an infinitive: j'aurais dû partir plus tôt, I should have left earlier. Could have is j'aurais pu, and the impersonal version is il aurait fallu, as in il aurait fallu réserver, we should have booked.
- Why can't you use the conditional after si?
- Because si already carries the hypothesis, so the verb after it stays in an ordinary indicative tense. For a past hypothesis that means the pluperfect: si j'avais su. Si j'aurais su is a well-known error and one that French speakers are corrected on at school.
- What is the difference between j'aurai fait and j'aurais fait?
- J'aurai fait is the future perfect, I will have done, and describes something finished by a point ahead of us. J'aurais fait is the conditional perfect, I would have done, and describes something that never happened. The silent -s is the only written difference.
- Why does French news use aurait for things that seem to be facts?
- It is a hedge built into the grammar. Le suspect aurait pris la fuite means the suspect reportedly fled: the writer is passing on information without confirming it. French has no need for a word like allegedly because the tense already says it.