French grammar · Intermediate
Conjugate Faire in Le Conditionnel Présent
Faire in the conditional present runs on the stem fer-, which keeps nothing of the infinitive. Add the imperfect endings and you have je ferais, tu ferais, il ferait, nous ferions, vous feriez, ils feraient. The stem is the only thing to memorise; the endings are ones you already know.
Si j'avais le choix, je ferais autrement.
If I had the choice, I'd do it differently.
What it is
Faire is one of the twenty-odd verbs that throw away their infinitive when building the future and the conditional. What replaces it is fer-, three letters, and it serves both tenses. In the conditional it takes the imperfect endings, which gives a paradigm where the singular forms all sound identical and only nous and vous are audibly different.
Qu'est-ce que tu ferais à ma place ? — What would you do in my position?
How to spot it
The letters fer- followed by -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez or -aient. Nothing else in French begins fer- and conjugates.
- Je ferais mieux de rentrer. — I'd better go home.
- Ça vous ferait plaisir ? — Would you like that?
- Nous ferions les courses demain. — We'd do the shopping tomorrow.
- Ils feraient n'importe quoi pour gagner. — They'd do anything to win.
Set je ferai, the future, beside je ferais, the conditional. One silent letter separates them, and in speech nothing at all.
Conjugate Faire in Le Conditionnel Present Quick Reference
Faire in the conditional present
| Subject | Form | In use |
|---|---|---|
| je | ferais | Je ferais un effort. — I'd make an effort. |
| tu | ferais | Tu ferais quoi ? — What would you do? |
| il / elle / on | ferait | Ça ferait trop. — That'd be too much. |
| nous | ferions | Nous ferions mieux d'attendre. — We'd better wait. |
| vous | feriez | Vous feriez ça pour moi ? — You'd do that for me? |
| ils / elles | feraient | Elles feraient la fête. — They'd have a party. |
Common Conjugate Faire in Le Conditionnel Present Examples in French
The four jobs this form does in real sentences:
Hypotheses
- Si j'étais riche, je ferais le tour du monde.
- If I were rich, I'd travel round the world.
- Que ferais-tu sans moi ?
- What would you do without me?
- On ferait quoi en cas de panne ?
- What would we do if it broke down?
- Ils feraient faillite sans cette aide.
- They'd go bankrupt without this help.
The si clause takes the imperfect and the result clause the conditional. Si je ferais is not a possible sequence in French.
Advice with Faire Mieux De
- Tu ferais mieux de te reposer.
- You'd better get some rest.
- Nous ferions mieux de partir maintenant.
- We'd better leave now.
- Vous feriez bien de vérifier.
- You'd do well to check.
- Je ferais mieux de me taire.
- I'd better keep quiet.
Faire mieux de plus an infinitive is how French says had better, even though nothing is being made or done.
Politeness and Offers
- Ça vous ferait plaisir de venir ?
- Would you like to come?
- Ça me ferait très plaisir.
- I'd love that.
- Ça ferait vingt euros.
- That'll be twenty euros.
- Ça ne vous ferait rien de fermer la porte ?
- Would you mind shutting the door?
Ça ferait for a price or a total is gentler than ça fait, in much the way English that would be is gentler than that is.
Reported Speech and Rumour
- Il a dit qu'il ferait attention.
- He said he'd be careful.
- Elle m'a promis qu'elle ferait le nécessaire.
- She promised me she'd do what was needed.
- Le gouvernement ferait marche arrière.
- The government is reportedly backing down.
- Ils feraient appel de la décision.
- They are said to be appealing the decision.
After a main verb in the past, the conditional is a future seen from the past. Standing alone in a headline, the same form marks an unconfirmed report.
Getting the Forms Right
Five points, three about spelling and two about the sentence around the verb.
The Stem Is Fer-, Not Fair-
The ai of the infinitive disappears completely. This is a spelling trap rather than a pronunciation one, since fer- and fair- would sound much the same.
Je ferais ça volontiers.
I'd gladly do that.
fer- plus the imperfect endings.
The Same Stem Serves the Future
Fer- builds both tenses, so learning the conditional of faire costs nothing once you know the future, and vice versa.
Je ferai demain ce que je ferais aujourd'hui.
Tomorrow I'll do what I would do today.
One stem, two tenses.
The Si Clause Takes the Imperfect
In a hypothesis, the condition goes into the imperfect and only the consequence is conditional. The two tenses never swap places.
Si tu venais, on ferait un gâteau.
If you came over, we'd make a cake.
si + imparfait, then conditionnel.
Nous and Vous Keep Their I
Ferions and feriez are the only two forms audibly different from the future, and the difference is that i. Dropping it turns the sentence into a plan.
Vous feriez mieux de réserver.
You'd better book.
ferions, feriez — not ferons, ferez.
Inversion Works Normally
In a question the pronoun hops behind the verb with a hyphen, and the third person singular takes a -t- before il or elle only when the verb ends in a vowel, which ferait does not.
Ferais-tu la même chose ?
Would you do the same?
ferais-tu, ferait-il, feriez-vous.
Common Mistakes with Conjugate Faire in Le Conditionnel Present
Incorrect: Si je ferais du sport, je serais en forme. — If I did some sport, I'd be fit.
Correct: Si je faisais du sport, je serais en forme. — If I did some sport, I'd be fit.
The conditional cannot follow si in a hypothesis. Si takes the imperfect faisais, and the conditional belongs in the other half of the sentence.
Incorrect: Tu ferais mieux partir. — You'd better leave.
Correct: Tu ferais mieux de partir. — You'd better leave.
Faire mieux requires de in front of the infinitive. English had better takes a bare verb, which is exactly where the missing de comes from.
Incorrect: Nous ferons mieux de réserver. — We'd better book.
Correct: Nous ferions mieux de réserver. — We'd better book.
Ferons is the future. The advice idiom needs the conditional ferions, and since nous is one of the two forms where the tenses are audibly different, the slip is heard as well as seen.
Incorrect: Je fairais ça autrement. — I'd do that differently.
Correct: Je ferais ça autrement. — I'd do that differently.
The stem loses the ai of faire entirely. Fairais is not a form of any French verb, in any tense.
Faire in the Conditional and Around It
The conditional set out against the future it shares its stem with, then the compound form, then the verbs built on faire.
Le conditionnel présent against le futur simple
Same stem, different endings. Read the two columns across rather than down.
| Pronoun | conditionnel présent | futur simple |
|---|---|---|
| je | je ferais | je ferai |
| tu | tu ferais | tu feras |
| il / elle / on | il ferait | il fera |
| nous | nous ferions | nous ferons |
| vous | vous feriez | vous ferez |
| ils / elles | ils feraient | ils feront |
In the singular the two columns differ by one silent letter. Only ferions against ferons and feriez against ferez can be heard.
Le conditionnel passé
The conditional of avoir plus the participle fait. This is the form for the thing that did not in fact happen.
| Pronoun | conditionnel passé |
|---|---|
| je / j' | j'aurais fait |
| tu | tu aurais fait |
| il / elle / on | il aurait fait |
| nous | nous aurions fait |
| vous | vous auriez fait |
| ils / elles | ils auraient fait |
J'aurais fait autrement means I would have done it differently — a regret rather than a hypothesis.
Verbs built on faire
Every compound of faire inherits the stem, so none of them has to be learnt separately.
| Pronoun | conditionnel | English |
|---|---|---|
| refaire | je referais | I'd do it again |
| défaire | je déferais | I'd undo |
| satisfaire | je satisferais | I'd satisfy |
| contrefaire | je contreferais | I'd forge |
| se faire | je me ferais | I'd get myself |
Se faire in the conditional is very common for imagined consequences: je me ferais licencier, I'd get myself sacked.
Idioms That Live in the Conditional
Several expressions with faire are far more frequent in this tense than in any other.
Faire mieux de and faire bien de
Both mean had better or would do well to. They exist in other tenses in principle, and in practice you meet them almost exclusively in the conditional.
- Tu ferais mieux de l'appeler.
- You'd better call her.
- Il ferait bien de se dépêcher.
- He'd do well to hurry.
- On ferait mieux de ne rien dire.
- We'd better say nothing.
The de is compulsory and what follows is always an infinitive: ferais mieux de partir, never ferais mieux partir.
Ça ferait for prices and totals
Anyone quoting a figure — a shopkeeper, a waiter, a mechanic — softens it into the conditional.
- Ça ferait combien en tout ?
- How much would that come to altogether?
- Ça ferait dix euros de plus.
- That'd be ten euros more.
- Ça nous ferait deux heures de route.
- That'd be two hours' driving for us.
Ça fait would be entirely correct and slightly blunter. Here the conditional is doing nothing but politeness.
Fixed phrases
A handful of set expressions use the conditional of faire to make a request or wave a difficulty away.
- Ça ne ferait rien si je partais plus tôt ?
- Would it matter if I left earlier?
- Ça ferait l'affaire.
- That would do the job.
- Ça me ferait mal au cœur de le vendre.
- It'd break my heart to sell it.
Faire l'affaire means to be good enough, and it turns up in the conditional far more often than in the present.
Conjugate Faire in Le Conditionnel Present FAQs
- How do you conjugate faire in the conditional present?
- Take the stem fer- and add the imperfect endings: je ferais, tu ferais, il ferait, nous ferions, vous feriez, ils feraient. The stem is the same one the future uses.
- What is the difference between je ferai and je ferais?
- Je ferai is the future, I will do; je ferais is the conditional, I would do. In the singular they sound identical, so the context does the work: a condition or a polite request points to ferais, a plain plan to ferai.
- What does tu ferais mieux de mean?
- You'd better, or you'd do well to. It takes de plus an infinitive: tu ferais mieux de partir, you'd better leave. Faire bien de works the same way and is a shade less forceful.
- Why is the stem fer- and not fair-?
- Faire is one of about twenty verbs that replace their infinitive with an irregular stem in the future and conditional. The ai simply drops, giving fer-, and the same happens in refaire, défaire and satisfaire.
- Can faire follow si in a conditional sentence?
- Only in the imperfect, not the conditional. Si je faisais du sport, je serais en forme is correct; si je ferais is not. The conditional appears in the result clause, never after si.