About the pronouncation:

DianaC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

About the pronouncation:

About the pronouncation: Isn't there a subtle difference between the pronouncatin of j'arrivai and j'arrivais? If not, then the conditional and the future tenses would sound the same. J'arriverai would sound just like J'arriverais.
Asked 7 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer
Bonjour Diana !

We're taught at school there is a nuance of pronunciation between "-ai" (same as closed [é]) and "-ais/-ait/-aient" (same as open [è]).
However, this rarely occurs in practice, and they are usually pronounced the same way, either both [è] or both [é], depending on the region.
So as you guessed, you cannot really differentiate the future from the conditional in speech in the 1st person (je), apart from context.

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

About the pronouncation:

About the pronouncation: Isn't there a subtle difference between the pronouncatin of j'arrivai and j'arrivais? If not, then the conditional and the future tenses would sound the same. J'arriverai would sound just like J'arriverais.

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